Katherine Alexander throws over wealthy Ian Hunter to marry richer Colin Clive, so Hunter goes on a pub crawl. Poor but honest Bette Davis goes on the toot with him to see how the better half drink and winds up married to him. She offers him back the ring and the marriage contract, but they decide to keep it going until he's done with her. After nearly a year, with her studying how the upper crust behave under the tutelage of ex-Floradora girl Alison Skipworth, Miss Alexander pushes her husband out and goes after Hunter.... and Miss Davis retaliates.
It's the sort of foolish role that Warner Brothers put Miss Davis in, which she handles in a straightforward and honest manner. Interestingly, two movies later, she would win an Oscar under the same director, Alfred Green.
The script obviously had something to say about the way men and men use each other, but that's lost in the final cut. Certainly, the cavalier manner in which everyone treats manner is a bit of a surprise under the Code.
Ian Hunter was one of those large, good-looking, competent actors, best remembered by playing Richard the Lion-heart and the only one of Jessie Matthews' leading men who didn't seem afraid of women. Born in 1900, he appeared in about ten silent films, played some leads in British films, then moved to the United States for a long stretch. He made his last movies in Italy in 1963 and died a dozen years later.
