Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 2, 2020 10:24:24 GMT -8
Cynara. [What does “Cynara” mean? It’s a genus of thistle-like plant in the sunflower family. I’m not sure what this has to do with anything.]
This 1932 film stars Ronald Colman as barrister Jim Warlock. He is married to a pretty, if somewhat inconsiderate, Clemency Warlock played well by Kay Francis.
She’s inconsiderate because the loving, faithful, always-true (well, as we’ll see) husband has not only remembered their seventh anniversary but has made big plans for his wife. Instead, the wife is going off at the last minute with her kooky and irresponsible sister to help repair her love life, dealing with (as we are led to believe) yet another of a long string of crises.
But I suppose stuff like that happens in real life all the time. Many marriages are strained or broken by either the husband or the wife allowing family members to intrude.
So this careless and insensitive wife (despite all appearances of her being quite charming and loving) goes off and leaves her husband to fend for himself for about three weeks.
An older friend soon takes Jim Warlock to a restaurant where they meet a couple of young ladies sitting in the next booth. Henry Stephenson is excellent as the destructive and morally vacuous John Tring who does all he can to nudge Warlock into an affair while his wife is away.
This is all familiar territory. And, in fact, more than a little Fatal Attraction comes into play for Warlock when his wife returns and he tries to call it off with the emotional-unstable bimbo.
Although there is a certain amount of melodrama in this, it’s a much more realistic story than you have a right to expect. Although Ronald Colman’s character is McGuffined into just the right circumstances to get the plot going, he does play it will. You never buy him so casually risking his marriage. But then these things do happen.
Most of all, it’s probably a very honestly portrayal of the pitfalls of having an affair with a woman. There are some great lines in this near the end, especially about a woman “raising her bet” after the initial declaration that “When this ends it ends and I’ll be no trouble at all.” I found the hysterical nature of the bimbo to be quite authentic and honest.
He’s, of course, at fault as well. In fact, there are no innocents in this, including the wife. And I wonder if the audiences of the time understood this as well. Abandoning your husband on your anniversary for yet another “crisis” of your harebrained sister does not make you innocent. My guess is that audiences of the time would concur, although there is no mention of the wife’s callousness and carelessness in the film contributing to the problem.
I’m not a big fan of Ronald Colman. But my opinion of him was raised a little after watching him in this.
This 1932 film stars Ronald Colman as barrister Jim Warlock. He is married to a pretty, if somewhat inconsiderate, Clemency Warlock played well by Kay Francis.
She’s inconsiderate because the loving, faithful, always-true (well, as we’ll see) husband has not only remembered their seventh anniversary but has made big plans for his wife. Instead, the wife is going off at the last minute with her kooky and irresponsible sister to help repair her love life, dealing with (as we are led to believe) yet another of a long string of crises.
But I suppose stuff like that happens in real life all the time. Many marriages are strained or broken by either the husband or the wife allowing family members to intrude.
So this careless and insensitive wife (despite all appearances of her being quite charming and loving) goes off and leaves her husband to fend for himself for about three weeks.
An older friend soon takes Jim Warlock to a restaurant where they meet a couple of young ladies sitting in the next booth. Henry Stephenson is excellent as the destructive and morally vacuous John Tring who does all he can to nudge Warlock into an affair while his wife is away.
This is all familiar territory. And, in fact, more than a little Fatal Attraction comes into play for Warlock when his wife returns and he tries to call it off with the emotional-unstable bimbo.
Although there is a certain amount of melodrama in this, it’s a much more realistic story than you have a right to expect. Although Ronald Colman’s character is McGuffined into just the right circumstances to get the plot going, he does play it will. You never buy him so casually risking his marriage. But then these things do happen.
Most of all, it’s probably a very honestly portrayal of the pitfalls of having an affair with a woman. There are some great lines in this near the end, especially about a woman “raising her bet” after the initial declaration that “When this ends it ends and I’ll be no trouble at all.” I found the hysterical nature of the bimbo to be quite authentic and honest.
He’s, of course, at fault as well. In fact, there are no innocents in this, including the wife. And I wonder if the audiences of the time understood this as well. Abandoning your husband on your anniversary for yet another “crisis” of your harebrained sister does not make you innocent. My guess is that audiences of the time would concur, although there is no mention of the wife’s callousness and carelessness in the film contributing to the problem.
I’m not a big fan of Ronald Colman. But my opinion of him was raised a little after watching him in this.