Customer Reviews

Consolation Marriage [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The four stars are for the movie's interest for us, Early 1930's Pre-Code Movies' film buffs... The plot is routine and rather stilted, but this was the talkies' "stone age".

Irene Dunne appears in her first year of truly starring roles in pictures(not taking in account the odd "Leathernecking", her cinematic debut in 1930, the only movie she made that year) giving a sympathetic performance, as a woman left by her long-time lover (Lester Vail) (who marries a rich lady for his pianist career's sake) who becomes pals with Pat O'Brien, who's just lived a similar situation with childhood sweetheart Myrna Loy (in one of her vampish roles pre-"Thin Man"), the two of them eventually getting married on the rebound...and there you have the "consolation marriage" of the title.

This oldie gives us a chance of watching an early performance of Miss Dunne, who hadn't yet bloomed into the excellent comedienne (& dramatic actress too) she became afterwards in the decade...although there are many hints of what was going to come.We have the opportunity too, of watching a very young, I'd say almost sort of "boyish", Pat O'Brien, before his Warner Bros. better known roles....as for Myrna Loy, she looks radiant and beautifully sophisticated as a blonde, in those sexy early '30s outfits, she wears through the film. Johnny Halliday, as O'Brien's pal, is good as usual, looking a lot like Adolphe Menjou.

Worth the watch for early '30s fans.