The complexities of love and marriage make good comedy and drama.
libeled lady
This delightful screwball comedy, nominated for Best Picture, brings together William Powell (who was having a stellar year), Myrna Loy (surprise, surprise, playing Powell’s love interest), Jean Harlow (Powell’s lover in real life), and Spencer Tracy (not playing a priest). Character actor Walter Connolly makes an appearance too as the bumbling rich father of Myrna Loy (almost a reprise of his role as Claudette Colbert’s father in It Happened One Night).
The story contains all the ingredients for delicious romantic chaos: a love triangle, elaborate ruses, fake marriages, complex courting games, and misunderstood intentions. After newspaperman Warren Haggerty (Tracy) prints false gossip about the wealthy, misunderstood Connie Allenbury (Loy), he finds himself facing a libel suit. He calls on Bill Chandler (Powell) to seduce and frame Connie, so the allegations about her being a homewrecker will become true. Haggerty’s fiancee of two years (he’s always missing their wedding for work), Gladys Benton (Harlow), reluctantly agrees to pose as Chandler’s wife. However, the little attentions Chandler pays the starved-for-attention Gladys cause her to fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Chandler finds himself falling in love with Connie. All the misguided affections eventually work themselves right and Connie calls off the libel suit.
Though the plot doesn’t present any surprises, the characters’ developments provide the movie’s appeal. The easily manipulated Gladys starts out hating Chandler, but she becomes so engrossed in playing her role as his wife that she comes to believe that they are united heart and soul. Meanwhile, the cold, cautious Connie slowly warms to the suspiciously perfect Chandler. After Chandler breaks through Connie’s ice, he tries to protect her from Haggerty’s scheme and does everything he can to end the suit. Haggerty, the most unsympathetic character, thinks only about his work, but by the end he learns that if he wants to keep Gladys, he needs to treat her like an orchid, not a cactus. (Spencer Tracy gets to say the film’s best line: “She may be his wife, but she’s engaged to me.”) The two couples serves as foils: Loy and Powell’s love is warm and steady, while Harlow and Tracy’s explosive and erratic. All of the chemistry results in explosive laughs and great fun!
dodsworth
William Wyler (Ben-Hur among others) directs this adaptation of a Sinclair Lewis novel starring Walter Huston (grandfather of Anjelica Huston) as Sam Dodsworth and Ruth Chatterton as his wife, Fran. After Sam 
sells his auto company, Fran, desperate to experience the world and get away from the Midwest, convinces Sam to take her to Europe for six months. However, even as early as the boat ride across the Atlantic, it becomes clear that Fran and Sam have totally different priorities. He’s a total nerd who spends his evenings on the deck to watch for land, while Fran prefers the company of a suave mustachioed foreigner. Once in Paris, the self-conscious Fran craves to be a part of the in-crowd; she feels embarrassed by Sam, an unapologetic American. Then, Sam understands that Fran is afraid of growing old; she continues to persue affairs where ever they go so that she can feel young, attractive, and desirable. Disturbed, Sam returns to the US at Fran’s behest, while she goes off to Switzerland. Over time, Sam becomes suspicious and his heart breaks, while Fran, still contriving to seem young, even refuses to call her daughter on the birth of her grandchild. After a dashing, waltz-dancing Austrian proposes to Fran, she ditches Sam and files for divorce. Seeing him off on the train, she acts almost flippant, while he nearly crumbles. Lost and forlorn, Sam travels through Europe on his own. In Naples, he happens to meet an acquaintance, the widow Mrs. Edith Coatwright (Mary Astor). They develop a beautiful, easy-going life together, while Sam recovers from his emotional wounds. Suddenly, Fran calls to say that her marriage with the Austrian is off and she wants Sam to go back to the US with her. Like an obedient dog, he follows Fran and leaves Edith behind. Quickly, however, Sam sees how superficial Fran is as she makes snobby comments about other passengers. He escapes from the ship and, hooray, returns to the arms of Edith in her ramshackle Neopolitan villa.
I must confess that the themes of this drama really appealed to me: what happens to a couple when they begin a new chapter of life together? does the change bring them closer or does their rootlessness suddenly force them apart? how do people change when they are removed from their routines and homes? Though a familiar trope, these questions often result in great stories, like Midnight in Paris or The Virgin Blue, a novel by Tracy Chevalier I happened to read after watching this movie.
For a couple married for twenty years, Sam and Fran seem to know little about each other. Fran has been trapped and stiffled, I would wager, by her role as a wife. Now that her daughter is an adult, Fran’s only responsibility is to pour Sam a drink every evening when he comes home from work. Though Fran is no by means a likeable character, I pitied her for her the lack of an inner life, her lack of confidence, and her inexperience of the world. The clear protagonist, Sam handles his wife’s indiscretions and infidelities well. He respects her decisions, as much as it pains him to do so. However, with the help of Edith, he goes through an exciting transformation and, by finally leaving Fran for good, Sam finds joy in living.
So before all you lovers out there start planning trips to Europe, watch this movie: new people and sights might put an end to the honeymoon.
Lanahj 