Um Senhor Mundano

The oldest and least entry in the Lombard Collection is this would-be sophisticated melodrama, about ex-journalist con-man William Powell who appears to look out for wealthy Americans vacationing in Paris being blackmailed after having been caught in compromising situations – when he’s really the one behind the whole scheme (with a couple of associates in tow).

Lombard (who subsequently married her co-star) plays the young niece of one such victim (Guy Kibbee); this is the earliest of her films that I’ve watched and, frankly, if it weren’t for her voice she’d be unrecognizable from her later zanier output. Here, she’s given a very plain look indistinguishable from many an early 1930s leading lady; in fact, it was only with her performance as a temperamental theatrical star to John Barrymore’s madcap impresario in Howard Hawks’ magnificent screwball comedy TWENTIETH CENTURY (1934) that she acquired her distinctive – and captivating – personality.

Anyway, the film makes for a mildly interesting artifact due to its unusual plot and setting (though obviously shot on the Paramount back-lot); Powell’s is actually a thoughtful characterization – but Lombard is merely decorous (needless to say, I’ve always preferred her in comedy roles as opposed to drama). Also in the cast is Wynne Gibson as The (vindictive and somewhat pathetic) Other Woman, a role that would practically be replicated wholesale in NIGHT AFTER NIGHT (1932) which, coincidentally, is included on Universal’s “Mae West Glamour Collection” set!

All in all, however, director Wallace fared much better in his more sympathetic depiction of another band of crooks years later in the winsome comedy THE YOUNG IN HEART (1938).

... and yet I give it a mediocre rating, not a poor one. That's because who would expect an early 30's film starring William Powell, Carole Lombard, and Guy Kibbee with strong support by Wynne Gibson to be anything less than excellent? I know I wouldn't. The film is tortuously slow after starting out with a couple of promising scenes. The film opens with drunken American Harry Taylor (Guy Kibbee) accosting Michael Trevor (William Powell) on the streets of Paris thinking he was somebody else - he is. It turns out Trevor is an alias for an expatriate who was a stand-up journalist in America but had to take it on the lam after he got left holding the bag for something that is never clearly explained. At any rate, in the film Michael later explains that after he paid wrongfully for someone else's misdeed he decided he would start making others pay. Thus he starts a blackmailing racket in Paris without anybody truly knowing who he is but his two partners - Fred and Irene (Wynne Gibson). He has one rule though - he never victimizes women.

He ends up blackmailing Harry Taylor for some fling with a blonde, but makes it look like he's doing him a favor by being a go-between for the unscrupulous scandal sheet operator that will print the news and Harry. This ends all of the clever scenes in the movie. Carole Lombard plays Harry's niece, Mary, who instantly falls for Michael, and the feeling is mutual. Michael wants to make a clean breast of his past to Mary, leave the crooked life behind him and marry the girl.

The monkey wrench in the works? Wynne Gibson as Irene - she's Michael's ex and she's none too happy about it. She spends the rest of the movie being a shameless clinging back-stabbing harpy to the point where you want to chase her off with a mallet and let the two lovers have a happy ending.

The acting and production values are the reason I give this one even five stars. William Powell's acting is the centerpiece of this film and he splendidly conveys - without that much dialogue - the persona of a man of the world with the weight of the world on his shoulders. However, the pace is awful, the conclusion will leave a bad taste in your mouth, and normally I would blame the director for such great performers putting my feet to sleep at times, but director Robert Wallace had and would direct some pretty good early talkies that didn't crawl along like this one at all, so I guess the cause of the mediocre result will always be a mystery.

Recommended only to see Powell and Lombard together in the film that started their relationship and ultimately brought about their marriage.

This was the film when William Powell and Carole Lombard, through working together, fell in love and married in the same year. At this stage in her career, Lombard was still somewhat embryonic, having not yet developed into her proper persona, though she was an attractive and winsome ingénue. Powell, on the other hand, who was already 39, had fully matured, whereas Lombard was only 23. The story and screenplay were both by Herman Mankiewicz (1897-1953), brother of the director Joe Mankiewicz, uncle of Tom (whom I knew), and related to numerous others in the film business. It is rather sad tale of a basically good man who has become such a 'man of the world' that he cannot be true to himself and thus cannot find the happiness he craves. The story is set in Paris, at the peak of the period of its American tourist and bohemian invasion. Although not filmed on location, there are some convincing cafes and a very funny scene where a genuine Frenchwoman and her large number of children, gabbling in impeccable patois, squeeze Powell and Lombard off a park bench. So the script had such excellent touches. The quality of the film was very good, considering how recently sound had come in, and no one seems too obviously to be speaking into a microphone concealed in a vase of flowers. William Powell really is superb in this film, and it is his showpiece, and it must have helped boost his career a lot. The marriage of Powell and Lombard would only last two years, but it seems to have done them both a world of good, and they remained friends. The film had two directors, Richard Wallace, who was two years younger than Powell and is best known for the John Garfield film THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943), and an uncredited Edward Goodman, who only directed two films, both in 1931. I presume it was Wallace who finished the Goodman picture, rather than the other way around, but that is just a guess. I have no idea what was behind it all and why Goodman disappeared from the business that year, as he did not die until 1962. One of the mysteries we will probably never solve! Guy Kibbee plays a rich American tourist, father to Lombard, and does so with his usual geniality and large girth. Wynne Gibson plays the hard-bitten Irene, who has been Powell's partner in fleecing rich Americans in Paris for some time and does not want to let him go. She says: 'I know it is all over between us,' but clearly in her mind it is not. She appeared in 50 titles before retiring in 1956. She specialised in played hard-boiled women. Will Powell, who has found true love, be able to reform? Can it work in the society of that day? The film is well worth watching and finding out for yourself.

I just do not care for this movie. It is not because William Powell ( Michael) was bad, it is just he did nothing for me good or bad, and he played a character he could play in his sleep. Powell is at his best in two kinds of movies comedy and crime and there was no comedy and the crime was secondary. The only one I did like was Wynne Gibson ( Irene) his former partner in crime. She gives a very sophisticated and measured performance ( so much better then Kay Francis who I detest)., Carole Lombard is in the film as well and she just did nothing for me. I admit to not being a fan of hers ( especially when compared to Myrna Loy). Finally, If you want to see a great film from Powell's Paramount period I would highly recommend Shadow Of The Law, now there is a very different Powell performance. I will give it 5/10 stars all for Gibson.

Man Of The World is an 80-year old curio found in an economically priced Universal album with five other Carol Lombard pictures likewise valued primarily as antiques. The gorgeous Miss Lombard bore not a little resemblance to Greta Garbo in the looks department, though even more beautiful. Unfortunately there was little resemblance in the acting department. She was best at comedy, but Man Of The World is a melodrama. Never mind, William Powell was on hand to take care of that department with solid support from the delightfully eccentric Guy Kibbee and perennial strumpet Wynne Gibson.

This picture is very much the creaking early talkie. You know it is from the moment you start the DVD by the 1.20:1 screen aspect ratio. The sound strip on the edge of the film cut the 35 mm film frame's original 1.33:1 (same as an old standard TV screen) down to a claustrophobic, square-looking screen. By 1933 all the studios would adopt the "Accademy Standard" 1.37:1 screen by the simple expedient of a camera aperture mask. Early street scenes in Man Of The World are obviously stock footage from silent movies. But there was little other stock footage available then! When the movies started talking, there were three kinds of actors available -- those who had acted only in silents, stage actors, and actors who had experience in both media. But they and their directors soon learned that the talking picture was a whole new game. The melodramatic gestures needed to convey emotion in silent movies looked ridiculous with actual spoken dialog. Yet the stage style of acting would seem wooden in talking pictures. With microphones actors did not need to shout to be heard, and the motion picture camera could record subtle facial expressions and body movements which would have been lost on the third row of a live theater audience.

Both Powell and Lombard had stage as well as silent movie experience, though much more of the latter in her case. Powell, who would eventually develop a talking picture style of top caliber, was still working on it in Man Of The World. He seems a little stiff at times, and so does Wynne Gibson, but both are nevertheless very effective. Contrary to what some other reviewers have felt, I found Gibson's performance and asset, even though there were times when she was projecting to the back row seats. Carole Lombard's sound acting style with her sexy voice and fluid movement seems more natural, but then her part in the picture is not a particularly demanding one. Guy Kibbee, surprisingly, is the player who had the most secure handle on the new sound movie style. Perhaps it was his early experience as an entertainer in the intimate confines of a Mississippi riverboat.

The oft-used plot has slick con man Powell trying to work a blackmail scheme on naive American lass Lombard and her rich but dimwitted uncle Kibbee. With jealous ex-moll and confederate Gibson egging on the reluctant Powell. Predictably Powell falls in love with the sweet and beautiful Carole. However, all is very well done, things do not necessarily go according to formula, and the ending is something of a surprise.

Though I was about to give up on the Carole Lombard movies after watching two from the set, The Princess Comes Through, and We're Not Dressing (see my review), I was pleasantly surprised by Man Of The World. But then it was really a William Powell movie. Carole didn't have to do much except look good, and she did that very well indeed.

Man Of The World is rough around the edges but rewarding if you stick with it. At an hour and fourteen minutes, a good filler movie.

--------- Post Script (Jan 2014): Since writing this creaky old review, viewings of several other Carol Lombard Lombard pictures, including Love Before Breakfast (1936) (see my review) and the wonderful Twentieth Century (1934) have considerably raised my regard for the beautiful lady's acting ability.