Consolation Marriage

Irene Dunne and Pat O'Brien marry each other on the rebound after each of their true loves marry someone else. It is agreed to be an "open" marriage, where each can leave at any time with no questions asked. The film tries to answer the question: what happens if either of their former loves came back and want them? That is exactly what happens in duplicate - both loves, Myrna Loy and Lester Vail, return almost at the same time and want their former sweethearts back. I enjoyed watching the stars perform even though the story was routine and the final outcome was never really in doubt. The supporting cast, especially John Halliday, was all very good. Myrna Loy was still stuck in her "bad girl" roles.

Watch for the scene where Dunne and O'Brien drive by New York's RKO Mayfair. Its marquee is emblazoned with lights heralding two RKO features shown earlier in 1931, A Woman of Experience and Millie. You can even pick out ZaSu Pitts on the marquee, but a large screen TV and a VCR in the slow motion mode will help.

Since I first saw "The Awful Truth," Irene Dunne has been one of the few performers whose presence in a movie will make me watch it. No matter what.

This one is a real case of no matter what.

(For the record, the others include Jean Harlow, Jean Arthur, and Constance Bennett.)

This is a women's picture, directed at a snail's pace.

In it, Ms. Dunne sports an exceptionally unflattering hair design, which makes her virtually unrecognizable as the star of such classics as the above-mentioned "Awful Truth," Theodora Goes Wild," and "Showboat."

She looks like Edna May Oliver. She looks like Eleanor Roosevelt (my greatest heroine of the past two or three hundred years but hardly a beauty.)

In this poky tale, Dunne actually leaves her child briefly. The child is indeed pudgy and very unappealing but women must have stalked out of theaters at that point.

She and Pat O'Brien are not the most likely of couples but they are meant in the plot not to be. They are certainly more believable than Dunne and Spencer Tracy in unendurable "A Guy Named Joe."

Although the first ten minutes of the film are a trial, relishing as it does the cacophony of early films, the sheer bravado of Pat O'Brien and the iridescent charm of Irene Dunne soon make up for the horror of Myrna Loy, as stiff and plastic as her hairdo, and John Halliday, as a weak, chinless cretin musician. Once these two are left behind, the screenplay transcends its material and the dialogue and wit are as illuminating as the key lighting. The interaction between Dunne and O'Brien is what people mean when they say: "They don't make movies like this anymore." The two simply become more than the sum of their parts.

Discussing the ending would be akin to drowning a kitten. Suffice it to say that this is soap opera at its best and once the two weak sisters re-appear and disappear, we are left with an ending that allows us to feel morally uplifted. The material is dated but the inter-action between these two beginning stars of yesteryear makes up for any weaknesses. To fault the film for its age is simply ridiculous and makes such critics even less aware of just how good Hollywood films once were -- crowsfeet and all.

Pat O'Brien and Irene Dunne seem distinctly not made for each other in this odd romance, where she, a coffee shop proprietress, and he, a sports writer, are jilted by their respective fiances, meet cute, get a nice friendship going, and decide to get married. The open-marriage conceit feels daringly modern for 1931, but the dialog's pat and the plot coincidences are hard to swallow. Their respective true loves, Myrna Loy and Lester Vail, each come back from failed marriages at about the same time, and Dunne and O'Brien each leaves his/her spouse to pick up the pieces. It's hard to see why, when Loy is playing such a vain bore, and Vail such a needy weakling, and Dunne has an uncomfortable speech where she says goodbye to her baby daughter--her baby daughter!--to run off with an old lover. We all know the leads are going to discover they really love each other, but it's done so perfunctorily, with O'Brien just remarking to Loy, "Wouldn't it be funny if we turned out to be just friends?" and bolting upstairs to Dunne just in time for the happy fadeout. That's another thing--she can't make a great deal of money running a coffee shop, and he's unemployed more often than not, yet they have a gorgeous New York townhouse. Dunne's skill is somewhat evident, and O'Brien's fast talk is always entertaining, but he's not an ideal romantic lead, and this is not a credible romance.

Man, this thing is old. Old in years, yes, but a film can be old and still fresh and relevant. This is old in that it's melodramatic and irrelevant, and dated.

"Consolation Marriage" is from 1931 and stars Irene Dunne, Pat O'Brien, Myrna Loy, John Halliday, and Lester Vail. Dunne is Mary Brown Porter, who loses her childhood sweetheart, Aubrey (Lester Vail) to a rich woman. Mary tends to be a fairly understanding woman. Or else she's masochistic.

She meets Steve Porter (O'Brien), another jiltee, and they decide to get married, even though they aren't in love. There's an understanding that Steve is still in love with the girl of his dreams, Elaine (Myrna Loy), but they keep breaking up. Mary again goes along with this arrangement.

When I saw that Myrna Loy was supposed to be playing the other woman, I thought it was a mistake when I saw her. She did not look remotely like herself. Later I realized it was indeed Loy, who made a dazzling blond, beautifully gowned and coiffed.

Steve and Mary get a dog and have a baby, but Steve slips away often to be involved with Elaine. Then Mary gets her big chance with Jeff (John Halliday). Will she take it? And will Steve ever leave her for Elaine?

It's the rare woman who has the other woman over to her house and helps her dress.

This is a movie about class distinction, a big topic in the old days, so it has a certain formality found in the theater and film before the Depression brought in the working man playwrights.

I always liked Pat O'Brien, but I've never quite understood why he was used as a leading man in these romantic movies. Comedy, certainly. However, unlike the other character actors who became leads - Bogart, Robinson, Cagney, etc. - O'Brien was not as successful.

Irene Dunne is lovely in a difficult role, that of a woman being walked all over, putting up with it, and keeping her dignity.

John Halliday refers to himself as an "old man," and I thought to myself, "I'll bet he's 40" - you know how differently age was perceived in those days. Turned out he was 50.

This is one of Dunne's first films, and if you're a huge fan, you may want to see it. I don't recommend it. At around 90 minutes, it seems like it's four hours long.