Indiscreet (USA, 1931) 92 min B&W DIR: Leo McCarey. PROD: Lew Brown, Buddy G. DeSylva, Ray Henderson. SCR: Lew Brown, Buddy G. DeSylva, Ray Henderson, Leo McCarey. MUSIC: Alfred Newman. DOP: Ray June, Gregg Toland. CAST: Gloria Swanson, Ben Lyon, Monroe Owsley, Barbara Kent, Arthur Lake. (United Artists)
This early talkie is irresistible melodramatic corn, originally intended as a musical with 15 numbers, however director Leo McCarey reduced them to only three, instead favouring the comedy-drama. The result is a very enjoyable romp that epitomizes Hollywood schmaltz. Gloria Swanson (who sings, believe it or not) is a flapper who symbolically ends her sinful ways by refusing to marry the heel she’s with. She ends up engaged to a nice author, but admits that she’s still in love with the cad. Then her little sister shows up, just graduated from the education that Gloria paid for, and newly engaged… to guess who? So, Ms. Swanson creates a lot of havoc in an attempt to warn her sister about her future groom is before it’s too late. And who does she get to help her in her plot? None other than Arthur Lake (soon to be Dagwood in the Blondie movie series!) as a wallflower who is stuck on her kid sister. In the film’s highlight, he drunkenly tells the cad’s parents that Swanson’s entire family is insane! Sitcom hijinks later unfold at a big bash, and it’s a lot of fun. This is a pretty good warm-up for director McCarey, soon to be a master of wacky comedy (Six of a Kind; Duck Soup). And for an early talkie, it is technologically sophisticated– watch that long take where the camera tracks Ms. Swanson through her apartment. Naturally it shows its age – I like how the lovebirds sheepishly confess to one another that they each have “been with” other people before- but that’s part of the charm. The film in the public domain, so you should have no problem finding a good cheap copy. This copy for review was sourced from a VHS tape by Video Yesteryear, who released their movies in yellow sleeves, with a card insert featuring a still and cast information. (These were sometimes missing in tapes on the secondary market.) Video Yesteryear tapes often paused at the hour mark for a reel change. Endearing.
Originally published in Vol. #1, Issue #8.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.