Her First Affaire

Ida Lupino,s first film. The part was actually cast for her mother and Ida went along to the audition with her mother who was around 35 years old although still a girlish type. When Allan Dwan saw Ida he said she was perfect for the part and so 19 year old Lupino got the part as the young girl who seduces the older man. A fast moving film for the early 1930,s Dwann directs his cast of established english actors with his customary adeptness,drawing a sparkling performance from Lupino as the skittish Anne who seduces(in a nice clean english way)the middle aged author Brian(Arnold Riches) with support from Diana Napier as the slightly disaproving mother Mrs Merton. There are some wearying comic interludes from the popular music hall artist at the time, Harry Tate as the Major,and the 2 gorgeous Blackburn sisters make a small appearance but it is Lupino who sparkles throughout the film, contrasting greatly to the roles that she would play in Hollywood in later years. I saw this picture at a private screening, but would recommend it to anyone who would want to witness how Lupino developed into one of the greatest, but sadly underrated actresses of the 1940,s

This film is based on a stage play.It concerns an engaged woman who wants experience of life as she delicately puts it,before she gets married.So she decides to have a fling with her favourite writer,George Curzon.His wife decides to play along with the game.However in the middle of this,the antics of Harry Tate.Now this may be tiresome for fans of Lupino but it is a great bonus for fans of the English music hall.One would guess that when the film was shown there were a lot more fans of Tate than Lupino.Interesting to note that fames Amerucan director Allen Dwan appears to have made no attempt to curb Tate's famous booming delivery.It is difficult to believe that in no more than 10 years Lupino would become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.Her famous mannerisms have not yet arrived.So a real curiosity of a film.

"Her First Affaire" is a very dull film from the Warner Brothers' unit in Britain. It has little to distinguish it, as the script and acting are all pretty poor. However, for film historians and classic cinema lovers, it's probably worth seeing because it's Ida Lupino's first credited film. However, if you watched the film and didn't know it, there's practically no way you could recognize the future star. Apparently, when she left the UK for the States, Warner Brothers gave her the most dramatic makeover I've ever seen...far more than the huge makeovers they gave to Hedy Lamarr and Rita Hayworth, and their huge changes were dramatic. In "Her First Affaire" Ida sports blonde hair, as she did in her early films. Her voice was totally different, as voice acting coaches were able to lower her very high pitched voice to the sultry one we'd all recognize today...and without a trace of her actual English accent! And, I also wonder if perhaps they did some early plastic surgery on her, as Ida simply looks NOTHING like the Ida Lupino of Warner Brothers USA....nothing.

As for the story, it's a dreadfully stuffy film about a silly young girl (Lupino) who falls for a man who writes dime novels...and she disrupts his entire household and life in the process. While this sounds very interesting, it isn't as the dull script and overly mannered acting does everything they can to make the film insufferably dull.

Was Ida Lupino really 14 when she shot this movie? She certainly looked it, but it's her first credited screen role, and it seems unlikely she would be entrusted with a lead like that, even with her familial connections.

George Curzon writes trashy novels in which beautiful women defy conventions and have grand times doing so. Miss Lupino, newly engaged to Arnold Riches, has a passion for his writing and breaks into his home, where she decides that the two of them -- Curzon and she -- are in love. Diana Napier, Curzon's wife, is encouraged by Helen Haye to give her husband some room to play so he will come back to her.

It's a fun and fast movie, directed by Allan Dwan during his British sojourn, and there are several bright comic performances, including Harry Tate as a blustery major and Roland Culver -- who would develop into a fine, low-key dramatic actor in the 1940s -- as a drunk toff. While very much a piece of its time, this movie, with its short length, its notable actors in early roles and good humor, is still very much worth watching.