Housewife

Housewife (1934)

** (out of 4)

Boring melodrama from Warner has a copyright expert (George Brent) becoming successful and leaving his wife (Ann Dvorak) for a vamp (Bette Davis). If you watch Turner Classic Movies late at night of early in the morning then you'll discover all sorts of lesser known titles and this is one of them but it's also like most of the melodramas they show. The film is predictable from start to finish if you've seen at least one movie like this. The film takes place in the pre-code era but sadly the movie doesn't try to do anything dangerous and instead just plays everything pretty straight. The story is your typical dumb guy gets famous an leaves for someone he thinks is better than his wife but none of this works and it just leads to one of the dumbest endings in film history. I'm really mixed when it comes to Brent because he's really hit and miss with me. I'd have to call his performance here one of the misses because he's really bland throughout and doesn't bring any energy to the role. Davis is somewhat better in the film but the screenplay doesn't do her character any justice. Dvorak is the best thing in the film but again, she isn't given too much to do.