C'est mon gigolo

as the wild playboy who depends on his uncle for money. One of the best light actors of the 20s and 30s, Haines shows off his stuff in this mild comedy; he's the whole show. What's important about this film is that it demonstrates what kind of career Haines could have had in Hollywood if he had been willing to play the game and "play straight." Because he wouldn't, Louis B. Mayer, scuttled his career (as he did John Gilbert's) and Haines quickly descended to B pictures. One of the top box-office draws of the late silent/early talkie period, Haines was washed up just a few years after this film. C. Aubrey Smith and Irene Purcell (lovely as the love interest) are fun.

Just a Gigolo is a movie best appreciated by those who are 45 and older and who enjoy older films. It is not a prime time movie. It is probably best enjoyed late at night or on a rainy afternoon. I found the acting in the movie mostly to be, put it lightly, atrocious. However, that was the style in the early films. Watch the lifestyles of the rich and famous in 1931. The best thing about this movie is that it is fairly short, just a little over an hour in length, and will fill empty time and create empty noise. I am most grateful for the short movie. Wine and cheese are on the menu for snacks for this film. Popcorn is okay. The movie may even be a cure for insomnia if it were not for the screeching female voices in the film, particularly the French accented one. It's not so bad to rate it as really bad. It's just bad and I enjoy older films. Not a total waste of time though.

Normally, in his sound films, William Haines would be constantly chattering and go for the broad laughs with over the top often hammy humor. Here he plays it cool pretty much throughout. Haines plays the playboy nephew of Lord George Hampton (C. Aubrey Smith). Lord Hampton has had it with paying for his nephew Robert's scandalous and expensive ways and threatens to cut off his allowance and his inheritance unless he marries. He even names the girl - one from a wealthy family that has never met him and therefore doesn't know what he looks like. At first Robert says no - he's had too many married women to want to wind up playing the fool himself once he is married. Robert's experience has led him to believe all women cheat. Thus Robert makes a bargain with his uncle - if he can bed his wife-to-be in 30 days without her knowing who he actually is, he does not have to marry her. The uncle agrees and the fun begins. Of course the bet between Robert and his uncle isn't put quite as plainly as I put it. This may be the precode era but there were some things you couldn't just come out and say even then. Still this film is pretty sexually bold for its time and is cleverly done. Highly recommended for the precode fan.

One thing that puzzles me is whatever happened to Irene Purcell, who plays Robert's possible fiancée here? She's been just perfect in the MGM films I've seen her in - this one and "The Passionate Plumber". She was great at playing high society types in comedies, but it was just three films and then out for her over at MGM. She did three more films at smaller studios in much smaller parts and left the industry entirely in 1932. I wonder what happened?

William Haines is not believable as a "straight man" in this movie, despite what others think, and so there is no sexual frisson between him and Irene Purcell. They are as brother and sister, but what a sister she is! Really quite contemporary in her deportment, she fascinated me with her performance. As others noted, she came and went - perhaps her interpretations were just too far advanced. But the movie was a hit, and I think she carries Haines through, with her "needy sister" act to his absolutely dispassionate comportment with her. Anyway, one reviewer says Haines had a hand in the set design, and if you love "geometric Deco" (as I do), they are to die for. I kept pausing and studying the sheer complexity of the opening set - way, way cool. And the old folks, C. Aubrey Smith, and Charlotte Granville, are great as Brits who know how to let their youth evolve. A quite amusing scene when the two react to the "sex book" that the young folk are reading. Some things never change. A refreshing move, even if Haines only really engages with the other men and is too much the buffoon with the women for my liking.

The American nephew of an English nobleman is appalled at the prospect of an arranged marriage. To prove to his uncle that all girls are not sweet & innocent, he disguises himself as his intended's paid dancing companion, to see if she'll have an affair with him. To his surprise, he falls in love with her. When she catches on to the trick, will she acknowledge her hidden love for him, or will she continue to treat him as JUST A GIGOLO?

William Haines, always enjoyable to watch, sparks this little pre-Production Code comedy, in which his silly-billy antics are toned down a bit. He's particularly fun in the climaxing scenes at the San Sebastian Inn, when he thinks Irene Purcell has surrendered a wee bit too far to his charms. Miss Purcell gives a pert performance as a spoiled young noblewoman in need of firm handling. Wonderful old Sir C. Aubrey Smith is excellent as a crusty lord who has much to learn about modern youth, circa 1931.

Haines was one of the art directors on this picture. The following year, with his dismissal from MGM, he would start a new & very successful career as a Hollywood interior decorator.