After watching "Ladies Should Listen" I queued up "Housewife." I had already watched "A Good Dame," "Ladies They Talk About," and "Gold Diggers". I only need to watch "A Woman's Place," "Cook My Meal," and "Woman Shut Up" to get a full understanding of the female role in the 30's.
"Housewife" was too much of a rerun. A struggling married man became successful then had an affair. I can't believe they were still pitching that narrative. Just watch "No Other Woman," "Palooka," "Crooner," or any number of movies from that time period. High society men and mistresses go together like peanut butter and jelly.
William Reynolds (George Brent) was a lowly office manager at an advertising agency. His wife Nan (Ann Dvorak) was a busy and, quite frankly, mistreated housewife. She was expected to fix leaky faucets, handle calls from bill collectors, cook, clean, and raise their son. For such a small family their house was busier than Grand Central Station, which I found a tad hard to believe. A family of three was such a task that they needed a maid, which is another oddity of yesteryear. How in the world did a family that was trying to scrimp and save afford a maid??
Nan happily worked as an overly-taxed housewife while her husband refused to lift a finger. He had no time for such trivialities such as taking care of bills or repairs. He'd been so busy at work he had no energy to help.
At home William was a king. At work he was a servant. His boss, Sam Blake (Robert Barrat), shat on him like he shat on his wife. The implication was that William was simply mimicking his boss while at home. William had had enough of his boss one day when Blake cruelly dismissed him and an idea he had. With his wife's encouragement and the money she saved being a thrifty housewife he struck out on his own. He was going to create a rival ad company that was full of new ideas (aka his wife's ideas).
In little time at all William had a thriving ad company. He and his wife moved from an outhouse to a penthouse. William even had the money and clout to attract Patricia Berkeley (Bette Davis), a premier ad creator. It wasn't much later that the two were carrying on an affair. A trite, rote affair.
This movie was so hamfisted and juvenile with the story that they made William lacking in any kind of discretion or social intelligence. The message was: "Once men get money they lose all of their sense;" which may be true, but I'd expect it to take some time. Who works so hard to build something only to neglect it and what got you there immediately after attaining success? In the case of "Housewife," William did. He got a taste of success and began catting around with Patricia (Bette Davis). He was so shameless with it that he was draped over Patricia in social settings right in front of his wife!! I found that a very forced addition to the movie because if I know one thing about high society of that era it is that appearances are everything. A mistress is fine, but you never flaunt her in public in front of your own spouse. Even if he wasn't society, I'd think he'd have enough shame and decency to spare his wife seeing him making love to another woman. He was so completely stuck on Patricia that he even ignored his biggest client.
Who does that?
William and Nan were headed for divorce. Waiting in the wings were Patricia and Paul Duprey (John Halliday). They would claim each respective rebound. Nan wasn't going to give up William so easily though. She'd helped to get him where he was, so she wasn't OK with allowing Patricia to reap the crop she painstakingly planted, nurtured, and grew. I could understand the sentiment, even if her husband was a scoundrel. It's a precarious predicament to be in. On the one hand, her husband was cheating on her; on the other hand, if she granted him a divorce she'd be giving him and Patricia what they both wanted.
She finally opted for divorce when William accidently ran over his own kid. She didn't want William sticking around out of pity. In divorce court they made up and had a happy reunion while Patricia and Paul had to walk away empty handed.*
In the next scene we see Nan happily proclaiming that she's a housewife as if she'd suffered nothing at all: no humiliation, no anger, no broken heartedness. She rebounded from her husband's cheating and the near collapse of her marriage as though she was happier it survived the trial than upset she had to be dragged through such a trial. It's embarrassing to watch and upsetting as well because I don't know any people like that. I don't know any Nan's or any women like a lot of the Stepford women in many of the 30's movies. Just show more real, authentic women, that's all I ask.
*It's hilariously stupid to see two paramours in court waiting for a divorce to be made final so that they could leave with their prize.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
"Housewife" was too much of a rerun. A struggling married man became successful then had an affair. I can't believe they were still pitching that narrative. Just watch "No Other Woman," "Palooka," "Crooner," or any number of movies from that time period. High society men and mistresses go together like peanut butter and jelly.
William Reynolds (George Brent) was a lowly office manager at an advertising agency. His wife Nan (Ann Dvorak) was a busy and, quite frankly, mistreated housewife. She was expected to fix leaky faucets, handle calls from bill collectors, cook, clean, and raise their son. For such a small family their house was busier than Grand Central Station, which I found a tad hard to believe. A family of three was such a task that they needed a maid, which is another oddity of yesteryear. How in the world did a family that was trying to scrimp and save afford a maid??
Nan happily worked as an overly-taxed housewife while her husband refused to lift a finger. He had no time for such trivialities such as taking care of bills or repairs. He'd been so busy at work he had no energy to help.
At home William was a king. At work he was a servant. His boss, Sam Blake (Robert Barrat), shat on him like he shat on his wife. The implication was that William was simply mimicking his boss while at home. William had had enough of his boss one day when Blake cruelly dismissed him and an idea he had. With his wife's encouragement and the money she saved being a thrifty housewife he struck out on his own. He was going to create a rival ad company that was full of new ideas (aka his wife's ideas).
In little time at all William had a thriving ad company. He and his wife moved from an outhouse to a penthouse. William even had the money and clout to attract Patricia Berkeley (Bette Davis), a premier ad creator. It wasn't much later that the two were carrying on an affair. A trite, rote affair.
This movie was so hamfisted and juvenile with the story that they made William lacking in any kind of discretion or social intelligence. The message was: "Once men get money they lose all of their sense;" which may be true, but I'd expect it to take some time. Who works so hard to build something only to neglect it and what got you there immediately after attaining success? In the case of "Housewife," William did. He got a taste of success and began catting around with Patricia (Bette Davis). He was so shameless with it that he was draped over Patricia in social settings right in front of his wife!! I found that a very forced addition to the movie because if I know one thing about high society of that era it is that appearances are everything. A mistress is fine, but you never flaunt her in public in front of your own spouse. Even if he wasn't society, I'd think he'd have enough shame and decency to spare his wife seeing him making love to another woman. He was so completely stuck on Patricia that he even ignored his biggest client.
Who does that?
William and Nan were headed for divorce. Waiting in the wings were Patricia and Paul Duprey (John Halliday). They would claim each respective rebound. Nan wasn't going to give up William so easily though. She'd helped to get him where he was, so she wasn't OK with allowing Patricia to reap the crop she painstakingly planted, nurtured, and grew. I could understand the sentiment, even if her husband was a scoundrel. It's a precarious predicament to be in. On the one hand, her husband was cheating on her; on the other hand, if she granted him a divorce she'd be giving him and Patricia what they both wanted.
She finally opted for divorce when William accidently ran over his own kid. She didn't want William sticking around out of pity. In divorce court they made up and had a happy reunion while Patricia and Paul had to walk away empty handed.*
In the next scene we see Nan happily proclaiming that she's a housewife as if she'd suffered nothing at all: no humiliation, no anger, no broken heartedness. She rebounded from her husband's cheating and the near collapse of her marriage as though she was happier it survived the trial than upset she had to be dragged through such a trial. It's embarrassing to watch and upsetting as well because I don't know any people like that. I don't know any Nan's or any women like a lot of the Stepford women in many of the 30's movies. Just show more real, authentic women, that's all I ask.
*It's hilariously stupid to see two paramours in court waiting for a divorce to be made final so that they could leave with their prize.
Free on Odnoklassniki.