Mon mari et sa fiancée

In the very aptly titled Smart Woman, Mary Astor plays a woman forced to play games when her husband strays and falls in love with another woman. It's based off the Broadway play Nancy's Private Affair, and while I couldn't find anything that linked it to Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, the entire time I was watching the 1931 film adaptation, I kept hearing "A Weekend in the Country" playing in my head.

When Mary's husband, Robert Ames, falls in love with Noel Francis, Mary's utterly destroyed. Her sister- and brother-in-law, Ruth Weston and Edward Everett Horton, convince her that the only way to win back her husband's love is to pretend she's relieved by the situation because she's fallen in love with another man. Before they know it, Mary's invited Noel and her mother, Gladys Gale, down to their country home for the weekend, as well as her in-laws, and the fake boyfriend she's invented, John Halliday. And while you're busy singing Stephen Sondheim's music, everyone's falling in love with everyone and trying to sort out their very messy situation!

All in all, Smart Woman is a cute movie with only one tiny flaw. Robert Ames's character isn't worth all the trouble! He's not very nice and he doesn't treat people very well. Still, if you're a Mary Astor fan, rent this one.

Mary Astor stars as Nancy Gibson, the titular wife who returns from a trip abroad to discover her husband has fallen for another woman. Women of 1931 are, of course, enlightened and modern, so she takes it all in stride. Well, at least she pretends to, but she is devoted to her husband, Don (Robert Ames). So she uses reverse psychology in an attempt to win him back.

Viewers might wonder who is more stupid: Don for cheating on a wife who is beautiful, intelligent, and devoted to a fault? Or Nancy, for wanting to keep Don despite his deceit and stupidity?

Noel Francis plays Peggy Preston, the other woman. She is blonde, of course, and insipidly shallow. John Halliday is wonderful as Sir Guy Harrington, a rich bachelor who develops a crush on Nancy while sharing her homeward cruise. Edward Everett Horton, as Billy Ross, plays his usual comic relief role.

Adapted from the play, "Smart Woman" has a simple plot. But it's a mixture of drama and tragedy that requires Mary Astor to show shades of feelings and to turn on an emotional dime, which she does very adeptly. Her performance is the best part of the film.

A SMART WOMAN uses duplicitous ingenuity to attempt to win back her adulterous husband.

Mary Astor shines in this sophisticated--and unfortunately obscure--little soap opera, which rewards its viewers with an intelligent script and fine acting. Crisp, cool & calculatingly composed, Astor uses her intelligence to get exactly what she wants. Inviting her spouse's mistress to spend the weekend in their country mansion may not seem like the usual tack to follow, but for Astor it's all part of her game plan.

Robert Ames plays Astor's erstwhile husband; Ruth Weston is his outspoken sister. Noel Francis is the gold digger after his money & Gladys Gale is her ambitious mother. All four offer good support, but the best fun comes from John Halliday as an affable English knight agreeably in tune with Astor's schemes and snippy Edward Everett Horton as Ames' brother-in-law. As usual, Horton effortlessly steals his every scene.

The premise behind the film is that if a husband leaves his wife then the wronged woman should jolly well try extra hard to get him back. It's appallingly sexist. That implied behaviour really annoyed me - I'd prefer some satisfying retaliation. So, for the stupid idea that the film promotes and the film's annoying resolution, I'm afraid this has to lose marks for just not connecting with me.

However, the film keeps you watching as Mary Astor (Nancy) gets up to tricks in order to win the totally unappealing Robert Ames (Don) back into her life. Ames is a poorly written character and everyone else in the cast gets their moment to shine apart from him. God knows why he is the centre of Astor's affection. This, in turn, for me, also makes Astor annoying. Nevertheless, it's an easy-to-watch passage of time.

Mary Astor was seen in any number of supporting roles (for example "Midnight" with Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche, just to stay with La Cava productions)but here shows she could hold the stage effortlessly as leading lady. And "stage" is the word since the film's origins as a play for theatre are rather obvious (the same set does for about 70% of the time). The remaining characters are stereotypes and Ames is somewhat wooden but the script is often very amusing indeed and with Gregory La Cava to mastermind the production everything sweeps along splendidly. Though short (65m) and nearly forgotten (no reference book on my shelves mentions this film) this is worth seeing by anyone with a taste for comedies of the period.