Robert Florey tried his hand at everything - experimental ("The Loves of Zero"(1927)), musical ("The Cocoanuts"(1929)) but he was at his best giving a touch of class and distinction to the many programmers on his list of credits. "Those We Love" was adapted by F. Hugh Herbert from the play by George Abbott and with cinematography by Arthur Edeson - with these credentials as well as the beauteous Mary Astor and the snappy Lilyan Tashman in the cast it couldn't miss and was a programmer in name only!! Beautiful Mary Astor had scored the year before with "Smart Woman" and "Other Men's Women", leaving the ingénue twenties behind and becoming identified as a smart, young married woman.
This film is highly effective and starred Mary as May, yet another young matron, loving wife of Fred Williston (Kenneth MacKenna, at the time Kay Francis' husband), a struggling writer. They meet during an Armistice Day parade - he claims she is "his public", meaning one of the only people to have purchased his book but in a novel twist when he rings her she appears to be a bored housewife. Things are not what they seem and in reality she is a governess to a pretty stuffy society lady's children. They marry and dutiful May insists on returning to work as a music teacher while Fred can work on his next novel. The years go blissfully by - but with Lilyan Tashman on the horizon there are rocky roads ahead. Trouble happens when they move to a country house and Tashman plays Valerie Parker, a neighbour who has a husband who "doesn't understand her" - in reality he is a vindictive, philandering brute (Earl Fox) who has hired private detectives to put her on the spot.
It's the old, old story - May makes a surprise visit, finds Valerie's clothes scattered about and suspects infidelity. It hadn't happened then but when May decides to return (encouraged by Hale Hamilton, a family friend) she steps right into the middle of a sticky scandal as Fred has been unfaithful and it is left to Junior to decide his parent's fate. It does sound syrupy and maudlin but in Mary Astor's capable hands it is anything but - she makes you believe and it is no wonder she had such a long and varied career. And, yes, this is a World Wide Picture whose logo featured a lady holding two globes balanced precariously in front of her.
This film is highly effective and starred Mary as May, yet another young matron, loving wife of Fred Williston (Kenneth MacKenna, at the time Kay Francis' husband), a struggling writer. They meet during an Armistice Day parade - he claims she is "his public", meaning one of the only people to have purchased his book but in a novel twist when he rings her she appears to be a bored housewife. Things are not what they seem and in reality she is a governess to a pretty stuffy society lady's children. They marry and dutiful May insists on returning to work as a music teacher while Fred can work on his next novel. The years go blissfully by - but with Lilyan Tashman on the horizon there are rocky roads ahead. Trouble happens when they move to a country house and Tashman plays Valerie Parker, a neighbour who has a husband who "doesn't understand her" - in reality he is a vindictive, philandering brute (Earl Fox) who has hired private detectives to put her on the spot.
It's the old, old story - May makes a surprise visit, finds Valerie's clothes scattered about and suspects infidelity. It hadn't happened then but when May decides to return (encouraged by Hale Hamilton, a family friend) she steps right into the middle of a sticky scandal as Fred has been unfaithful and it is left to Junior to decide his parent's fate. It does sound syrupy and maudlin but in Mary Astor's capable hands it is anything but - she makes you believe and it is no wonder she had such a long and varied career. And, yes, this is a World Wide Picture whose logo featured a lady holding two globes balanced precariously in front of her.