Mulher Infiel

Not quite 'The Crowd' to be frank, but a very worthy, suitably downbeat and constantly entertaining depiction of conditions in Depression America. Bankhead is the spoiled heiress who goes broke, and not very graciously at that, reunites with her old beau, Montgomery the sausage manufacturer, and learns valuable lessons walking the streets to buy medicine for him when he is recovering from a vicious attack by truck-drivers when he was trying out as a scab. So, pretty down-to-earth stuff this, right? But of course, MGM being MGM, even in these daring Pre-Code days, and Tallulah being Tallulah, the first third of the film is packed with state of the art glamor and a little too self-absorbed and complacent to blend in well with the rest of the film.

Miss Bankhead slouches through the various modes of the film, very much in a one size fits all kind of characterization, but she says her lines well and growls her 'dahlings' to every heart's content. You don't quite believe her heart is in it when she quotes the percentage of streetwalkers claiming they all had "good reason". Robert Montgomery is the real treat as the eternal optimist who just cannot be held down for long. He is wonderful and has an authentic vulnerability. The best scene, though, is Tallulah's in collaboration with the director. Exasperated at the sight of her ailing husband lying there in bed Tallulah quickly dresses to go out. The sympathetic landlady asks her where she's going. "To the drugstore". Landlady: "You look a little ... pale". So she obviously guesses Tallulah's about to prostitute herself and helps her apply her alluring makeup in her own understated way. By the way, it's a remarkable film.

For most of the 1930s MGM scarcely noticed there was a Depression going on, suffocating its films in production values and stars. But this fairly ludicrous soap opera starts Tallulah Bankhead out in Art Deco trappings and flouncy evening gowns and sends her down, down, down the social ladder, from high-priced mistress to woman of the streets. It's all for the love of Robert Montgomery, on a less precipitous but still steep downward path (he starts out as a $20,000-a-year ad man, a fortune in 1932, and becomes an unfortunate scab truck driver). Tallulah gets to laugh her throaty laugh and break mirrors and throw tantrums, but you see why she didn't become a movie star: It's not an expressive movie face, and the voice, fascinating as it is, hasn't much variety. Plus, this sort of part was so familiar -- think Ruth Chatterton, Kay Francis, Constance Bennett -- that one suspects audiences tired of it. Despite the ridiculous plot conveniences and unconvincing happy ending, it's a frank film coming from this studio, and the dialog has moments of sharpness. Hugh Herbert is good in an Edward Arnold kind of role, and Tallulah's something to see and hear, even if another throaty laugh or "dahling" is always just around the corner.

Faithless is a film about a rich society girl (Tallulah Bankhead) and an average, middle class citizen (Bob Montgomery) who fall in love. The two are at each other's throats though, because each wants to live off the money he or she has. The two do not marry because of this quarrel, and although she loses her money, she lives by borrowing from her wealthy friends and he loses his job and scrounges for jobs during the Depression. Finally, the two meet again, poor and hungry, and decide to marry since they have nothing else to lose. But the Depression gets them down, and an accident forces her to make some tough decisions.

Bankhead is beautiful at first and becomes appropriately harsh as her character loses her money. She is not exotic the way Marlene Dietrich was, but her accent is detectable.

Montgomery is excellent in this movie. His character is consistent and good and perhaps because of this and his five o-clock shadow, he is absolutely gorgeous.

Overall, this is an entertaining pre-code film with a great cast and a few surprises up it's sleeve.

The wonderful Tallulah Bankhead shines in her last Hollywood film of the 30s, playing a spoiled heiress who loses her money and her man (Robert Montgomery), as well as her dignity, on the way to learning what is important. Typical weepie of the early 30s is a terrific vehicle for Bankhead in the kind of role often played by Constance Bennett----glamorous, slinky, and bitchy. Excellent dramatic support from the usually comic Hugh Herbert.

Faithless is a 1932 weepie that casts Tallulah Bankhead as a carefree rich girl in love with hard-working advertising man, Robert Montgomery. It's her last Hollywood starring role for more than a decade.

Bankhead is great as she goes from playgirl to kept girl to street walker. Montgomery also goes bust and gets sick. There is a happy ending.

Hugh Herbert plays a nasty, noncomic part, Louise Closser Hale plays the landlady, Anna Appel is another landlady, Virginia Howell plays Herbert's jealous wife, Maurice Murphy (just dreadful) plays the younger brother,Henry Kolker is a banker, and Sterling Holloway is a photographer.

This is probably Bankhead's best 30s performance on film.... She is glamorous, slinky, funny, and pathetic all at once. Her drunk scene with Hugh Herbert is excellent as she laughs her throaty laugh even though she is lost and knows it. Montgomery us looser than usual. Herbert is surprisingly effective as the cad. And Hale is hilarious as the cheap landlady. This was the seventh of Bankhead's early talkies and her last til Lifeboat; she had also made 5 silent films.