... which is something someone should have pointed out to Mae Murray during her brief talkie career. I give this one 6 stars on the curiosity factor alone - plotwise it is really no great shakes.
The movie begins with wealthy 50-something Richard Lennon marrying 22 year old Dolly (Mae Murray). Richard's "kid" brother Joe (Lowell Sherman) was supposed to be best man but never appears. Instead he is in his favorite location - a speak-easy drowning his troubles and staging a passive aggressive protest to the marriage of his older brother.
I really don't know what is up with Ms.Murray's performance here - she is constantly calling her new husband "Daddy" and speaking in an annoying baby talk tone. What is really jaw-dropping are the outfits that she parades around in. She is definitely well into getting a dowager's figure and yet she's wearing slinky nightgowns and very low-cut dresses. Because movie prints in circulation are not in the best condition it is impossible to get the full visual effect 1931 audiences must have had.
Although Joe appears drunk or pseudo-drunk throughout, he is really just pulling an "I,Claudius" ruse so he can get the goods on Dolly whom he is sure is just after his older brother's money. As for older brother Richard, rather than just having a midlife crisis he appears to want a younger wife for a variety of reasons, most of all he wants a son since he and his late first wife never had any children.
The climax seems to have the moral of saying that older men should just face the fact that their romantic days are behind them, that they look ridiculous with very young wives, and that if they don't already have children they have to realize it's just not in the cards. The final scene is rather sad, showing Joe and Richard vacationing on a ship at sea. Joe, still in his late 30's is apparently on his honeymoon with long-time love Ann (Karen Morley), but Richard is asleep in a deck chair - alone. Today that seems like a depressing sentence for a man in his 50's, especially if he is a widower in good health and free to marry. I guess it just goes to point out how old the age of 50 was considered back in 1931 as compared to today.
The movie begins with wealthy 50-something Richard Lennon marrying 22 year old Dolly (Mae Murray). Richard's "kid" brother Joe (Lowell Sherman) was supposed to be best man but never appears. Instead he is in his favorite location - a speak-easy drowning his troubles and staging a passive aggressive protest to the marriage of his older brother.
I really don't know what is up with Ms.Murray's performance here - she is constantly calling her new husband "Daddy" and speaking in an annoying baby talk tone. What is really jaw-dropping are the outfits that she parades around in. She is definitely well into getting a dowager's figure and yet she's wearing slinky nightgowns and very low-cut dresses. Because movie prints in circulation are not in the best condition it is impossible to get the full visual effect 1931 audiences must have had.
Although Joe appears drunk or pseudo-drunk throughout, he is really just pulling an "I,Claudius" ruse so he can get the goods on Dolly whom he is sure is just after his older brother's money. As for older brother Richard, rather than just having a midlife crisis he appears to want a younger wife for a variety of reasons, most of all he wants a son since he and his late first wife never had any children.
The climax seems to have the moral of saying that older men should just face the fact that their romantic days are behind them, that they look ridiculous with very young wives, and that if they don't already have children they have to realize it's just not in the cards. The final scene is rather sad, showing Joe and Richard vacationing on a ship at sea. Joe, still in his late 30's is apparently on his honeymoon with long-time love Ann (Karen Morley), but Richard is asleep in a deck chair - alone. Today that seems like a depressing sentence for a man in his 50's, especially if he is a widower in good health and free to marry. I guess it just goes to point out how old the age of 50 was considered back in 1931 as compared to today.
