Tag Archives: 1931

It Pays To Advertise (1931)


Pre Code Logo 1

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

It Pays To Advertise (1931)

 

It Pays To Advertise 1

It Pays To Advertise 5

Director: Frank Tuttle

Cast: Norman Foster, Carole Lombard, Richard Skeets Gallagher, Eugene Pallette, Lucien Littlefield, Judith Wood, Louise Brooks, Morgan Wallace, Tom Kennedy, Frank Tuttle

63 min

It Pays to Advertise is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film, based on the play of the same name by Roi Cooper Megrue and Walter C. Hackett, starring Norman Foster and Carole Lombard, and directed by Frank Tuttle.[1]

Plot

Rodney Martin sets up a soap business to rival his father. With the help of an advertising expert and his secretary, Mary, he develops a successful marketing campaign. His father ends up buying the company from him, while Rodney and Mary fall in love.[2]

It Pays To Advertise 2

Cast

It Pays To Advertise 7

Reception

The film received positive reviews. Photoplay wrote that it has “plenty of speed and lots of laughs”, and praised the “perfect cast”.[2]

It Pays To Advertise 3

References

  1. Jump up^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:..It Pays to Advertise
  2. Jump up to:a b Ott, Frederick W. (1972). The Films of Carole Lombard. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-0806502786.

It Pays To Advertise 4

It Pays To Advertise 6

It Pays To Advertise 8

It Pays To Advertise 9

Film Collectors Corner

Watch It Pays To Advertise Now – You Tube Instant Video

 

 

 

Blu Ray

Not released on Blu Ray

 

 

DVD

Not released on DVD

 

 

 

Indiscreet (1931)


Pre Code Logo 1

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Indiscreet (1931)

Indiscreet 11

Director: Leo McCarey

Cast: Gloria Swanson, Ben Lyon, Monroe Owsley, Barbara Kent, Arthur Lake, Maude Eburne, Henry Kolker, Nella Walker

92 min

Indiscreet is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Gloria Swanson and Ben Lyon. The screenplay by Buddy G. DeSylvaLew Brown, and Ray Henderson, based on their story Obey That Impulse, originally was written as a full-fledged musical, but only two songs – “If You Haven’t Got Love” and “Come to Me” – remained when the film was released.[1] The film is available on DVD.

Indiscreet 1

Indiscreet 3

Plot

The plot of the United Artists release centers on fashion designer Geraldine Trent (Swanson), who takes up with novelistTony Blake (Lyon) after leaving her former beau Jim Woodward because of his many indiscretions with other women.

Tony has indicated he has no interest in dating a woman with a past, so Geraldine remains mum about her affair with Jim, until her younger sister Joan arrives and announces she’s engaged—to Jim. Madcap complications ensue as Geraldine tries to keep her secret from Tony while convincing her sister to rid herself of her womanizing fiancé in favor of simple country boy Buster Collins.[2]

Indiscreet 4

Cast (in credits order)

Indiscreet 5

Principal production credits

Indiscreet 7

Critical reception

In May 1931 in The New York Times, film critic Mordaunt Hall gave Indiscreet a mixed review:

It may have its off moments so far as the few serious incidents are concerned, but when it stoops to farce, there is no denying its jollity . . . on the whole, it is a well-worked out entertainment, wherein gusts of merriment cause one to overlook its occasional flaws . . . Now and again the film sobers up, but the director and the authors have solved a way of inoculating it with further mirth, and even at the end there is a streak of fun that is almost Chaplinesque.[3]

Indiscreet 8

References

  1. Jump up^ Indiscreet at the New York Film Annex
  2. Jump up^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:Indiscreet
  3. Jump up^ Hall, Mordaunt (1931). “THE SCREEN; A Merry Miss Swanson”, film review, The New York Times, May 7, 1931; retrieved October 6, 2017.

Indiscreet 9

Indiscreet 11

Indiscreet 12

Indiscreet 13

Indiscreet 14

Indiscreet 16

Indiscreet 17

Film Collectors Corner

Watch Indiscreet Now – You Tube Instant Video

Blu Ray

Not released on Blu Ray

DVD

Behind Office Doors (1931)


Pre Code Logo 1

Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque

Behind Office Doors (1931)

Behind Closed Doors 6

Director:  Melville W Brown

Cast: Mary Astor, Robert Ames, Ricardo Cortez, Catherine Dale Owen, Kitty Kelly, Edna Murphy, Charles Sellon, William Morris, George McFarlane, Mary Foy

82 min

Behind Closed Doors 1

Behind Office Doors is a 1931 Pre-Code American drama film directed by Melville W. Brown, from a screenplay by Carey Wilson and J. Walter Ruben, based on Alan Schultz’s novel, Private Secretary. It starred Mary AstorRobert Ames and Ricardo Cortez, and revolved around the premise of “the woman behind the man”. While not well-received by critics, it did well at the box office.

Plot

Mary Linden (Mary Astor) is a receptionist at a paper milling company, who is secretly in love with one of the salesmen, James Duneen (Robert Ames).

Her extensive knowledge of the paper industry, the mill and its clients allows her to have input in company operations far outweighing her level as a receptionist. As the current president of the company, Ritter (Charles Sellon), approaches retirement, Mary uses her knowledge and skill of company politics to enable James to make some important sales coups, after which she begins a fifth-column attempt to get him named as the next president. James, for his part, is grateful to her for her help, but is completely oblivious to her romantic interest in him, preferring more of the party girl type.

Behind Closed Doors 4

When Ritter does retire, James wins the position, and Mary is promoted to be his personal secretary. Still unaware of her feelings, he hires his latest party girl, Daisy (Edna Murphy), to work in the office, and report to Mary. Mary is upset by this turn of events, but remains faithful to James, assisting him with running the company. In fact, it is her knowledge and acumen which makes the company successful. Mary even spurns the advances of several men, including the wealthy Ronnie Wales (Ricardo Cortez), who, although married, is estranged from his wife and wishes to pursue an affair with Mary.

However, when James becomes engaged to the daughter of a wealthy banker, Ellen May Robinson (Catherine Dale Owen), that is the straw which breaks Mary’s resolve. She resigns from the company, and eventually agrees to go away with Ronnie for an assignation in Atlantic City. Between the time of her resignation, and her agreeing to go away with Ronnie, the paper mill is already suffering terribly from a lack of good

Between the time of her resignation, and her agreeing to go away with Ronnie, the paper mill is already suffering terribly from a lack of good management, since most of James’ success was due to Mary’s guidance. James tracks her down before she can give in to the libidinous advances of Ronnie, and begs Mary to return. She is reluctant, until she discovers that James has broken off the engagement with Ellen, and upon her return to the company she is not only met with a job offer, but also a marriage proposal from James.

Behind Closed Doors 2

Cast

(Cast list as per AFI database)[3]

Behind Closed Doors 3

Soundtrack

  • “Three Little Words”, music by Harry Ruby, lyrics by Bert Kalmar – played as dance music in the nightclub

Reception

While the public seemed to like the film,[4] critics like Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times were less kind, stating that the film “is a witless and interminably dull exhibition on which three capable players, Mary Astor, Robert Ames and Ricardo Cortez, have been sacrifi[c]ed to very little purpose.[5]

Notes

In 1959, the film entered the public domain in the USA due to the copyright claimants failure to renew the copyright registration in the 28th year after production.[6]

The working title for this film was the title of the novel on which it was based, Private Secretary.[3]

Behind Closed Doors 5

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ “Behind Office Doors, Credits”. Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on August 18, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  2. Jump up to:a b “Behind Office Doors: Technical Details”. theiapolis.com. Retrieved August 17, 2014.[permanent dead link]
  3. Jump up to:a b c d e f “Behind Office Doors: Detail View”. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 2, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  4. Jump up^ Jewell, Richard B.; Harbin, Vernon (1982). The RKO Story. New York: Arlington House. p. 34. ISBN 0-517-546566.
  5. Jump up^ Hall, Mordaunt (March 21, 1931). “Behind Office Doors: A Noble Stenographer”New York TimesArchived from the original on March 21, 2014. Retrieved September 2,2016.
  6. Jump up^ Pierce, David (June 2007). “Forgotten Faces: Why Some of Our Cinema Heritage Is Part of the Public Domain”. Film History: an International Journal19 (2): 125–43. ISSN 0892-2160JSTOR 25165419OCLC 15122313doi:10.2979/FIL.2007.19.2.125. See Note #60, pg. 143.

Behind Closed Doors 7

Film Collectors Corner

Watch Behind Closed Doors Now – You Tube Instant Video

Blu Ray

Not released on Blu Ray

 

DVD