Like
Starring: Constance Bennett, Ben Lyon, David Manners, Don Alvarado, Albert Conti, Merna Kennedy, Astrid Allwyn, Don Dillaway, Blanche Friderici, John Roche, Cornelius Keefe, Nella Walker, Florence Britton, Sheila Bromley, Bruce Cabot, Mathilde Comont, Thomas A. Curran, George Davis
Directed by: Edward H. Griffith
Released by: RKO Pathe
Runtime: 80 minutes
Release date: February 19th, 1932
Availability
Lady With a Past was released by RKO Pathe back in 1932, which places ownership of the movie currently with Warner Bros. However, there must be something funny going on with either the print or the rights as I’ve been unable to find any proof of a home video release. There are prints floating around.
Proof That It’s Pre-Code
- The lead character got her name ‘Venice’ from where her parent’s spent their honeymoon. WELL, lot you can say about that.
- During one of Venice’s very frank self assessments, she decries her own small breasts, which is rather an unusual thing to point out back when this was made and beauty standards were much different.
- The film’s plot is about a woman who desperately wants and needs ‘a reputation’ and all the trouble that entails, from partying all night to causing one desperate suitor to off himself.
- “I had two wives shot out from under me.”
- Rare use of the word ‘hussy’ here.
Lady With a Past: Getting Loose
“Come along, come along, I want to give you a practical lesson in what they used to call sin.”
Do you buy Constance Bennett as a nerd? The most glamorous and well-paid star in the world in 1932? One of the most attractive and comically adept actresses to be on the silver screen– a bore? Is she still an unattractive even when she can’t be bothered to put on glasses and a pair of overalls? (That reference is for all my fellow Millenials out there.) As one would be suitor snidely notes, “she’s about as exciting as the nicest plate of spinach I ever ate.”
This is the crux of the problem with Lady with a Past, which I still like but struts about its absurdities to a degree that I can’t blame anyone for rolling their eyes. Compare homely bookworm Bennett here versus how Barbara Stanwyck is made up in Forbidden. Stanwyck was fine getting messy for the part, turned into a doughty librarian before she blooms into a state government-destroying sexpot. Bennett here has far less lofty ambitions with a lot fewer handicaps to juggle; this is one of those movies where even at her lowest her eyeliner looks amazing.
Here Bennett is Venice Muir, the wealthy scion of some New York muckity muck who can’t land a date to save her life. She lays in bed reading romance novels and– horror of horrors– talks to herself. Venice’s only friend, Nora (Blanche Friderici), tries to help her out, especially by sideways help in tricking her brother Donnie Wainwright (David Manners) into seducing the inept Venice. Manners’ character is a bore, much more interested by the scandal-ridden women, getting just drunk enough to propose to Venice but then whiff on the follow-through.
Venice instead ends up in Paris, alone, until she meets the charming gigolo Guy Bryson (Ben Lyon). Lady with a Past is much more blatant about what that entails than other movies– he seduces women for money– and his laid back chemistry is a good match for Bennett’s eager-to-bloom recluse. At her behest, he works his contacts and soon has a rogue’s gallery of suitors chasing after the stunned bookworm. Things spiral out of control, though, as one desperate man ends up killing himself and another man’s marital relationship makes the gossipmongers crow. Once Venice has a reputation, is there any way to go back?
Fun fact, after all of that: I really enjoyed Lady with a Past, though mostly the middle section with Lyon and Bennett whipping back bon mots and whipping up fake scandals. The two have some real romantic tension, and both have such a fun way with their Pygmalion Madonna-to-whore show that there’s real fun to be had.
That being said, Bennett’s character arc in Lady with a Past feels a lot like an advertisement for deodorant that you’d find in the back of an old magazine; I just had to change my smell and the men all went crazy for me. Here, simply add a dose of intrigue and popularity will ensue. At the time, with the nature of celebrity for people like Peggy Hopkins Joyce, it’s not surprising to see the argument made that intriguing a man was the surest way to his heart, every other aspect of marriage and love be damned.
Spoilers.
Of course, that kind of fanciful fabrications could lead to trouble, which brings me (quickly, I promise) to Lady with a Past‘s structural problems. Those of us who’ve seen far too many classic films know that the Chekhov’s gun of the enterprise is the dopey man we’re introduced to at the beginning of the movie. David Manners’ Donnie is a drunken bore, only interested in scandal and loose women. When Bennett tries her best to seduce him, she only succeeds in the third act because she’s become ‘so scandalous’ that he must marry her and turn her into a good wife. It’s hard not to feel deflated; even if she got what she wanted all the way back in act one, she’s entered a marriage of lies where he is unlikely to shape up and she must continue to deceive. It’s like if we chopped off the first third of Merrily We Go to Hell and presented it as romantically aspirational.
Notably, Lyon’s Guy is dealt with right as the third act rolls around. Not something I have any factual basis on, but I can definitely see a neater, stronger picture made where Guy accompanies Venice back to America, meets Donnie and tries to help her with her misbegotten quest to marry him, and intervenes. In this dramatic arc, she realizes her true worth isn’t derived from pretending to be someone else and Guy realizes that he has value and meaning besides the cheap ways he was keeping himself. Considering the finality in which Guy is disposed (secret spouse, in case you were wondering), it really feels like a flip in the script to satisfy censors than something with artistic merit. But, again, I have no production history on this and can’t comment.
End spoilers.
Lady with a Past feels a bit misbegotten. Besides Bennett’s distracting impeccable flawlessness, the filming style feels very bland. When Venice heads to a Parisian cafe, it looks like the backlot. For such a big production with so many opportunities for flourishes, it really feels confined to sound stages, which only makes the picture feel surprisingly small, especially with the finale creating the impression of a happy ending where none exists.
But I still liked the movie! Constance Bennett in comedic mode is worth any run time for me. It may just be better to turn it off once you reach this pinnacle of fake movie headlines and move onto your next picture to catch.
More Screengrabs
Trivia, Links, and More
- AFI notes that the film was made for around $541,000– with $112,000 of that being Constance Bennett’s salary for the film. The film would lose $140,000.
- IMDB reports that Robert Williams (of Platinum Blonde fame) was originally set to take the Ben Lyon’s role before his untimely death.
- As Stephanie Zacharek explains on TCMDB, the film was a change of pace for Bennett, coming after several high profile (and high grossing) dramas about a woman’s price. Because of her reputation and price tag, Bennett adopted a ‘diva’ attitude on set that would trail her through the early 1930s and send her into less prestigious pictures as her image behind the scenes clashed with the sweet lovestruck dames she played on the screen.
- Reviews from the time were generally
bought by RKO’s PR departmentpositive. Movie Mirror highlights the clothes and Modern Screen calls it “dependable talkie fare”. Motion Picture Reviews sums up the film with this banger: “[Lady with a Past] is light, clever, entertaining, but not presenting life truthfully or with any emphasis on the accepted moralities. It is recommended for ‘grown-ups’ only.”
- Other sites to check:
