Honor Among Lovers (1931)

Fredric March, a businessman, is in love with his secretary (Claudette Colbert) but she deserts him for another man; when she realizes her mistake, she goes back to March. Ginger Rogers is ... See full summary »

Director:

Dorothy Arzner

Writers:

Austin Parker (screenplay), Austin Parker (story),

Stars:

Claudette Colbert, Fredric March, Monroe Owsley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Claudette Colbert	...	Julia Traynor
Fredric March	...	Jerry Stafford
Monroe Owsley	...	Philip Craig
Charles Ruggles	...	Monty Dunn
Ginger Rogers	...	Doris Brown
Avonne Taylor	...	Maybelle Worthington
Pat O'Brien	...	Conroy
Janet McLeary	...	Margaret Newton
John Kearney	...	Inspector
Ralph Morgan	...	Riggs
Jules Epailly	...	Louis, Headwaiter
Leonard Carey	...	Forbes, Butler
Grace Kern	...	Party Guest
Winifred Harris	...	Party Guest
Roberta Beatty	...	Mrs. Fleming, Party Guest

Storyline

Fredric March, a businessman, is in love with his secretary (Claudette Colbert) but she deserts him for another man; when she realizes her mistake, she goes back to March. Ginger Rogers is Colbert's girlfriend who is love with Charles Ruggles.

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Plot Keywords:

secretary | girlfriend | affair | title directed by female

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 March 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

Another Man's Wife

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Connections

Version of Paid in Full (1914)

User Reviews

Pre-Code how-to on sexual harassment in the workplace

We've all had to sit through those tedious sexual harassment videos at work – bland, patronizing productions that are required viewing for all new employees. Companies could make the experience a whole lot more fun if they just showed this film instead.

Moustache-sporting Fredric March is wealthy CEO Jerry Stafford, a debonair gadabout who secretly pines for his cute and unattached secretary Julie Traynor (Claudette Colbert). Not so secretly, actually – within the first ten minutes Stafford hits on Julie with abandon and then steals a kiss which leaves her flustered. He brushes it off with a "I was surprised just as much as you were" (though a careful reviewing of the scene confirms that he wasn't surprised at all), then pops open the wine – they're having lunch in his office, natch – and asks her to go on a cruise around the world with him. Safe to say, this guy would be in white collar prison these days. Even better, a few scenes later Julie marries her low-incomed broker of a fiancé (Philip Craig, as played by the Pee Wee Herman-looking Monroe Owsley); she reports to work the following Monday to tell Stafford she won't go on that cruise with him after all, on account of marriage. Stafford's response? He fires her!

I should mention here that Jerry Stafford is the hero of this film. Yes, we're certainly in the world of 1930s cinema.

Stafford doesn't turn out to be the biggest cad. That would be Craig, who by his and Julie's first anniversary has become wealthy, due mostly to the money Stafford has given his brokerage firm. Craig loses all of his newfound wealth on a silk deal Stafford cautioned against. Only problem is, Craig used some of Stafford's money as well…without telling him. Destitute, Julie goes to Stafford and asks for money, offering herself in exchange. Here the movie becomes like the 1930 version of "The Cheat" (available on the Pre-Code Hollywood DVD set), with foul play, accidental shootings, and exonerations. Only in this movie no one gets branded.

This was the second of four on screen pairings for Colbert and March. The following year they reunited for DeMille's "Sign of the Cross" and, a month after that, for Mitchell Leisen's "Tonight Is Ours" (filmed in late '32 but released in January '33 – and ostensibly credited to director Stuart Walker, who according to all and sundry did nothing). I enjoy these two together, though apparently Colbert didn't; March was notorious for getting a bit too "familiar" with his leading ladies. Colbert reportedly disliked the man – there are stories of March wandering around "in a daze" on the set of "Sign of the Cross," he was so nuts about her.

Overall, a predictable melodrama that's most memorable for its (nowadays) jawdropping displays of sexual harassment in the workplace and the fact that it features three celebrities (Colbert, March, and a twenty one year-old Ginger Rogers) on the brink of their still-enduring fame. Dorothy Arzner's directorial work is okay, but nothing incredible -- the camera's static most times and, other than a solemn scene of Claudette walking up a hauntingly-lit staircase toward the end of the film, there aren't many novel shots. Arzner's work was much better in her subsequent film with March, "Merrily We Go To Hell" (also included on the Pre-Code Hollywood DVD set).