Sunday, July 19, 2009

Review: In Name Only (1939)


To commemorate the 70th anniversary of Hollywood's golden year, 1939, Turner Classic Movies is featuring films made in that illustrious year. One 1939 hit that doesn't get its due in the time capsule of film is the love triangle driven weepie, In Name Only. For sure it's a "women's picture," the kind that thrived at the box office during the 30's and 40's, but unlike many such flicks that filled the cinematic landscape with strong females like Davis, Crawford or Stanwyck, In Name Only has not only TWO strong women but also a very strong male lead. The gals are played by Carole Lombard and Kay Francis, the fellow in the middle, Cary Grant, making for a very powerful as well as photogenic trio.

The story is one that is often told. Wealthy but unhappily married Alec (Grant) meets and is attracted to intelligent widow Julie (Lombard), while his bitchy and manipulative wife Maida (Francis) makes life miserable for all involved. That's the general gist, though there are more detailed aspects that director John Cromwell uses to bump it up from a standard soaper. Julie is not only an independent widow but also mother to a precocious little girl and sister to a bitter divorcee who thinks all men are scum and ostracizes Julie when she refuses to stop seeing Alec (Ironically, later in the film when the sister has found love again herself, she is suddenly forgiving and once again loving to Julie. The need for a man to validate her happiness, or even more her general life outlook is unsettling). Maida is not simply a shrewish social climbing wife to Alec, that would make things too easy. She has the rest of the world, including Alec's well-to-do parents believing she is the ultimate perfect and loving wife, though it is made clear that she only married Alec for wealth and position and refuses to let those things go.

The star threesome make In Name Only rousing entertainment. Lombard, who had just married superstar Clark Gable before shooting the film, was at the peak of her career, making $150,000 per picture. Both she and Grant had just come off a string of hit screwball comedies, in which the public had become accustomed to see them excel. Kay Francis on the other hand was no stranger to movie histrionics, and felt right at home in the melodramatic brouhaha. She had just ended her contract with Warner Brothers studio on a very sour note and was cast in the film at the insistence of the star and her good friend Lombard. She steals the film in most of the scenes in which she participates. As stated earlier, Cary Grant stands his ground in the emotional back and forth and lends his sense of the debonair to all the heavy doings.

The movie, made at RKO studio, was originally intended as a vehicle to reunite Grant and Katherine Hepburn after their recent comedy Bringing Up Baby. But Baby bombed at the box office and Hepburn was declared "box office poison" by a poll in The Hollywood Reporter (Kay Francis was also on this list). Hence, the more popular Lombard took the role. The blond, free spirited Carole makes a striking contrast physically to the dark and impeccably groomed Kay, which only enhances the two legs they make up in the torrid triangle. All three leads are handsomely costumed and Lombard and Grant are a very becoming couple. The sheer star power and stylish production values afforded In Name Only make it a should see among fans of the golden year as well as of the golden age.

17 comments:

  1. Great movie! CG in a very complicated role is obviously belivable as a romantic lead and recahes peaks of sophisticateed comic art especially when he plays opposit great Helen Vinson, who is also in some of the clue scenes of the film :don't miss the one onboard with Kay Francis (they had already played best friends together in 1932 fantastic film Jewel Robbery), a masterpice of feminine devilish treacherous doublecrossing complicity!) . Cary is far less effective in the dramatic scenes and frankly a source of embarrassment when lying ill in bed and close to death. But here again Lombard's loving charachter drives on her all attention. Lombard is adorable ; her deep feelings and emotions keep the audience in full anxiety. But the real surprise is glamourous Kay Francis: for the first time since she had become a star she appears in a role of a doublecrossing demoniacal bitch. And she steals every scene she's in. Too bad she never co-starred with Grant before and never will again: she would have been, in my opinion, as good as Bergman a few years later. Attilio F.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Havent seen this one.....yet...thank's for post...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'd like to add that Kay FRancis by 1938 was declared Box Office poison obviously because Warners, who wanted her to break her fabulous contract with the studios without paying her any indemnity, forced her their top female star to play in mostly awful B movies for the remaining couple of years . FRancis's heart was broken, but cleverly and professionally she kept on collecting her conspicuous weekly check all the way. She wanted the money that could allow her to quit Hollywood asap and go back to stage in NYC. Attilio F.

    ReplyDelete
  4. P.S. I don't see here any suitable role for stiff Katherine Hepburn

    ReplyDelete
  5. P.S. I don't see what role in this film is suitable for stiff Kate Hepburn

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks, Rupert for another great post; it's been years since I've seen "In Name Only." I could have envisioned Hepburn in the Lombard role, but if she had played it, I believe that would have pushed Miss Hepburn further up the box office poison poll.

    ReplyDelete
  7. i really fell in love with this film the first time i saw it, as i'm not allergic to histrionics or some goodhearted sappiness. cary and carole play wonderfully off each other and kay's final scene sent shivers down my spine, she was just so evil.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for this. I have never seen this movie, but now I can't wait to see it. I only recently began liking Lombard, and am only vaguely familiar with Kay Francis. Cary Grant is my lover, so I know I will like it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Maggie, I'm glad you've become a Lombard fan and cordially invite you to visit my community dedicated to her, "Carole & Co." (http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/)

    As for "In Name Only," it's an effective film, and I'm glad Kay Francis got a meaty role after Warners let her rot in B pictures -- but I think a lot of us would have traded this in if only Cary and Carole, the actor and actress most identified with screwball comedy, had been able to co-star in that genre. (Lombard was reportedly too expensive for Columbia to hire her for the role Rosalind Russell played in"His Girl Friday," while Grant was de facto producer Lombard's first choice for the male lead in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," a part that went to Robert Montgomery.)

    ReplyDelete
  10. When I first saw this years ago it was my first viewing of a Lombard AND Francis movie--and you know what they say about first impressions. Later when I saw the comedic talents of Carole Lombard I realized how tragic her loss was not just to Gable, but to Hollywood. As for Kay Francis seeing her here made me mistrust her in any movie I saw subsequently. What a delicious melodrama this was.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kay Francis does not get enough attention in my book.
    So sad we lost Lombard at such a young age-she could have made so many more great films-serious and comedic.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I wonder why Hepburn was "box office poison" at the time, and when did she recover

    ReplyDelete
  13. I never knew that she was. That is the first time I heard of that. Of course, I love the movie how it is and coukdn't imagine her in it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. what a fun blog..I need to show this to my 17 year old son who loves movies...and wants to watch more classics!

    Thanks for posting on mine so I could find you! Houseboy...funny!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I agree with your assessment of this film. It is well worth a view and the performances lift it up above a sudsy soap.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Rupert! this is one of my all time favorite movies. It is my favorite Lombard film. It is my favorite Kay Francis film. That is saying something when two stars are in the same movie that is my favorite of theirs. I own 40 Kay Francis movies so I like her a little bit. lol. She is wonderful in this movie!! I love your review. I always tell everyone about this movie because it is not well known as their other work. Thank you for reviewing it and letting people want to run to watch it!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I have seen this movie several times and each time I get caught up, I get frustrated with the sister, with the wife and by the time the movie is over I am feeling good again. Great flick , great acting and beautiful actors.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails