Indiscreta

Indiscreet (1931)

"I guess I'm just a modern girl with an old fashion conscience." This is Gloria Swanson's character facing what must have been a nearly universal problem of a young woman in the 1920s and 30s. (The parallel these days would be the problem many women face of choosing between career and family.) The problem is severe here, because it has to do with love. And women were expected to save their virtue (at least physically) for the one they would marry. And if they did not "wait" (as no doubt many or most did not, one way or another), should the "tell" the one they are to be with for good.

This is a lot to handle--it's real, it matters, and it treads on themes not easily touched in movies without being too frank. Luckily this is pre-Code Hollywood and there was room for diving in, a little.

The best parts of this movie are simply incredible. The writing and acting in the long scene about twenty minutes in is as tender and honest and nuanced as it gets. The man playing against Swanson in this section is good, an excellent support who doesn't overplay his hand, but it's Swanson who makes it a sincerely felt and penetrating.

The filming throughout is fairly simple. Sometimes there is a sense of camera movement to help inhabit the space, but more often it's about tight framing and composition, which is just a step from the frozen camera on a tripod. This pushes more importance on the actors, their movements and expressions.

Swanson is most famous as a silent actress. This is partly because she really was a legendary silent star (her most famous movies might be "Sadie Thompson" in 1928 or the earlier "Don't Change Your Husband", but she also did a quasi-pre-cursor to this, "The Scarlet Letter" in 1926). But Swanson is also the great silent icon in Billy Wilder's 1950 "Sunset Blvd," and this oddly is her greatest fame (and for good reason, she's amazing, as is the movie). But here, in 1931, we have an early talkie with Swanson doing just fine in normal voice, even singing some.

The director here, it might be fun to note, also directed such enduring gems as the two versions of the same story, "Love Affair" and "Affair to Remember," as well as a pair of snappy Dunne/Grant movies. This one shows the early talent for comedy and serious drama rolled into a single movie with surprising force.

To be clear, there are lots of this movie that don't rise up. It's all entertaining and generally well executed (you have to overlook a couple of hammy secondary characters). But it doesn't gel or show even the originality of the movies of its own time, let alone over time. If you like this era and these themes, or Gloria Swanson, do check it out. Avoid the easily downloaded version (legally) on the internet--the sound is atrocious and fragmented.

This 1931 release is weighed down by too much wan dialogue (further impaired by a damaged soundtrack). Gloria Swanson, playing some sort of sophisticated commercial artist, dumps her philandering boyfriend (weasly-faced Monroe Owsley as… what else? an irresponsible party boy) for a novelist (charmingly played by Ben Lyon), only to discover months later that her innocent younger sister (Barbara Kent) is now engaged to the cad, whereupon she plots to undo the union. Inserted into this rather unexciting scenario are two good DeSylva, Brown & Henderson numbers, both sung by Swanson ("If You Haven't Got Love" and "Come to Me," the latter sung twice); the music to "One More Time" is heard in a night club scene. If this seems odd for a straight comedy-drama, the reason is that DBH originally wrote the script as a musical. Too bad their plan didn't pan out. Swanson commands the screen but some of the situations she is required to play have dated badly. There are a couple of cute bits of slapstick worked in at a breakfast gathering and a ship's deck, but it's mostly routine and worth a look and listen only if you're a fan of any of the stars or if you like DeSylva-Brown and Henderson songs.

Of all the many silent era stars, most of them female, whose careers would fizzle out in the sound era, the finest of them all was Gloria Swanson. A consummate actress since the late 1910s with a seemingly effortless ability to express vast amounts without stepping out of the bounds of realism, her skill and versatility were initially enough to secure her lead roles in the earliest talkies. Indiscreet is however among her last pictures before going into a retirement of sorts.

The movie is a romantic musical scripted by Buddy de Silva and directed by Leo McCarey, and is very much a product of its "pre-code" time. Just as the Marx Brothers comedies of this era had plots loosely thrown together for the sake of laughs, Indiscreet has a plot loosely thrown together for the sake of cheeky innuendo. One gets the impression that de Silva was a fan of rather crude sexual humour, and would been downright crass if he'd been allowed, the jokes are dressed up in such a sophisticated wit it seems almost admirable. Director McCarey had spent the silent era making slapstick shorts, and this is the earliest feature I have seen of his, but he seems to have adapted well, utilizing the long takes and relaxed camera that stood him in good stead for silent comedy. His gradual angle changes for the first musical number, "If You Haven't Got Love", eventually moving round to have Swanson facing the camera, are a nice way of subtly building up the song. It's a far cry from the ostentatious musical direction that would start to appear a few years later, but it fits the needs of these small, intimate numbers, and hints towards his incredibly light touch for 1944 Oscar-winner Going My Way.

And Miss Swanson's tuneful voice is a pleasant surprise, especially since few ex-silent stars could properly enunciate their lines, let alone sing. Her style seems entirely undaunted by the switch to sound. Still, she remains primarily a performer of visual expression, and Indiscreet provides us with some classic Swanson moments – a devilish flick of her eyes here, a sarcastic glance there. We also get to see some of the best examples of her comedic talents, such as her indignant attempt to butter crackers during the dinner party scene. This also comes as a surprise, since although Swanson started out at comedy studio Keystone she hated her tenure there, and never showed the sense of humour she does here. The other cast members of Indiscreet are certainly adequate, but none of them really stands out, with the exception of supporting player Arthur Lake who is rather good fun to watch. But even he remains a mere satellite around Swanson's star.

So, Indiscreet begs the question: If Swanson is so good here, and seems so smooth in her adaptation to sound, why did she stop making movies, barring one or two sporadic appearances before her spectacular comeback for Sunset Boulevard? It was probably at least partly because roles then tended to dry up for leading ladies once they were a few years into their thirties, and I doubt Swanson would have enjoyed living out her career playing matrons and mothers. And besides, it seems Swanson was by this point getting a little bored of Hollywood and movie life, and probably had in her more than a little of Norma Desmond's contempt for the talkies. But whatever her reasons, as Indiscreet shows, her departure was cinema's loss.

INDISCREET (United Artists, 1931), directed by Leo McCarey, is not an early movie edition to the 1958 Cary Grant-Ingrid Bergman comedy bearing the same name, but a comedy based on the play "Obey That Impulse" by songwriters, Lew Brown, B.G. DeSylva and Ray Henderson, who also produced. Starring Gloria Swanson, a popular leading actress of the silent screen who has found some luck in early talkies as THE TRESPASSER (1929), who not only has a couple of suitors for INDISCREET, but gets to sing a couple of songs as well.

The story begins on New Year's Eve where Geraldine Trent (Gloria Swanson), a New York dress designer, decides to break off her engagement with Jim Woodward (Monroe Owsley), whom she feels isn't worthy of having him for her husband. Through Timothy Collins, better known as Buster (Arthur Lake), Jerry is introduced to his friend, Tony Blake (Ben Lyon), a novelist, who practices what he preaches through his latest book, "Obey That Impulse" by immediately falling in love with Gerry, wanting to marry her first, then getting to know her later. Finding him a bit crazy in his actions, Jerry finds Tony to be worthy of becoming her husband. In the meantime, Gerry's kid sister, Joan (Barbara Kent), convent educated in Paris, whom she hasn't seen in two years, is returning home by boat. Seriously in love with a man she met abroad, Jerry is surprised the man she's engaged to is Jim rather than Buster, who loves her. Gerry attempts on breaking up their relationship, but Joan refuses to listen to her warnings that she's engaged to a cad. At a social function in Westbury hosted by Jim's conservative parents (Henry Kolker and Nella Walker), where their engagement is to be announced, at first Jerry, who attends, pretends to have a touch of family insanity. When that doesn't work, she pretends her love for Jim, which hurts her more than helps when they are caught together by Joan and Tony. Maude Eburne also co-stars as Gerry's Aunt Kate.

Reportedly produced as a musical, only two songs survive in the existing print, including Gloria Swanson singing to the camera to "If You Haven't Got the Love," followed later by two renditions of "Come to Me." The problem with the song interludes is that Swanson is no singer. Her vocalizing style weakens the film. One notable scene, however, occurs during her shower/bath scene that reveals Swanson in silhouette behind glass shower door. What makes INDISCREET interesting viewing today is watching Gloria Swanson years before her triumph comeback performance in SUNSET BOULEVARD (Paramount, 1950), and Arthur Lake before winning immortality as Dagwood Bumstead in the "Blondie" movie series for Columbia Pictures (1938-1950).

Theatrically released at 92 minutes, circulating prints are 73 minutes. Being a reissue print minus twenty minutes of material makes one wonder what was deleted, and if INDISCREET will ever be seen again in its original theatrical format. Sudden cuts and blackouts that have been circulating on public television and video cassette since the early 1980s, along with DVD presentations, make INDISCREET both uneven and disjointed. A public domain title, which had some television showings in the now defunct cable channels as Tempo or Channel America back in the late 1980s. While a possible restoration may or may not make much of a difference, at least its original length might make better sense in its scenario, indicating how INDISCREET was originally presented to theater audiences way back in 1931. (**)

Not by any means a good film (which even director McCarey admits -- see his interview with Peter Bogdanovich in "Who the Devil Made It"), but nonetheless an interesting one. As McCarey points out, the beginning of sound was a difficult period in the film industry, and this one suffered from the "no more musicals!" diktat which followed -- of course -- several musical flops. So the script -- originally a musical by the great team of DeSylva, Brown and Henderson -- was divested of most of its songs and rewritten in ten days. "How was that?," asks Bogdanovich. "Lousy," says McCarey. Well, yes, it's strangely unfocused, veering nervously between comedy and melodrama, and making the viewer nervous withal. Yet it is fascinating to watch Miss Swanson, who, in one of her first sound pictures, combines the gestural grace of the best silent acting with an already secure command of the more naturalistic technique of sound film acting (and has a better than decent singing voice, besides). As with many 1930-31 releases, this one is plagued by a very uneven soundtrack -- one marvels that these problems were so fully overcome within a year or two. Supporting players include Maude Eburne, charmingly blowzy in a Marie Dressler role, and the actor whose most famous performance is that of Katherine Hepburn's father in "Holiday" -- here playing more pleasantly a similar (though slightly less obnoxious) role. Arthur Lake, best known as Dagwood Bumstead, is not easy to watch, but Ben Lyon makes quite a reasonably handsome and charming leading man. Obviously a very uneven film, but worth seeing for its minor virtues.