Even critics at the time thought this was rubbish but I loved this absurd, weirdly acted nonsense. There's something magical in its badness. Something charming in the way it really does take itself seriously.
Unlike so many awful very early talkies this is not unwatchable, terribly acted, static nor stagey, nor indeed a very early talkie anyway. This is a high budget feature - big(ish) stars, flashy sets and decent photography. It's still an awful film but somehow an entertaining and enjoyable one!
Paramount acquired the rights to film this popular novel originally intending it to be a Paul Lukas and Kay Francis vehicle. Then, to get their money's worth from their departing star they replaced Lukas with Bill Powell. To spice things up they threw in his then fiancé, Carole Lombard as Francis' love rival.
This is Bill Powell's last film for Paramount before his move to Warners. There, maybe because that studio was renowned for its penny pinching technique of using as little film stock as possible, ensuring every inch of film was crammed with as much dialogue as possible, they'd probably talk at about twice the speed they do in this. If this were a WB picture they'd have done it in about half an hour. It's the strangest style of directing I've ever seen and as the film progresses the talking gets even slower with longer and longer .......dramatic .......pauses.
Although an old film, it's not a really old film, so it shouldn't be like this - it feels like one of those very, very early talkies from the late twenties. A critic at the time explained this by suggesting that Mr Mendes couldn't direct. That's wrong, he just had his own rather unique technique. For example, how he makes his dramatic finale even more dramatic is to make the dramatic pauses even longer. At one point there are long pauses between eve....ry syl......a.......ble. If you can adjust your playback speed, try watching this at x1.5, it honestly seems more natural but still about 60% is pauses!
If you can overlook the atrocious direction, nonsensical plot and absurd script, you might enjoy this. Carol Lombard doesn't do much but William Powell, resplendent in top hat is more urbane than any human could be. Kay Francis takes sexiness to Jessica Rabbit levels - even wearing a dress similar to a Dalek suit I had when I was seven and carrying a giant hand muff which looks like she stole a roller from a car wash. This really is so bad it's good.
