Customer Reviews

Indiscreet

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The movie itself is good. But the "Madacy" Company copied a lousy, badly worn, faded, repaired 16mm copy on to the DVD and is miserable to watch! The film must have been shown 100's of times. It is so badly spliced, in some scenes you can't even understand the dialog! The whole last half of the movie, the sound is extremely garbled! Very poor visual quality. You would expect a DVD to be higher in quality - not this one. Record the movie off of TV!

First, be sure you AREN'T buying the Madacy edition - it is terrible as mentioned in reviews on that page. I haven't screen the Alpha edition but it sounds similar to the version on the 50 Movie Pack Hollywood Legends boxed set by Treeline which I just viewed. An erratic but generally good print, though some scenes have poor sound and others have clearly edited jumps, most likely from a repaired print that anything else.

This 1931 Swanson vehicle was directed by future film legend Leo McCarey but his direction is one of the least inspired things about the movie which often seems stagey especially in the first scenes. The movie also can't make up it's mind what it is, starting out something of a soap melodrama with songs and then turning (more creditibly) into a wacky comedy, an very early screwball. Swanson stars as a successful New York businesswoman who is in a sexual romance with heel Monroe Owsley. She ends their affair when she learns he is seeing other women on the side. Time passes (although that isn't too clear in the film immediately) and Gloria falls in love with novelist Ben Lyon and is about to announce her engagement when her young sister Barbara Kent shows up with her new beau who just happens to be Owsley. Gloria vows to find a way to free her sister from the rogue even if it means putting her own romance in jeopardy.

Gloria sings two songs in the film and one of them, "Come to Me", twice. She's gorgeous and is hilarious in the later scenes when she is out to make a bad impression at the Owsley family estate in a scene that foreshadows Irene Dunne's not dissimilar machinations in McCarey's 1937 classic THE AWFUL TRUTH. Best in the supporting cast is the hilarious character actress Maude Eburne as the girl's devoted aunt.

One hopes a great print of INDISCREET will surface one day, it's lovely sets are depressing to view in a occasionally scratchy or blurry looking print. In the meantime, Gloria and company do their best to make an uneven screenplay and McCarey's indifferent direction work with the results fairly appealing.

Public domain dubs of this motion picture are from reissued 16mm TV films that clock in at around 73 minutes and not the 92 listed here. Budget labels like MADACY often sell far-from-ideal transfers, so remember that a low price is not always a bargain.


INDISCREET (1931) - Gloria Swanson, Ben Lyon, Monroe Owsley, Barbara Kent, Arthur Lake, Henry Kolker

A single quite hilarious sequence offers a delicious contrast to the balance of this resolutei melodrama.

First a set-up: Gloria dated Monroe but dumped the cheater on New Year's Eve. Her kid sister Barbara meets Monroe in Paris and they plan to marry, which of course upsets Gloria. At a dinner party where all are invited, Arthur (aka 'Dagwood' in BLONDIE) tells Henry (Monroe's dad) that insanity runs in Gloria's family. His effort to scare Henry into kiboshing Monroe's and Barbara's engagement works but backfires with Gloria, who's now angry at him. At dinner she's seated next to Henry, Arthur is opposite her. Gloria waves a low fist at Arthur then picks up a butter knife and makes downward stabbing motions in his direction. Henry's startled and appalled reaction is CLASSIC! Arthur gives him a knowing "see I told you they're nut cases" look and Henry nods in solemn agreement. It's a wonderful bit of pantomime involving these three that was worked out by director Leo McCarey.

RATING: 2 of 5 stars for product quality, 4 of 5 for movie content. Average = 3 stars.

("Indiscreet" is available in an 'OK' PD dub on Mill Creek's now-discontinued HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS 50 MOVIE PACK.)

One of the happiest roles in Gloria Swanson's early talkie career, INDISCREET is directed with flair by Leo McCarey.

Swanson plays fashion designer Geraldine 'Gerry' Trent, who gleefully dumps her philandering boyfriend Jim (Monroe Owsley) on New Years Eve. Several months pass before Gerry is introduced to Anthony Blake (Ben Lyon), the author of her favourite new book, "Obey Thy Impulse". Sparks fly and pretty soon Gerry and Anthony are engaged. Complications arise when Gerry's younger sister Joan (Barbara Kent) returns from her European holiday with a fiancee...none other than Jim! Gerry, a "modern girl with an old-fashioned conscience", is faced with confessing her messy prior relationship to Joan, and decides that she must also reveal Jim's true colours. But just how far will she go to protect her sister?

This fast-paced romantic comedy displays Gloria Swanson in a new light. So many of her silent and early talkie roles cast her as the dramatic tragedienne, so having her in a light piece like INDISCREET is like a breath of fresh air. She even gets to sing! Keep an eye out for Maude Eburne as the comical Aunt Kate.

For a movie from 1931, Alpha has tried to make the dilapidated picture quality more presentable (the picture is very sharp), even tweaking the Main Title sequence so that we can properly read the names of those concerned. That said, there are still many jumps and cuts in picture and sound, and some scenes are barely audible with the worn-out soundtrack. It's a shame because INDISCREET is a joy of a movie.

(Single-sided, single-layer disc)

There sadly don't appear to be any pristine copies of INDISCREET out there but it's hard to imagine any prints in worse condition than the Madacy release, which is nearly unwatchable. I own a copy of that one (unfortunately) and in the 50 Movie Pack Hollywood Legends boxed set by Treeline which is an erratic but generally good print, though some scenes have poor sound and others have clearly edited jumps, most likely from a repaired print that anything else. (I am giving this a one-star rating for print quality whereas the movie itself would be 2 or 3 stars).

This 1931 Swanson vehicle was directed by future film legend Leo McCarey but his direction is one of the least inspired things about the movie which often seems stagey especially in the first scenes. The movie also can't make up it's mind what it is, starting out something of a soap melodrama with songs and then turning (more creditibly) into a wacky comedy, an very early screwball. Swanson stars as a successful New York businesswoman who is in a sexual romance with heel Monroe Owsley. She ends their affair when she learns he is seeing other women on the side. Time passes (although that isn't too clear in the film immediately) and Gloria falls in love with novelist Ben Lyon and is about to announce her engagement when her young sister Barbara Kent shows up with her new beau who just happens to be Owsley. Gloria vows to find a way to free her sister from the rogue even if it means putting her own romance in jeopardy.

Gloria sings two songs in the film and one of them, "Come to Me", twice. She's gorgeous and is hilarious in the later scenes when she is out to make a bad impression at the Owsley family estate in a scene that foreshadows Irene Dunne's not dissimilar machinations in McCarey's 1937 classic THE AWFUL TRUTH. Best in the supporting cast is the hilarious character actress Maude Eburne as the girl's devoted aunt.

One hopes a great print of INDISCREET will surface one day, it's lovely sets are depressing to view in a occasionally scratchy or blurry looking print. In the meantime, Gloria and company do their best to make an uneven screenplay and McCarey's indifferent direction work with the results fairly appealing.

Public domain dubs of this motion picture are from reissued 16mm TV films that clock in at around 73 minutes and not the 100 listed here. Gray market dealers (like SYNERGY) often sell far-from-ideal transfers.


INDISCREET (1931) - Gloria Swanson, Ben Lyon, Monroe Owsley, Barbara Kent, Arthur Lake, Henry Kolker

A single quite hilarious sequence offers a delicious contrast to the balance of this resolute melodrama.

First a set-up: Gloria dated Monroe but dumped the cheater on New Year's Eve. Her kid sister Barbara meets Monroe in Paris and they plan to marry, which of course upsets Gloria. At a dinner party where all are invited, Arthur (aka 'Dagwood' in BLONDIE) tells Henry (Monroe's dad) that insanity runs in Gloria's family. His effort to scare Henry into kiboshing Monroe's and Barbara's engagement works but backfires with Gloria, who's now angry at him. At dinner she's seated next to Henry, Arthur is opposite her. Gloria waves a low fist at Arthur then picks up a butter knife and makes downward stabbing motions in his direction. Henry's startled and appalled reaction is CLASSIC! Arthur gives him a knowing "see I told you they're nut cases" look and Henry nods in solemn agreement. It's a wonderful bit of pantomime involving these three that was worked out by director Leo McCarey.

RATING: 2 of 5 stars for product quality, 4 of 5 for movie content. Average = 3 stars.

("Indiscreet" is available in an 'OK' PD dub on Mill Creek's now-discontinued HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS 50 MOVIE PACK.)

One of the happiest roles in Gloria Swanson's early talkie career, INDISCREET is directed with flair by Leo McCarey.

Swanson plays fashion designer Geraldine 'Gerry' Trent, who gleefully dumps her philandering boyfriend Jim (Monroe Owsley) on New Years Eve. Several months pass before Gerry is introduced to Anthony Blake (Ben Lyon), the author of her favourite new book, "Obey Thy Impulse". Sparks fly and pretty soon Gerry and Anthony are engaged. Complications arise when Gerry's younger sister Joan (Barbara Kent) returns from her European holiday with a fiancee...none other than Jim! Gerry, a "modern girl with an old-fashioned conscience", is faced with confessing her messy prior relationship to Joan, and decides that she must also reveal Jim's true colours. But just how far will she go to protect her sister?

This fast-paced romantic comedy displays Gloria Swanson in a new light. So many of her silent and early talkie roles cast her as the dramatic tragedienne, so having her in a light piece like INDISCREET is like a breath of fresh air. She even gets to sing! Keep an eye out for Maude Eburne as the comical Aunt Kate.

In this early talkie from 1931 - in which everyone does their best in an essentially mediocre film - a 32 year-old Gloria Swanson plays a lady with a past. Gloria, who is involved with a writer (Ben Lyon) discovers that Lyon's sister has her old flame as her new fiancee... With good reason, Swanson had misgivings about this film which is weak both plot-wise and musically: her fears unfortunately proved right. Leo McCarey, the director, was promised his "big break" with this film and Ben Lyon was - rather unbelievably - considered a major coup for a leading man, therefore, Swanson agreed to do it for United Artists. Perhaps the most capable performer is Arthur "Dagwood" Lake as Buster Collins. Swanson had just priorly turned down Paramount's offer of a guaranteed 1 million-dollar-a-year contract (!).