George Brent (Bill Reynolds), Ann Dvorak (Nan Reynolds), Bette Davis (Pat Berkeley), John Halliday (Paul Duprey), Robert Barrat (Sam Blake), Hobart Cavanaugh (George Wilson), Ruth Donnelly (Dora Wilson), Joseph Cawthorne (Krueger), Phil Regan (radio singer of Duprey's commercial), Willard Robertson (testy judge), Ronnie Cosby (Buddy Reynolds), Harry Tyler ($2 plumber), Leila Bennett (Jenny), Charles Coleman (Bolton, the butler), William B. Davidson (Nan's lawyer), Edward Keane (Bill's lawyer), Eula Guy (Bill's secretary), Renee Whitney (Bill's receptionist), Morris Goldman (Rastus), Harrison Greene (Sambo), Donna Roberts (George's secretary), Ethel Wales, Lillian Harmer (voter registrars), John Hyams, Landers Stevens (impatient clients), John T. Murray (salesman), Leo White (waiter), Pauline True (Miss Martin, the typist), Perry Ivins (Joe Stevens), Art Holland (adding machine clerk), Jonathan Hale (doctor), Bill Elliott (clerk).
Director: ALFRED E. GREEN. Screenplay: Lillie Hayward, Manuel Seff. Story: Lillie Hayward, Robert Lord. Photography: William Rees. Film editor: James Gibbon. Art director: Robert M. Haas. Costumes designed by Orry-Kelly. Songs by Mort Dixon and Allie Wrubel. Music director: Leo F. Forbstein. Associate producer: Robert Lord.
Copyright 21 July 1934 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 9 August 1934. U.S. release: 11 August 1934. U.K. release: 13 April 1935. Australian release: 21 November 1934. 7 reels. 69 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Married but harried advertising man meets up with an old flame.
COMMENT: A charming film, breezily directed by Alfred E. Green. The script packs enough material into its short running time for two or three features. It runs the gamut of captivating romance, trenchant satire, three-handkerchief domestic drama and brittle comedy of manners.
Admittedly, the triangle situation involving somewhat dowdy wife, go-getting hero and vampish employee gets the most play, while the sob stuff (thank goodness!) the least.
And fortunately the satire (directed almost entirely against advertising copy writers and commercial radio, although two or three other topics get more than a passing nod) gets a mighty good run.
What's even more pleasing, our players all have a grand time, including Miss Bette Davis who here makes not only a most convincing femme fatale but was never more beautifully made up, seductively costumed and lustrously photographed. (Needless to say, she hated the movie. "What a horror!" she exclaimed in a 1973 interview).
The other stars are a little outclassed by Bette, but nonetheless George Brent and Ann Dvorak give their material such a good college try, audiences are almost cheering when the couple disrupt their divorce proceedings.
The support brigades, led by the charismatic John Halliday, are all in particularly fine form. Ruth Donnelly, Hobart Cavanaugh and Robert Barrat deserve special mention. Phil Regan puts his all into a (deliberately) absolutely rotten song, while Morris Goldman and Harrison Greene really smell up the place as a pair of (once again, deliberately) really on-the-nose, blackface comics.
Director: ALFRED E. GREEN. Screenplay: Lillie Hayward, Manuel Seff. Story: Lillie Hayward, Robert Lord. Photography: William Rees. Film editor: James Gibbon. Art director: Robert M. Haas. Costumes designed by Orry-Kelly. Songs by Mort Dixon and Allie Wrubel. Music director: Leo F. Forbstein. Associate producer: Robert Lord.
Copyright 21 July 1934 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 9 August 1934. U.S. release: 11 August 1934. U.K. release: 13 April 1935. Australian release: 21 November 1934. 7 reels. 69 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Married but harried advertising man meets up with an old flame.
COMMENT: A charming film, breezily directed by Alfred E. Green. The script packs enough material into its short running time for two or three features. It runs the gamut of captivating romance, trenchant satire, three-handkerchief domestic drama and brittle comedy of manners.
Admittedly, the triangle situation involving somewhat dowdy wife, go-getting hero and vampish employee gets the most play, while the sob stuff (thank goodness!) the least.
And fortunately the satire (directed almost entirely against advertising copy writers and commercial radio, although two or three other topics get more than a passing nod) gets a mighty good run.
What's even more pleasing, our players all have a grand time, including Miss Bette Davis who here makes not only a most convincing femme fatale but was never more beautifully made up, seductively costumed and lustrously photographed. (Needless to say, she hated the movie. "What a horror!" she exclaimed in a 1973 interview).
The other stars are a little outclassed by Bette, but nonetheless George Brent and Ann Dvorak give their material such a good college try, audiences are almost cheering when the couple disrupt their divorce proceedings.
The support brigades, led by the charismatic John Halliday, are all in particularly fine form. Ruth Donnelly, Hobart Cavanaugh and Robert Barrat deserve special mention. Phil Regan puts his all into a (deliberately) absolutely rotten song, while Morris Goldman and Harrison Greene really smell up the place as a pair of (once again, deliberately) really on-the-nose, blackface comics.