Easy to Love (1934)

Director:

William Keighley

Writers:

Thompson Buchanan (play)
David Boehm (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

13 January 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Carol feels, for whatever reason, that her husband, John, has grown indifferent to her, and is on a quest to find out why...

Plot Keywords:

Fire Axe | Daughter | Marriage | Private Detective | Detective

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Genevieve Tobin	...	Carol Townsend
Adolphe Menjou	...	John Townsend
Mary Astor	...	Charlotte Hopkins
Edward Everett Horton	...	Eric Schulte
Patricia Ellis	...	Janet Townsend
Guy Kibbee	...	Ryder - Justice of the Peace
Hugh Herbert	...	Detective John McTavish
Paul Kaye	...	Paul Smith
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Hotel Desk Clerk
Robert Greig	...	Andrews - Townsends' Butler
Harold Waldridge	...	Elevator Operator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Miki Morita	...	Miki - Eric's Servant

Runtime:

61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The play, "As Good as New," opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 3 November 1930 and closed in December 1930 after 56 performances. The opening night cast included Marjorie Gateson, Otto Kruger and Vivienne Osborne.

Quotes:

Carol Townsend: Aren't you coming up?
John Townsend: Directly, dear. I see Andrews hovering over the Scotch and I wouldn't want to disappoint him. Will you have a spot before you turn in?
Carol Townsend: No thank you. Hurry won't you?
John Townsend: But I thought you didn't want to go to bed.
Carol Townsend: John, you just *won't* understand.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Easy to Love

Wonderful--and stuff like that!

This is a gem of a comedy--very much like a Lubitsch bedroom farce, only with a brisker running time, a lower budget, and some of that early '30s Warners snappiness added in.

Menjou is a great farceur, playing the husband who cheats but is aghast that his wife would consider doing the same. Horton is--well, Horton: the unique dithery fussbudget he always played. Mary Astor shows her gift for comedy here (almost a decade before "The Palm Beach Story") and Genevieve Tobin is a delight. So, too, is young Patricia Ellis--only 18 at the time of the filming but showing great poise. Robert Grieg, also a favorite of Preston Sturges' and known to Marx Brothers fans for his prominent role in "Animal Crackers," steals many a scene as the all-knowing butler. But the film is *really* stolen by Guy Kibbee as the justice of the peace, who only shows up in the last ten minutes but essentially walks off with the whole movie.

Thank goodness for Turner Classic Movies, and for its programmers who run obscure films like this which are so delightful. This film may be from 1934, but it hasn't dated a bit; its wry look at the craziness of love is still relevant.