The Strange Love of Molly Louvain

Molly Louvain (Ann Dvorak) is knocked up and abandoned by a rich guy. So she takes up with a dirty crook (Leslie Fenton), then a naive bellhop (Richard Cromwell), and finally a cynical reporter (Lee Tracy). She's the Goldilocks of love. Fun Pre-Coder from WB is a nice showcase for lovely Dvorak, one of classic Hollywood's most under-appreciated talents. She dyes her hair blonde in this. Gotta say she looked better as a brunette. This is also the movie she met her first husband Leslie Fenton. The two married not long after this was released. Lee Tracy doesn't show up until a half hour or so into the picture but things pick up once he does. His scenes with Dvorak are filled with snappy banter and excellent chemistry. The movie really takes off when these two are together.

What a brilliant film! If you like pre-code films that draw you in completely, if you like fast-moving melodramas that aren't overly sentimental you will love this great gritty classic from Warner Brothers.

Unlike a lot of films from this era, this is superbly directed and filmed. Michael Curtiz builds up such an amazing level of tension that you'll be sitting on the edge of your seat within ten minutes - it really is perfectly made. The acting is realistic with believable characters and even Lee Tracy, who's usually just annoying is surprisingly fabulous in this.

Our hearts sink as we continually watch the titular Molly make wrong decision after wrong decision - we can see where this is going and we're desperate to shout at the screen, out to her across time: No, don't! Ann Dvorak in a rare staring role is outstanding. Her character is not a million miles away from Miriam Hopkins' in THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE but with even more credibility. In this she's as good as Barbara Stanwyck ever was in her pre-code days and it makes you wonder why she didn't become a big star. Following this picture, she eloped with Leslie Fenton who played her gangster boyfriend which wasn't in Warner's script for her, that certainly didn't help her career.

Molly Louvain is a girl who has become pregnant by a rich young fellow that loves her and wants to marry her. He has told her that he intends to tell his mother that night before Molly gets to his house to attend his birthday party. However, when Molly shows up at the family estate she is told by the butler that mother and son left suddenly for Europe. Apparently Molly's fiancé loved mother's millions more than he loved Molly and no doubt Molly's would-have-been mother-in-law could not tolerate the idea of a member of the huddled masses being her future daughter-in-law. All alone in the world, Molly turns to shady character Nicky Gant, who takes her away from her home town and out on the road. Molly figures he's possibly financing their way with stick-ups, but Molly asks no questions as she has a baby to think of. One day Nick gets in a shoot-out with the cops with Molly at the wheel of the car, and suddenly Molly is up to her neck in Nick's past and present illegal activities. She dyes her hair blonde and decides to hide out under a false name in a small apartment until the heat is off. Molly has two problems that complicate matters even further - she is unable to go check on her baby, who she has left with kindly acquaintances, and ambitious reporter Scotty Cornell lives across the hall and is determined to find Molly Louvain and crack the story of a lifetime.

This film is watchable largely because nobody plays a woman suffering from the internal moral struggle of good versus evil like Ann Dvorak (as Molly Louvain) and nobody plays the smart aleck reporter that will do anything for a story like Lee Tracy (as Scotty Cornell). However, the film seems incomplete in so many ways. There is no chemistry between Tracy and Dvorak at all, and a story like this needs their chemistry in order to have their relationship in the film seem something other than tacked on. The ending is also woefully incomplete. It seems like Warners ran out of budget and the powers that be just said "stop here and write some dialogue to round this thing out".

I'd recommend this just to see Lee Tracy and Ann Dvorak do the kind of acting they do best, just don't expect the kind of precode sizzle you saw in any of James Cagney's and Joan Blondell's films.

Ann Dvorak was always worth watching, she often stole scenes in support and was far from bland when in lead roles. Lee Tracy likewise. Have a lot of great admiration of Michael Curtiz and he directed a few of my favourite films of all time (have named them in some of my other reviews of his work), so it was interesting to see one of his early works. The story sounded sort of interesting, though had the traps of being unrealistic and melodramatic.

'The Strange Love of Molly Louvin' is worth a one-time watch, if not much more than that. It has a good deal of good things, such as the production values and leads, but also a good deal of bad, such as a story that never quite comes together. All did much better things, Curtiz even did better at this early stage of his career. 'The Strange Love of Molly Lauvin' is not a terrible film but it is just not a great one. Don't really consider it particularly good either and only slightly above average curio level.

Will start with 'The Strange Love of Molly Louvin's' good things. Dvorak, very early on in her career, carries the film well in a not easy role to pull off, while having an issue with the character herself Dvorak made the absolute most of what she has and is in control of her material rather than the other way around. Tracy is even better in a role perfect for him, he is both charming and amusing and gives his character a likeable snap and wit. Actually thought that Dvorak and Tracy did have chemistry here and it was done very nicely, their banter raising a smile. Most of the rest of the supporting cast are solid too, Guy Kibee and Frank McHugh are good value.

It is a good looking film as well, stylishly shot without being filmed play-like and the settings and costumes are handsome without being too glossy. The music doesn't overbear and is not too constant. The script has moments, especially in the banter between Dvorak and Tracy and the story does liven up when Tracy appears. Curtiz gave much better and much more distinctive and refined direction later on but does more than competently here in terms of visually and some atmosphere.

Sadly, 'The Strange Love of Molly Louvin' is brought down by the story which never really comes together. Do agree that it did feel incomplete and choppy, like there were scenes filmed that never made it into the finished product which would have helped it make more sense. The ending is abrupt to the point of not feeling like an ending at all and did agreed feel like the writers were fighting severe time constraints and ran out of time. The story also came over as ridiculous and very difficult to find any believability in, didn't mind so much that it was cliched and was a very slow starter (coming to life when Tracy enters the picture) but did mind that there is a real lack of realism throughout.

Also felt that the script was confused tonally. At some points it is very melodramatic and soapy, doing this to an overwrought degree, and at other points there were attempts at very hit and miss comedy that didn't always gel and the gear changes between the two weren't always seamless. It would have been better to stick to just one of them rather than attempting both. Richard Cromwell was pretty bland and if there was anybody that Dvorak didn't have any chemistry with it was him.

Concluding, above average curio but very little exceptional here and quite strange. 6/10

Whatever it was, it's too bad there doesn't seem to be any of it left. Warner Bros. pre-code was like a renaissance atelier - genius in the air, tons of talent on hand, cranking out, if not masterpieces, some unforgettable confections. Tons of bit part players in this one, it's as though they couldn't let anyone just walk on and act, the scene had to be chewed through. This sometimes seems distracting when you're caught up in the story, which, as with "Three on a Match," uses the threatened child to keep you in suspense. But with Lee Tracy and Ann D., plus all these superb faces and shticks, can anyone really complain? Worthwhile to think about why this Warner Bros. vision of life seems to get tremendous lift from exploiting a certain idea of the US press, never better represented than by Tracy - at least until Grant in "His Girl Friday."