Honor Among Lovers

Owsley, who was the second male lead in Honor Among Lovers (HAL), is little known and seldom remembered today. Too bad, because he had a special acting talent that enabled him (like in HAL) to convincingly play both straight "good guys" and edgy "bad guys" at one and the same time. In the 1940s, that skill was also represented by several roles created by the young Vincent Price. Owsley could project menace quite easily, and you were never sure exactly what he was going to do next. The famous film historian Lawrence J. Quirk best described Owsley as " a brilliant actor who died early in life (and) had in common with another goose-pimply-grater, Dwight Frye, an ability to make the collective audience's hair stand on end. He came on with a sandpaper-oozy-with-glue repellence that perfectly contrasted with the handsome profiles and bejeweled shapelies around him." In HAL, Owsley certainly provided a clear distinction to the matinee-idol like appearance of stalwart Fredric March in one of his entertaining early leading man roles. And strange as it may now seem, Owsley gave us a performance in HAL that made it seem plausible to believe that he and Claudette Colbert (in only her eighth movie) could end up as a real married couple in the film!

HAL's dense plot and curious title are pretty much irrelevant when considered by today's audiences. However, contemporary viewers of HAL will be almost immediately struck by its pre-code references to pre-marital sex, workplace sexual harassment, marital physical violence and adultery that were made without batting an eyelash! The early feminist director Dorothy Arzner kept the proceeding moving at a brisk pace, and enabled March and Colbert to look quite handsome, beautiful, and charming.

While HAL is not a particularly memorable film, it does stand out as a cinematic record that captures March, Colbert, Owsley and director Arzner at the dawn of their noteworthy movie careers. While Owsley and Arzner soon faded into obscurity, March and Colbert would shortly become very significant in Hollywood and emerge as film stars of the very first rank for many years to come.

One last word about the long forgotten Monroe Owsley. Quirk in his illustrated biography of Claudette Colbert stated that Owsley was given a rather unflattering nickname by his fellow colleagues "because his sadistic treatment of the fair sex on screen .....came off as serpentinely evil.". While that may be a harsh way to refer to a fine actor's rather unique talents, it does remind us of just how remarkable and varied the roster of performers was during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

We've all had to sit through those tedious sexual harassment videos at work – bland, patronizing productions that are required viewing for all new employees. Companies could make the experience a whole lot more fun if they just showed this film instead.

Moustache-sporting Fredric March is wealthy CEO Jerry Stafford, a debonair gadabout who secretly pines for his cute and unattached secretary Julie Traynor (Claudette Colbert). Not so secretly, actually – within the first ten minutes Stafford hits on Julie with abandon and then steals a kiss which leaves her flustered. He brushes it off with a "I was surprised just as much as you were" (though a careful reviewing of the scene confirms that he wasn't surprised at all), then pops open the wine – they're having lunch in his office, natch – and asks her to go on a cruise around the world with him. Safe to say, this guy would be in white collar prison these days. Even better, a few scenes later Julie marries her low-incomed broker of a fiancé (Philip Craig, as played by the Pee Wee Herman-looking Monroe Owsley); she reports to work the following Monday to tell Stafford she won't go on that cruise with him after all, on account of marriage. Stafford's response? He fires her!

I should mention here that Jerry Stafford is the hero of this film. Yes, we're certainly in the world of 1930s cinema.

Stafford doesn't turn out to be the biggest cad. That would be Craig, who by his and Julie's first anniversary has become wealthy, due mostly to the money Stafford has given his brokerage firm. Craig loses all of his newfound wealth on a silk deal Stafford cautioned against. Only problem is, Craig used some of Stafford's money as well…without telling him. Destitute, Julie goes to Stafford and asks for money, offering herself in exchange. Here the movie becomes like the 1930 version of "The Cheat" (available on the Pre-Code Hollywood DVD set), with foul play, accidental shootings, and exonerations. Only in this movie no one gets branded.

This was the second of four on screen pairings for Colbert and March. The following year they reunited for DeMille's "Sign of the Cross" and, a month after that, for Mitchell Leisen's "Tonight Is Ours" (filmed in late '32 but released in January '33 – and ostensibly credited to director Stuart Walker, who according to all and sundry did nothing). I enjoy these two together, though apparently Colbert didn't; March was notorious for getting a bit too "familiar" with his leading ladies. Colbert reportedly disliked the man – there are stories of March wandering around "in a daze" on the set of "Sign of the Cross," he was so nuts about her.

Overall, a predictable melodrama that's most memorable for its (nowadays) jawdropping displays of sexual harassment in the workplace and the fact that it features three celebrities (Colbert, March, and a twenty one year-old Ginger Rogers) on the brink of their still-enduring fame. Dorothy Arzner's directorial work is okay, but nothing incredible -- the camera's static most times and, other than a solemn scene of Claudette walking up a hauntingly-lit staircase toward the end of the film, there aren't many novel shots. Arzner's work was much better in her subsequent film with March, "Merrily We Go To Hell" (also included on the Pre-Code Hollywood DVD set).

You might think that one of those early 1930s 'women's films' about a girl who marries the wrong man is not for you? Don't think that - this is brilliant! OK, essentially it is just a trashy soap but it's fantastic - honestly!

So why would a Cagney fan watch this? It's made for women, it's written by a woman, directed by a woman and staring THE woman of the 1930s. This isn't the usual type of movie I'd consider watching but because I'm weirdly infatuated with Claudette Colbert I gave it a go. So glad I did! It might be because I wasn't expecting much but I found this absolutely enthralling.

For a film made in 1931, it's extraordinarily well made and the acting is outstanding. We've got none of that theatrical, silent movie type over-gesturing or gazing wistfully into the camera which plagued many early 1930s pictures - this has naturalistic acting and realistic, believable real characters.

The story is nothing original - a pretty girl, chased by two men marries the wrong one. It's not however a sickly sweet romantic melodrama (like one of those mushy Kay Francis films), no, this works so well because its two leads are so utterly real and likeable. You become totally engaged with the romantic dilemmas and emotional traumas of Colbert and March. They're both so natural and real, avoiding the usual clichéd stereotypes.

Claudette Colbert is dazzling, her perfectly well developed character is flirty and bubbly but also sensible and intelligent. Fredric March, playing a millionaire isn't the usual over entitled cad, he's charming and suave but he's also sensitive and a genuinely really nice guy. Dorothy Arzner's supporting cast also give refreshingly proper performances as well portraying real people: Charlie Ruggles plays his usual inebriated friend and Ginger Rogers, still in her 'Betty Boop' phase is fun.

This has a much more modern feel to it than a lot of early 30s films whilst still retaining that naive charm of the era. It's 100% entertaining.

Another ponderous example of Arzner's apparent disdain for men and marriage. (Either good men turn bad or bad men reform only through the love of a good woman.) The film does contain a few, as Billy Wilder would say, "drop the popcorn bag" moments, to its credit; but overall, it's a dark, unimaginative story, painted with the very broad strokes and heavy hand of the director.

A virtue, since Pre-Code, it treats illicit love and extra-marital affairs with a refreshing boldness; yet pre-1960s, it manages to retain that "Golden Era" emphasis on romance to the extent that its plot allows.

But the acting here is the redeeming feature. Claudette Colbert, true to form, quietly smolders as a private secretary-cum-wife caught between the romantic propositions of two businessmen. Fredric March is surprisingly convincing as both a jilted playboy and the turned-better hero. One of the most fantastic pieces of acting I've seen involves a scene between them, where married Colbert again rejects -- though with great desire to do otherwise -- his now-honorable, but extra-marital advances. The film is worth seeing just for this scene.

The supporting cast ranges widely. Owsley delivers a snicker-worthy portrayal of the "other man", but Charlie Ruggles and Ginger Rogers take in his supporting slack with hilarious style.

In this romantic melodrama from Paramount Pictures and director Dorothy Arzner, Claudette Colbert stars as Julia Traynor, secretary to wealthy business mogul Jerry Stafford (Fredric March). The two work great together, but when Jerry reveals that he has romantic feelings for her, Julia states that she has a boyfriend, Philip (Monroe Owsley), and that they are to be married. After some time in drunken commiseration with his dissolute pal Monty (Charlie Ruggles), Jerry comes to accept the union of Julia and Philip, and even allows Philip to invest money for him, which leads to problems for everyone. Also featuring Pat O'Brien in his feature debut.

This is light on plot and style, and its appeal rests with the performers, all of whom are good, although Owsley makes one wonder what Colbert saw in him. Ginger Rogers is amusing as a dim-bulb chipper companion of Ruggles. This marked one of the first appearances of March's mustache.