Ugh! This movie started off on the wrong foot with me. I know Hollywood, especially in the 30's, loved to romanticize certain things. Their favorites were infidelity and office relationships (women couldn't help but fall in love with their bosses--so they framed it). "Honor Among Lovers" had one that seemed like it was going to lead to the other.
Jerry Stafford (Fredric March) was hot for his secretary, Julia Traynor (Claudette Colbert), and if she didn't know it she was too dumb for words. No boss has upscale lunches with his secretary and insists she "not talk about work" unless he's into her romantically. To erase all doubt he kissed his daftly unsuspecting secretary who was already seeing someone. Whether she was seeing someone or not, it's strange to see how normal it was back then for bosses to hook up with their employees and it not be an issue.
The fact she didn't storm out of his office led me to believe two things: 1.) because this is Hollywood and not real life, she liked it as opposed to she was afraid of losing her job and 2.) the two were going to be an item soon enough.
Julia wasn't very good at fighting off her boss, if she even wanted to that is. She would go limp in his arms as if that was a defense. She even tried the same move after she was married to her boyfriend Philip Craig (Monroe Owsley) and Jerry was no longer her boss. It reeked of a dainty, "I'm powerless to stop him."
One of the main reasons Julia married to begin with was because she didn't "trust herself," which is a clear indication that she had some feelings for her boss (a recurring Hollywood theme).
She did the right thing by marrying Philip, but unfortunately it turned out horribly wrong. So wrong that Philip ended up shooting Jerry (accidentally), which set up Jerry to be even more of a hero than he already was to that point. He did the ol', "give me the gun and get out of here" routine which was a sign of how gallant and noble a guy was.
At the end of the day "Honor Among Lovers" was a tired movie involving money, a love triangle, and jealousy. It wasn't anything new, exciting, or different.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
Jerry Stafford (Fredric March) was hot for his secretary, Julia Traynor (Claudette Colbert), and if she didn't know it she was too dumb for words. No boss has upscale lunches with his secretary and insists she "not talk about work" unless he's into her romantically. To erase all doubt he kissed his daftly unsuspecting secretary who was already seeing someone. Whether she was seeing someone or not, it's strange to see how normal it was back then for bosses to hook up with their employees and it not be an issue.
The fact she didn't storm out of his office led me to believe two things: 1.) because this is Hollywood and not real life, she liked it as opposed to she was afraid of losing her job and 2.) the two were going to be an item soon enough.
Julia wasn't very good at fighting off her boss, if she even wanted to that is. She would go limp in his arms as if that was a defense. She even tried the same move after she was married to her boyfriend Philip Craig (Monroe Owsley) and Jerry was no longer her boss. It reeked of a dainty, "I'm powerless to stop him."
One of the main reasons Julia married to begin with was because she didn't "trust herself," which is a clear indication that she had some feelings for her boss (a recurring Hollywood theme).
She did the right thing by marrying Philip, but unfortunately it turned out horribly wrong. So wrong that Philip ended up shooting Jerry (accidentally), which set up Jerry to be even more of a hero than he already was to that point. He did the ol', "give me the gun and get out of here" routine which was a sign of how gallant and noble a guy was.
At the end of the day "Honor Among Lovers" was a tired movie involving money, a love triangle, and jealousy. It wasn't anything new, exciting, or different.
Free on Odnoklassniki.