I'd seen several of Robert Montgomery's movies before Faithless, and I liked him well enough. But this movie made me fall in love with him. They way his character handles the news of his wife's prostitution amazed me -- it gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes. Movies certainly were mature-minded 75 years ago. In many ways, more mature than even they are today.
This movie tells the story of two people who really and truly love each other, but who have to go through many hardships to realize that their love is strong enough to endure. Sort of like how steel becomes strong only when subjected to high temperatures, Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery come out at the end of this movie stronger than they went in, because of all the tribulations they've endured. They haven't had enough faith in one another's love, and so they don't fully trust each other and they break up and go their separate ways several times during this movie, allowing the various tribulations that come their way -- the stock market crash, the great depression, homelessness, joblessness, pennilessness -- to be more powerful than their love for each other.
The couple's circumstances become more and more dire as the movie goes on, till near the end it hits what we, the audience, think must be rock bottom. But Robert Montgomery has learned through all the horrific hardships that he and Tallulah have been through, what true love means. And so has Tallulah. In fact, it is she who learns first and who shows Montgomery what true love is by her actions; by doing what is most despicable to her in order to save her husband. And, the true and caring and loving man that he is, he recognizes her sacrifices and returns her faith and love with a huge heaping helping of his own. By the end of this film, Robert and Tallulah (and we the audience) have faith that that they will be rock solid from here on out and that nothing will ever break them apart again.
This movie tells the story of two people who really and truly love each other, but who have to go through many hardships to realize that their love is strong enough to endure. Sort of like how steel becomes strong only when subjected to high temperatures, Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery come out at the end of this movie stronger than they went in, because of all the tribulations they've endured. They haven't had enough faith in one another's love, and so they don't fully trust each other and they break up and go their separate ways several times during this movie, allowing the various tribulations that come their way -- the stock market crash, the great depression, homelessness, joblessness, pennilessness -- to be more powerful than their love for each other.
The couple's circumstances become more and more dire as the movie goes on, till near the end it hits what we, the audience, think must be rock bottom. But Robert Montgomery has learned through all the horrific hardships that he and Tallulah have been through, what true love means. And so has Tallulah. In fact, it is she who learns first and who shows Montgomery what true love is by her actions; by doing what is most despicable to her in order to save her husband. And, the true and caring and loving man that he is, he recognizes her sacrifices and returns her faith and love with a huge heaping helping of his own. By the end of this film, Robert and Tallulah (and we the audience) have faith that that they will be rock solid from here on out and that nothing will ever break them apart again.