Harry Beaumont directed When Ladies Meet, a pre-Code melodrama, starring Ann Harding, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, Alice Brady, and Frank Morgan.
Grade: B- (**1/2* out of *****)
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The film is the first adaptation of the 1932 Rachel Crothers play of the same name, which ran for 173 performances on Broadway, with Spring Byington playing the role of Bridget Drake, as in the film.
Oscar Nominations:
It was nominated for the Best Art Direction Oscar by Cedric Gibbons, but did not win.
Recycling:
The film was remade under the same name in 1941, starring Greer Garson, Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor and Herbert Marshall in the lead roles played by Harding, Loy, Montgomery and Morgan.
Loy plays Mary, a writer working on a novel about a love triangle, is attracted to her publisher (Frank Morgan).
Her suitor Jimmie (Robert Montgomery), determined to break them up, introduces Mary to the publisher’s wife (Ann Harding) without telling Mary who she is.
Kay Francis was initially cast to play Claire and Harding as Mary, before Francis was replaced by Myrna Loy and Harding settled on the role of the long-suffering wife.
Loy, who had worked together with Harding on The Animal Kingdom, described her as well-mannered, but too reserved.
Ann Harding Career
Harding had come to Hollywood in 1929, signing a contract with the company Pathé Exchange, Inc. Within few months, she had become a top star, even being nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Holiday in 1930.
However, when Pathé was taken over by newly founded company RKO Pictures, at the end of 1930, her career declined rapidly. Arguments about suitable screenplays, wrong decisions and increasing competition from new stars like Katharine Hepburn and Irene Dunne led to her fall there. In 1932, Harding signed three-film contract with MGM hoping to find better scripts and professional conditions there.
Cast
Ann Harding as Claire Woodruff
Robert Montgomery as Jimmie Lee
Myrna Loy as Mary Howard
Alice Brady as Bridget Drake
Frank Morgan as Rogers Woodruff
Martin Burton as Walter
Luis Alberni as Pierre
David Newell as Freddie (Uncredited)
Sterling Holloway as Jerome The Caddy (Uncredited)
Credits:
Directed by Harry Beaumont, Robert Z. Leonard (uncredited retakes)
Screenplay by Leon Gordon, John Meehan, based on When Ladies Meet 1932 play by Rachel Crothers
Produced by Lawrence Weingarten (associate producer)
Cinematography Ray June
Edited by Hugh Wynn
Music by William Axt
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date: June 23, 1933
Running time: 85 minutes
