Manhattan socialite Jackie Millet (Lilyan Tashman) is Reno-bound for her 4th divorce (or 5th ...no one remembers), much to the chagrin of her husband Robert (Irving Pichel) and her teen-age son Jeff (Tom Douglas) who considers Robert the father he never had. Jackie's daughter Lee (Peggy Shannon), home from college, is disappointed too, but decides to accompany her mother and on the train heading West, a romance blossoms between Lee and Tom (Charles "Buddy" Rogers), a mining engineer graduate en-route to San Francisco for a job interview. Offered an opportunity to work in the Orient, Tom writes to Lee, gets no response and goes to Reno to find out why. He's confronted with the fact that Lee has taken up with her mother's fast crowd and he strongly disapproves of their overall immorality. To make Tom jealous, Lee encourages the attentions of lounge-lizard Jerry "Ken" Kenton (William "Stage" Boyd) who is also there for a divorce. Ken's rich young wife Elise (Judith Wood) claims "If I can't have him, no one else will" and she calls New York and alerts Robert and Jeff to the fact Ken is romancing Lee. This news leaves Jeff in an agitated state and he, too, comes to Reno. When Ken woos Jackie and simultaneously tries to seduce Lee, Lee sees how foolish it was to play with Tom's affections. She's ready to marry him and relocate to Burma. Lee tells her mother of her plans but when Jackie tells Lee she's marrying Ken, anger, family shame and pent up resentments explode. As Jackie walks down the aisle yet again, shots ring out and the tale ends with a murder/suicide. Grief-stricken and repentant, Jackie urges Tom and Lee to go find happiness in Burma.
Like De Mille's pre-code Biblical epics, THE ROAD TO RENO manages to get a message across while wallowing in it's salacious subject matter. It exposes the "divorce racket" ("56 a day in Reno!" newspaper headlines scream) by showing the devastating effect serial marriage has on a family. The pulpy True Confessions-like plot also reflects pop culture of the times. Showgirl Peggy Hopkins Joyce was marrying and discarding millionaires at an alarming rate and film stars were often multi-wed. The script doesn't take itself too seriously either. A trip to Reno for a divorce is called "the cure", the celebration of one's divorce is a "freedom party" and liquor is referred to as "nerve tonic". When Lee runs wild, Tom accuses her of "going Reno". At the dude ranch, the ladies swim, horse-back ride, and take archery lessons in skimpy out-fits. Painted on the archery targets are men. A hefty dame named Blossom sails out of the courthouse squealing "I'm free!" and tosses her ring in the lake where it hits a fish on the head. She then drags the milquetoast she's with across the street to a judge to get hitched anew. They interrupt the judge just as he's hearing Mrs. Hitchcock's (gorgeous Adrienne Ames) divorce and Mrs. H isn't happy. Right after it's granted she goes back to her hotel and blows her brains out in the lobby. The prissy desk clerk sniffs "some people are just SO inconsiderate" but suddenly brightens when told he can now give the room to Mrs. Millet. Jackie is played by sleek femme-fatale Lilyan Tashman, a blinding platinum vision costumed by Travis Banton and her extravagant mannerisms and honey-toned purr border on intentional camp. The feline Tashman even makes the character's shallowness and vanity oddly endearing. It's very obvious she has no conception of the cause and effect her actions generate and excuses for her behavior are often made. Robert blames himself for the upcoming divorce because he foolishly allowed his wife male escorts as she loved to "go places and do things" and opines that early widowhood put her in a marry-go-round tailspin. She's often mistaken for Lee's sister and is momentarily dismayed to learn her daughter wants to marry ...but only because she'll become a (gasp!) grandmother. Former Follies beauty Peggy Shannon acquits herself well as Lee and even rises to the occasion when she has to scream "Stop Ken! Stop ...or I'll ...HATE you!" when he corners her in his bungalow. A Pre-Code sensibility of sexual misbehavior and disregard for the law is present throughout. The women carouse 24/7. They have all-day drinking parties before heading out at night to gamble, dance and drink some more ...even though Prohibition didn't end until 1933. Hard-bitten tart Wynne Gibson (a cross between Mayo Methot and Betty Boop) plays Mrs. It-rich, a perpetually tipsy divorcée as a running gag throughout the film. Even the attractively intense Judith Wood (as Elise) makes a drunken spectacle of herself. In Reno, divorcées are generally selfish, hedonistic and rather reckless. At The Pussy Willow Cafe, lovely Leni Stengel (Mrs. Howes) gazes longingly at the piano-player before slithering off her barstool to join him on the piano bench and Mrs. It-rich latches on to any man that happens by. On the other hand, the men in their orbit all seem decent, moral and indulgent with the exception of Ken ...and the gaggle of escorts that hovered around Jackie back in Manhattan. William "Stage" Boyd plays the villainous Ken with relish, boyishly handsome heart-throb "Buddy" Rogers emotes earnestly as Tom, and Tom Douglas plays teen-aged Jeff as a very troubled youth scarred by his mother's lifestyle. Other (uncredited) denizens of the casino are beautiful blonde Claire Dodd, darkly debonair Kent Taylor and gay blond society playboy Anderson Lawlor who was living with Gary Cooper at the time.
THE ROAD TO RENO is an Art Deco lover's dream and a must-see for anyone interested in Pre-Code Hollywood. It originally started filming with Carman Barnes in the Peggy Shannon role. Paramount promoted Carman as the successor to Clara Bow all through the spring/summer of 1931. Why she was scrapped and whatever became of her is still a mystery.
Like De Mille's pre-code Biblical epics, THE ROAD TO RENO manages to get a message across while wallowing in it's salacious subject matter. It exposes the "divorce racket" ("56 a day in Reno!" newspaper headlines scream) by showing the devastating effect serial marriage has on a family. The pulpy True Confessions-like plot also reflects pop culture of the times. Showgirl Peggy Hopkins Joyce was marrying and discarding millionaires at an alarming rate and film stars were often multi-wed. The script doesn't take itself too seriously either. A trip to Reno for a divorce is called "the cure", the celebration of one's divorce is a "freedom party" and liquor is referred to as "nerve tonic". When Lee runs wild, Tom accuses her of "going Reno". At the dude ranch, the ladies swim, horse-back ride, and take archery lessons in skimpy out-fits. Painted on the archery targets are men. A hefty dame named Blossom sails out of the courthouse squealing "I'm free!" and tosses her ring in the lake where it hits a fish on the head. She then drags the milquetoast she's with across the street to a judge to get hitched anew. They interrupt the judge just as he's hearing Mrs. Hitchcock's (gorgeous Adrienne Ames) divorce and Mrs. H isn't happy. Right after it's granted she goes back to her hotel and blows her brains out in the lobby. The prissy desk clerk sniffs "some people are just SO inconsiderate" but suddenly brightens when told he can now give the room to Mrs. Millet. Jackie is played by sleek femme-fatale Lilyan Tashman, a blinding platinum vision costumed by Travis Banton and her extravagant mannerisms and honey-toned purr border on intentional camp. The feline Tashman even makes the character's shallowness and vanity oddly endearing. It's very obvious she has no conception of the cause and effect her actions generate and excuses for her behavior are often made. Robert blames himself for the upcoming divorce because he foolishly allowed his wife male escorts as she loved to "go places and do things" and opines that early widowhood put her in a marry-go-round tailspin. She's often mistaken for Lee's sister and is momentarily dismayed to learn her daughter wants to marry ...but only because she'll become a (gasp!) grandmother. Former Follies beauty Peggy Shannon acquits herself well as Lee and even rises to the occasion when she has to scream "Stop Ken! Stop ...or I'll ...HATE you!" when he corners her in his bungalow. A Pre-Code sensibility of sexual misbehavior and disregard for the law is present throughout. The women carouse 24/7. They have all-day drinking parties before heading out at night to gamble, dance and drink some more ...even though Prohibition didn't end until 1933. Hard-bitten tart Wynne Gibson (a cross between Mayo Methot and Betty Boop) plays Mrs. It-rich, a perpetually tipsy divorcée as a running gag throughout the film. Even the attractively intense Judith Wood (as Elise) makes a drunken spectacle of herself. In Reno, divorcées are generally selfish, hedonistic and rather reckless. At The Pussy Willow Cafe, lovely Leni Stengel (Mrs. Howes) gazes longingly at the piano-player before slithering off her barstool to join him on the piano bench and Mrs. It-rich latches on to any man that happens by. On the other hand, the men in their orbit all seem decent, moral and indulgent with the exception of Ken ...and the gaggle of escorts that hovered around Jackie back in Manhattan. William "Stage" Boyd plays the villainous Ken with relish, boyishly handsome heart-throb "Buddy" Rogers emotes earnestly as Tom, and Tom Douglas plays teen-aged Jeff as a very troubled youth scarred by his mother's lifestyle. Other (uncredited) denizens of the casino are beautiful blonde Claire Dodd, darkly debonair Kent Taylor and gay blond society playboy Anderson Lawlor who was living with Gary Cooper at the time.
THE ROAD TO RENO is an Art Deco lover's dream and a must-see for anyone interested in Pre-Code Hollywood. It originally started filming with Carman Barnes in the Peggy Shannon role. Paramount promoted Carman as the successor to Clara Bow all through the spring/summer of 1931. Why she was scrapped and whatever became of her is still a mystery.