Dishonour Bright

Another excellent Ben Travers farce for Tom Walls to revel in – this a delicious take on love, honour and truth. It's delicious if you can overlook its apparent enormous antiquity, the mores of centuries ago reflected back to you now to interpret, but more so if you can overlook or at least struggle through the probable poor condition of the film itself. The copy I just saw was choppy, with abrupt editing and wobbles, lacerations and bubbles on the print throughout, but it was bearable once the story took hold.

A smooth talking but honest Walls is named as a co-respondent in a divorce case, his good reputation is trashed by lawyer Cecil Parker, who has a beautiful wife Betty Stockfeld who gets to like Walls who likes her back but then gets married to Diana Churchill and then – well, then the convolutions abound. Involving a skinny punk named George Sanders and his oversize accomplice Eugene Palette. Basil Radford has a bit part playing Parker's brother and a large part in incredibly loud cackles; and Hubert Harben gets a chance to stick the boot in for once and relishes it. It's all refreshingly done, and an almost frank modern romance, simply told and resolved - and probably as sophisticated as British films would get in the '30's. Er, it's not essential to the plot at all but did Walls keep the brooch as some kind of recompense for the damage that was previously done to his honour?

Some people might not guess that they're all talking and thinking about sex in here but they are, and the implications involved in breaking moral codes – the exquisite torture faced by two married people "who couldn't be any happier – or at least, mustn't be." Wonderful stuff.

I think "Dishonour Bright" would play better to British audiences than American ones....mostly because the picture IS British and is about British morality. Still, it is enjoyable regardless and worth seeing.

The story begins with Stephen Champion (Tom Walls) being excoriated in court by a zealous prosecutor, Vincent Crane (Cecil Parker). In this case, Champion has been named a co-respondant...a man whose meddling has ruined a marriage. Champion seems amused by all this and readily admits loving the woman.

Later, Champion meets Mrs. Crane (Betty Stockfield) and they hit it off very well. But when Mr. Crane discovers this, he assumes the worst....and Champion agrees never to see the lady again.

Some time passes. Champion has just gotten married and on his honeymoon he once again is reunited with Mrs. Crane. It seems some blackmailers are trying to get money out of her...though she's completely innocent of any wrongdoing. They imply that she's having an affair...and Champion steps in to save her honor. What's next? And, what will happen if Mr. Crane learns that Champion and his wife are seeing each other?

This is an excellent comedy of manners. The only shortcomings are that the film is a tad slow at times and Walls seems oddly cast as a macho sort of hero. Still, it's well worth your time and is well made.

By the way, although the American actor Eugene Pallette received second billing, he is NOT that prominent in the film and probably should have received fifth billing. I assume this is because he was a relatively famous actor and the studio was hoping his being featured would help ticket sales.

Does honesty about your faults and normal human desires make you respectable or dis-respectable? Is it possible to feel attraction, but not act on it? This film has the trappings of fun frivolity: disarmingly candid and confident leading man, glamorous clothes, gorgeous leading lady, contrived situations, international travel. But its light touch gets a tad deeper than you'd expect it to. Interesting to watch understated sexiness and to see where the plot goes.

Apart from George Sanders as an apprentice cad/con artist, I'd never heard of any of the cast. All were good.

The main characters' exchange about honesty and respectability, alluded to above, is worth watching for. If you're used to Hollywood films, this English piece could be a refreshing change -- or a disappointment to you.

This movie is directed by Walls and written by Ben Travers, a cohort from Walls' Aldwych Farces days -- in fact, this may be based upon one of them. Walls is possessed of the twin sins of kindness and candor. This means he winds up being the co-respondent in divorce cases. He marries one of the divorcees, Diana Churchill, not because it's the right thing to do, but because he loves her, and they are off on their honeymoon in Switzerland, where they run across Betty Stockfeld. She's the wife of Cecil Parker, the divorce attorney who got Walls to pay five thousand pounds in damages in Miss Churchill's divorce. She was also the only person in court who smiled at him when he was being candid.

Miss Stockfeld is lured away from the hotel by George Sanders, who is playing, well, George Sanders. He's working with Eugene Palette in blackmailing wives. Walls knocks down Sanders and scares him off, but Palette has Miss Stockfeld's brooch and wants to be paid off. So they all go to Paris, where Cecil Parker turns up....

In general, I find Mr. Walls a capable but low-key performer. Here, it works very well for his nonchalant observations on humanity. There's a lot of wit in the lines and some real human emotion. It's one I can really recommend.

Does honesty about your faults and normal human desires make you respectable or dis-respectable? Is it possible to feel attraction, but not act on it? This film has the trappings of fun frivolity: disarmingly candid and confident leading man, glamorous clothes, gorgeous leading lady, contrived situations, international travel. But its light touch gets a tad deeper than you'd expect it to. Interesting to watch understated sexiness and to see where the plot goes.

Apart from George Sanders as an apprentice cad/con artist, I'd never heard of any of the cast. All were good.

The main characters' exchange about honesty and respectability, alluded to above, is worth watching for. If you're used to Hollywood films, this English piece could be a refreshing change -- or a disappointment to you.