My Past

"My Past" -- and in precode Hollywood, you had one -- was released in 1931 and starred Bebe Daniels, her husband, Ben Lyon, Lewis Stone, Joan Blondell, and Natalie Moorhead.

Daniels plays an actress, Doree Macy, who is crazy in love with Robert Byrne (Lyon), a married man whose wife is away supposedly getting a divorce. Meanwhile, an older man, John Thornley (Stone) is in love with Doree also.

Blondell, who is Doree's friend Marion, warns her that these married guys are just out for a good time and their wives are never getting a divorce.

Robert's wife returns, and, as Marion warned, he returns to her. He does love Doree. She acts as if she understands, but she's devastated. She takes up with the gentlemanly Thornley, but her heart isn't in it. She's fond of him, but her heart is still with Robert.

Very precode -- scanty clothes, implied sex, the whole shebang. The acting is okay for the era. As sometimes is found in these very early '30s films, there are big pauses between sentences, probably because people still weren't sure how to talk in the movies. Blondell is a standout, but then, she always is. Even in a small role, she shines.

Lyon became an executive at 20th Century Fox, a job he did while still doing his popular radio show with Daniels in England, where the couple eventually moved. They were married for 41 years, until her death. Lyon is credited with discovering and naming Marilyn Monroe while he worked in casting at Fox.

This movie doesn't move all that quickly but it's short and worth seeing for the cast and the whole precode "aura."

"How did you know I was married?" "For one thing, you have that certain look." "Oh, yeah? Well, you needn't worry about her. You see, Consuelo and I, well, she does as she likes and I do what I like."

Bebe Daniels is at the top of her flirting game here, and looks gorgeous in her various gowns, a sailor outfit, and that bathing suit with the big fish on it. After diving into the water, she strips out of the latter and challenges a young man (her real-life husband Ben Lyon) to catch her, swimming away provocatively. Later she asks him about his marriage and he tells her it's not an issue, because he and his wife have an "understanding." After they spend the night together, she's shown in her lingerie, toweling off her outstretched leg (ah, ya gotta love the pre-Code staples). And this is only one man she's seeing - there's also Lewis Stone's character, who despite looking a bit old to be involved with her, eventually has a physical relationship with her as well (after a passionate kiss, he says "Young lady, you're on the edge of starting something that you don't dare finish," to which she replies "Am I?" before pulling him back in for another).

Her buddy (Joan Blondell) casts doubt on just how open the younger man's marriage is, or whether he's actually getting a divorce ("Take it from me, I know these young, married men"), and sure enough, she's right. His wife (Natalie Moorhead) shows up, and while Daniels' character puts on a brave face, she's heartbroken - but it turns out the wife has a man of her own in Paris ("Poogie", lol), and wants a divorce. It's a bit melodramatic as Daniels' character is then away with Stone's when Lyon's discovers he's free, and the story is told in a rather slow, methodical way in its second half, which was unfortunate. However, while it threatened to turn into a morality story, the ending was rather sweet. When you add that together with the pre-Code acceptance of pre-marital sex and divorce, along with the charms of Daniels and Blondell, it all makes for an enjoyable film.

.....that was a bit boring. There is an interesting set-up with relationship anomiles playing out all over the place. Lewis Stone (John) is the rich sugar daddy type who spends all his time entertaining on his yacht, especially with the company of actress Bebe Daniels (Doree) and her friend Joan Blondell (Marion) who seems to pair off with her sugar daddy Albert Gran (Lionel). Ben Lyon (Bob) works for Stone and is invited on board to one of these yacht adventures and falls in love with Daniels. Uh-oh, should be loads of tension between boss and employee over this one...

Well, there isn't. Stone seems to encourage this other relationship with the woman he loves. What? He also laughs a lot in quite a creepy way which doesn't make any sense. And the film drags. It's good that it depicts a complicated world of relationships but it's just not very realistic. Natalie Moorhead (Consuelo) turns up as Lyon's wife and they have quite a frank discussion about their marriage. It's definitely pre-code material. Watch for the settings and the outfits and the female acting and you get some entertainment out of things. Lewis Stone.....!!....?...weirdo.

Interesting movie for 1931 at best. better Hollywood productions were out the, Acting leaves a bit to be desire. The movie has a very slow and tedious start. One has to admit that the sound quality was pretty compare to others movies of that period. The film quality is also very good. I am not sure if it is because I saw it on Time Warner Classic (TMC) and they may have done some restoration of the original print. Either way the quality is very nice for a movie from that period. Bebe Daniels does her usual fast acting and speech delivery gig. But her acting is also as usual, very average for that era. Overall I will say that this movie is worth watching.

Although Roy DelRuth made his pretty decent version of THE MALTESE FALCON just a few weeks after this, he gives the impression here that he hadn't quite yet mastered how to make a talking picture. This one does creak a bit!

Maybe the sound recording equipment he had for this was particularly primitive or maybe William Wellman 'had borrowed' the decent stuff to make his OTHER MEN'S WOMEN (a much, much better film than this) on the next sound stage - which also featured Joan Blondell. Whatever the reason, the result is that it's one of those pictures where everyone waits their turn to speak - very slowly and carefully as though they're speaking to their bank's automated voice recognition system. This is a major frustration; it really slows everything down giving an artificial and detached feel to the whole thing.

Despite the film's glacial pace, Bebe Daniels puts in a relatively good performance. When you get used to the weird slow motion in real time thing, you can appreciate that she could actually a very good actress. This however is not her finest hour but without her, this wouldn't be watching at all.

It's interesting to compare Bebe Daniels' performance with that of Joan Blondell. Although it was in the silents, Bebe Daniels had over a decade of experience making movies. Joan was a relative newcomer and that sadly shows. As Joan's biggest fan, it pains me to conclude that her acting in this is quite awful. If her future had relied on her performance in this, nobody would ever have heard of her today. Her performance however isn't all that matters, she's just so likeable and lovely that audiences just fell in love with her.

Ignoring the film's main shortcoming the overall look is very impressive and sophisticated - it feels more MGM movie than something from Warner Brothers (and about the rich not the poor). High quality production however doesn't compensate for the flimsy and trivial story and theatrical style script. In a nutshell, it's about a flighty, flirty flapper: Bebe Daniels who is torn between a lovely old (very old) man or younger (married) man. She wants to settle down but he only wants an affair.....is it love or is it lust? .......yes, that old story! It's quite interesting to see something contemporarily familiar in the context of 1930.

Although we don't get to see much of the world beyond the yacht and the posh hotels, as a trip on a celluloid Time Machine, it's a fascinating insight into the attitudes of 1930. Other than that or wanting to see a not very impressive young Joan Blondell in a fairly big supporting role, I cannot think of any reason to watch this. A pointless badly told story about uninteresting people.