Faithless

Whatever words one may choose to describe the acting attributes of Tallulah Bankhead, versatile is not likely to be one of them. This is clearly illustrated in "Faithless," where her specialized abilities unsuccessfully attempt to make convincing a complete character transformation: spoiled rich girl without an appreciation of either the value of money or strength of character, to a steadfast, realistic woman who knows what matters in life, even if she has been soiled in the process of learning. Tallulah does well enough with the "before" - as one might expect - but less well with the "after." Despite having fallen a long way into poverty and prostitution, the character retains her drawing-room manner of expressing emotion, her hair and makeup remain meticulous at all times, and her suffering is barely noticeable. This was not an ideal part for Tallulah, and she does not generate much sympathy (try Constance Bennett or Barbara Stanwyck).

Robert Montgomery is similarly miscast: playing a character chronically unemployed during the Depression, the actor maintains his gentlemanly bearing and patrician manner even as a truck driver. There are settings in which his acting style doesn't work (see also his role as a convict in "The Big House"), and this is one of them.

Hugh Herbert's complete departure from his usual screen character of the dithering boob succeeds where the stars fail - here as a no-nonsense businessman investing, without illusions, in Tallulah as his mistress.

The characters are manipulated by the sudsy plot, meeting when convenient, estranged if the story calls for it, unemployed when dramatically necessary, but reunited, forgiven and suddenly provided with gainful employment when it is time for "The End." And not a moment too soon.

Not quite 'The Crowd' to be frank, but a very worthy, suitably downbeat and constantly entertaining depiction of conditions in Depression America. Bankhead is the spoiled heiress who goes broke, and not very graciously at that, reunites with her old beau, Montgomery the sausage manufacturer, and learns valuable lessons walking the streets to buy medicine for him when he is recovering from a vicious attack by truck-drivers when he was trying out as a scab. So, pretty down-to-earth stuff this, right? But of course, MGM being MGM, even in these daring Pre-Code days, and Tallulah being Tallulah, the first third of the film is packed with state of the art glamor and a little too self-absorbed and complacent to blend in well with the rest of the film.

Miss Bankhead slouches through the various modes of the film, very much in a one size fits all kind of characterization, but she says her lines well and growls her 'dahlings' to every heart's content. You don't quite believe her heart is in it when she quotes the percentage of streetwalkers claiming they all had "good reason". Robert Montgomery is the real treat as the eternal optimist who just cannot be held down for long. He is wonderful and has an authentic vulnerability. The best scene, though, is Tallulah's in collaboration with the director. Exasperated at the sight of her ailing husband lying there in bed Tallulah quickly dresses to go out. The sympathetic landlady asks her where she's going. "To the drugstore". Landlady: "You look a little ... pale". So she obviously guesses Tallulah's about to prostitute herself and helps her apply her alluring makeup in her own understated way. By the way, it's a remarkable film.

A chance to see Tallulah Bankhead at the prime of her career is never to be passed up. Faithless provides her with a better vehicle than The Devil And The Deep which she did over at Paramount the same year.

MGM provided her with Robert Montgomery as a leading man and she and he just can't get together and their backgrounds make them unsuitable for poverty. Which in 1929 both enter. She loses her millions and of course she blames mismanagement. Many people who got out of the market before the Stock Market Crash kept their fortunes, many more who thought the market would stay bullish regretted that choice. Up to a point Tallulah is right in blaming her financial advisers, but up to then she also never cared just as long as she had it to spend.

Montgomery too is affected. His advertising firm goes under and he loses his job. With both starting equal you think that they can be married now. But neither wants to live modestly, her far more than him. Like former nobility in Europe she trades in on her society name and becomes a permanent house guest for hire for a while. It's there she meets up with Hugh Herbert.

Now he's the biggest revelation in the film. Herbert was capable of so many things more than what you see in those Warner Brothers musicals and that incessant 'woo woo'. Here he's a deadly serious rake who after his wife throws Tallulah out as a party guest because she's tired of her leeching, Herbert's quite willing to make her a mistress.

White collar Montgomery also sees a more earthy side of life. MGM brings up some working class issues that you would normally find Warner Brothers doing.

Both Tallulah and Montgomery acquit themselves well in a film that should be better known and seen more.

Faithless is a film about a rich society girl (Tallulah Bankhead) and an average, middle class citizen (Bob Montgomery) who fall in love. The two are at each other's throats though, because each wants to live off the money he or she has. The two do not marry because of this quarrel, and although she loses her money, she lives by borrowing from her wealthy friends and he loses his job and scrounges for jobs during the Depression. Finally, the two meet again, poor and hungry, and decide to marry since they have nothing else to lose. But the Depression gets them down, and an accident forces her to make some tough decisions.

Bankhead is beautiful at first and becomes appropriately harsh as her character loses her money. She is not exotic the way Marlene Dietrich was, but her accent is detectable.

Montgomery is excellent in this movie. His character is consistent and good and perhaps because of this and his five o-clock shadow, he is absolutely gorgeous.

Overall, this is an entertaining pre-code film with a great cast and a few surprises up it's sleeve.

MGM wasn't a studio known for films probing into grittier subjects like the Depression, but this film is an exception. Its riches to rags tale is a little melodramatic, but so telling of the era. We see quite a bit of its struggles: being hungry, wanting to work but being turned away again and again, getting a job but having the company go under, standing in relief lines but having the food run out, and having to make a tradeoff between getting healthcare for a serious injury or saving the money. We also see the dilemma of crossing a picket line for a job.

The men on strike have a point, they have kids to feed and have no other recourse against bosses who've halved their pay such that they no longer have a living wage (and they use this term). So does the man looking for a job who is desperately broke and figures "any pay is better than zero pay." Maybe the owners have a viewpoint too (though it's not shown), that this is the only way the company can remain solvent, but it feels instead a depiction of how capitalism can crush the working class when it's not organized, and people are pitted against one another.

The cast to this one is quite good, and features Tallulah Bankhead before she took a lengthy absence from the screen to return to Broadway (her next film was Hitchcock's Lifeboat in 1944). The banter rolls off her tongue and she looks gorgeous in the gowns by Adrian. Robert Montgomery plays his part very well too, particularly when the couple finally do connect when poor. They figure there is nothing left to do but love one another and laugh at their pathos, and they're quite charming together. I've also never seen Hugh Herbert any better, and it's because he's not so goofy; he plays the part of a rich married man who takes advantage of Bankhead's dire financial straits for a quid pro quo relationship that clearly makes her queasy.

As a fallen socialite, Bankhead becomes the kept woman of this married man; as a poor woman, she eventually resorts to walking the streets. It's a sad commentary on the one thing of value she perceives she has left. Had the film been made when the Production Code was being enforced a couple of years later, she would have had to suffer a terrible fate, but the film is delightfully pre-Code. Montgomery's character may display a little old-fashioned male ego early on, insisting that he be the breadwinner, but it's wonderful that he accepts her through everything that happens, and in a true display of love, simply says it's all forgotten and they'll start together from that moment on, not once but twice. It's a lovely sentiment of sticking together, and it extends to the goodwill of the landlady of the small room they've rented. For a melodrama this is a great window into the Depression, and it has a great message.