A Notorious Affair

Stilted dialogue, melodramatic performances, and a formulaic story are what make "Notorious Affair" from 1930 bad.

It's bad today; it was the style back then. Plays and movies dealt in melodrama and in the upper classes.

The film stars Kay Francis, Billie Dove, and Basil Rathbone, who is woefully miscast as an Italian violinist named Gherardi, mispronounced in the movie as "Gerardi". It's a hard G, Guhrardi. Francis plays a complete slut who goes to bed with every man she meets; she goes after Gherardi, who is married to Dove. He succumbs.

In one hilarious scene, he tells her he's going home. She shuts the curtains to her boudoir, and he stands there, face full of desire, closes his eyes, and sighs.

Both Francis and Dove are stunning and beautifully dressed. Francis has a presence and sophistication. Dove is luminescently beautiful, with huge, expressive eyes and an oval face. It's such a shame nearly every one of her films is lost. She retired very early from films but lived until age 94.

Rathbone, with his outrageously bad accent and overly made up face, is wooden and too big for the screen, having come from the theater. Screen acting with speaking was very new.

The gowns are gorgeous.

This film is a great example of the old acting style and type of film made pre-code. Most of all, it's a chance to see the gorgeous Billie Dove.

If you like Kay Francis, this is probably a movie worth checking out. She's silky smooth as a man-eating seductress who has her sights on the husband of a rival. If there's a female equivalent to the "male gaze", she has it, and she's always in full control as she uses men and then casually discards them, including a couple of stable boys early on. It was interesting to see Basil Rathbone before he was a star and Billie Dove towards the end of her career (and in a talkie), but unfortunately the plot is overly melodramatic, and when Francis isn't lighting up the screen, the film is far less interesting.

I'm not sure what this movie is trying to tell us, but after watching it twice I decided that is not important. It is all of the little things that make this a rewarding yet campy experience, most likely for the film history buff. The movie is about a young heiress, Patricia Hanley (Billie Dove), whose engagement is announced without her even being present. Did Dad and dear fiancé just talk this over and assume the bride's opinion is of no matter? Meanwhile Patricia is in love with an Italian starving artist who is working hard to make it as a concert violinist (Basil Rathbone as Paul Gherardi) and marries him, perhaps believing that it is easier to seek forgiveness than permission from dear old snobby dad - she'd be wrong. When she interrupts her own engagement party to say she has married a poor Italian musician, dad ejects her from the family, and "her set" - the idle rich - turn their back on her.

Up to this point there is a parallel story, that of Countess Olga Balakireff (Kay Francis), who fortunately, unlike poor Basil Rathbone, does not even feign an accent to any real extent. She is actually introduced in the opening scene as pretty much an idler who spends her time either on horseback or picking her latest liaison from among the servant class. I think the point here is to say that Patricia choosing marriage with somebody she loves is not accepted by her wealthy friends and family, but Olga treating her manservants like her property and using them for sex is not only accepted but somewhat admired, given the conversation and gossip in the opening scene.

Paul will never get anywhere on the concert scene unless he can find a "patron", and wouldn't you know that Olga just happens to be a patron of the arts who is attracted to the exotic Paul. How will this all work out? Watch and find out.

Why is this great for film buffs? First of all, because what is absolutely hilarious today could not have been known in 1930 - that Basil Rathbone would become the face of Sherlock Holmes in the movies in the late 30's and 40's and would play both villains and heroes in other films, but always classy, erudite, and somewhat British. Today Rathbone's shrill performance with a bad accent is the equivalent of watching Kelsey Grammar of Frasier fame play The Hulk in a Marvel Comics film production.

Then there is poor Billie Dove. Like so many of the silent stars, her looks said it all in the silents, but here it is the dawn of sound and she is expected to project with words not just gazes and she just is not up to the task. She isn't terrible, she is just completely mediocre and no competition for what is to come - the first generation of talking film actresses - Blondell, Stanwyck, Davis, and company.

Finally there is the "mystery illness" that was just accepted in early films as a legitimate plot device. Someone becomes paralyzed by a nervous breakdown and an operation is necessary? I'm an engineer by trade and even I know this is medical hooey.

So watch it for the film history of it all, and finally watch it for Kay Francis, who is marvelous and seductive in this her only second year in films. Recommended mainly for the film history buff.

Patricia Hanley (Billie Dove) married violinist Paul Gherardi (Basil Rathbone), despite the strong disapproval of her father and their high society friends. Dramatics ensue.

Billie Dove is the only saving grace of this movie. Her charm, beauty and engaging presence make this dull soap opera watchable. Less watchable is Basil Rathbone, who is miscast as a romantic leading man. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. or even Phillips Holmes would have been much better in the role. Kay Francis, as the other woman, acquits herself nicely, with her best films yet to come.

It should be noted that this film is one of Billie's few surviving Warner Bros./First-National talkies. For example, her four 1929 films are lost! Still, if you are a Billie Dove fan, you might enjoy this one.

in her first all-talkie film is ok but miscast as the English rose who loses her violinist husband (Basil Rathbone) to a predatory womn (Kay Francis, who steals the film). Billie Dove tries hard and her acting isn't really bad, but the accent comes and goes. At one point she mentions something as being "versa-till" which doesn't sound all that British. Kay Francis is fun as the sexual predator and looks as gorgeous as Dove. Dove's talkie career lasted only a few years and consisted of about 10 films. She's much better (in a supporting role) in 1932's "Blondie of the Follies" with pal Marion Davies.