Man of the World | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Wallace |
Written by | Herman J. Mankiewicz |
Starring | William Powell Carole Lombard Wynne Gibson |
Cinematography | Victor Milner |
Music by | Herman Hand |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Man of the World is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic drama directed by Richard Wallace and starring William Powell, Carole Lombard, and Wynne Gibson.
The story is about a young American girl who visits Paris accompanied by her fiancé and her wealthy uncle. There she meets and is romanced by a worldly novelist; what she does not know is that he is a blackmailer who is using her to get to her uncle.
In Paris in the early 1930s, American Michael Trevor poses as a novelist but is actually a former newspaper man called Jimmy Powers who took the blame for some scam in the USA and chose to flee the country. Embittered, he now prints a weekly scandal sheet and blackmails expatriates to keep their names out of his rag. While extorting $2000 from the wealthy Harold Taylor (a scam done so smoothly that Harold thinks Michael has done him a big favor), Michael meets Harold's niece, Mary Kendall, and the two feel an instant mutual attraction. Mary has a boyfriend, Frank Reynolds, but she is not passionate about him. Michael's partners in crime are Irene Hoffa and Fred. Irene is a former flame who is still not over Michael. She needs money to keep her brother out of prison and proposes that they extort more money from Harold by embroiling Mary in a scandal. Michael resists - he has a rule never to target women - but then reluctantly agrees.
While Frank is away on business, Michael spends time with Mary and they fall in love. She tries to end it in a letter to Frank, but is unable to finish it. Michael tells Irene that he is done being a criminal because he is in love with Mary, which causes Irene to become jealous. She threatens to tell Mary all about who he really is so Michael decides to tell Mary himself. Mary says that it is all in the past; they love each other and nothing else matters.
Michael tells Irene that he and Mary are going to be married and that she now knows the truth about him and loves him nonetheless. Irene says that some day his past will come out, and Mary will then be the wife of a known criminal. These words weigh on Michael and he realizes that, for Mary's sake, he cannot marry her.
Michael tells Harold that he was behind the earlier scam and demands a further $10,000 or he will print a piece about his planned wedding to Mary. Harry is angry and Mary is hurt and confused, but Michael is determined to go ahead with his scheme. Harold pays him off with a check, which Mary herself hands to him with a slap across his face. After seeing how much Michael cares for Mary, Irene decides to instead get the money needed for her brother by selling her jewelry. She also tells the police that Michael is behind the scandal sheet; they give him 24 hours to leave France. Mary and Frank sail back to Pittsburgh, a conspicuous engagement ring on her hand. Michael heads to Cape Town, and agrees to let Irene come along. Aboard ship, he tears up the $10,000 check.
The New York Times critic Mordaunt Hall described the film as "a rather interesting but scarcely credible story ... But withal, aside from a few somewhat tedious stretches, it is a tale that inveigles one's attention." [1]
This film was released as part of the DVD set Carole Lombard: The Glamour Collection, which, in addition to this film, includes the films We're Not Dressing (1934), Hands Across the Table (1935), Love Before Breakfast (1936), The Princess Comes Across (1936) and True Confession (1937).
Carole Lombard was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
My Man Godfrey is a 1936 American screwball comedy film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard, who had been briefly married years before appearing together in the film. The screenplay for My Man Godfrey was written by Morrie Ryskind, with uncredited contributions by La Cava, based on 1101 Park Avenue, a short novel by Eric S. Hatch. The story concerns a socialite who hires a derelict to be her family's butler, and then falls in love with him.
Twentieth Century is a 1934 American pre-Code screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. Much of the film is set on the 20th Century Limited train as it travels from Chicago to New York City. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur adapted their 1932 Broadway play of the same name – itself based on the unproduced play Napoleon of Broadway by Charles Bruce Millholland – with uncredited contributions from Gene Fowler and Preston Sturges.
Platinum Blonde is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy motion picture directed by Frank Capra, written by Jo Swerling and starring Loretta Young, Robert Williams and Jean Harlow. Platinum Blonde was Robert Williams' last screen appearance; he died of peritonitis three days after the film's October 31 release.
The Princess Comes Across is a 1936 American mystery comedy film directed by William K. Howard and starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, the second of the four times they were paired together. Lombard, playing an actress from Brooklyn pretending to be a Swedish princess, does a "film-length takeoff" on MGM's Swedish star Greta Garbo. The film was based on the 1935 novel A Halálkabin by Louis Lucien Rogger, the pseudonym of Laszlo Aigner and Louis Acze.
In Name Only is a 1939 romantic film starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, and Kay Francis, directed by John Cromwell. It was based on the 1935 novel Memory of Love by Bessie Breuer. The fictional town where it is set, Bridgefield, Connecticut, is based on the town of Ridgefield, Connecticut.
No Man of Her Own is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic comedy-drama film starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard as a married couple in their only film together, several years before their own legendary marriage in real life. The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles, and originated as an adaptation of No Bed of Her Own, a 1931 novel by Val Lewton, but ended up based more on a story by Benjamin Glazer and Edmund Goulding, although it retained the title from Lewton's novel. It is not related to the 1950 film of the same name.
Possessed is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Clarence Brown, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is the story of Marian Martin, a factory worker who rises to the top as the mistress of a wealthy attorney. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee was adapted from the 1920 Broadway play The Mirage by Edgar Selwyn. Possessed was the third of eight film collaborations between Crawford and Gable.
Bright Lights, later retitled Adventures in Africa, is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. It premiered in Los Angeles in July 1930 but was edited and rereleased in early 1931. Although it was photographed entirely in Technicolor, the only surviving print is in black and white. The film stars Dorothy Mackaill, Frank Fay, Noah Beery and Frank McHugh. It also features the screen debut of John Carradine, who appears in a small, uncredited role.
Saratoga is a 1937 American romantic comedy film written by Anita Loos and directed by Jack Conway. The film stars Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in their sixth and final film collaboration and features Lionel Barrymore, Frank Morgan, Walter Pidgeon, Hattie McDaniel and Margaret Hamilton.
Winifred Elaine "Wynne" Gibson was an American actress of the 1930s.
The Eagle and the Hawk is a 1933 American Pre-Code aerial war film set in World War I. It was directed by Stuart Walker and Mitchell Leisen and was based on an original story by John Monk Saunders. The film stars Fredric March and Cary Grant as Royal Flying Corps fighter pilots. The supporting cast includes Carole Lombard, Jack Oakie, and Sir Guy Standing.
I Take This Woman is a 1931 American pre-Code romance film directed by Marion Gering and starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard.
Fools for Scandal is a 1938 screwball comedy film starring Carole Lombard and Fernand Gravet, featuring Ralph Bellamy, Allen Jenkins, Isabel Jeans, Marie Wilson and Marcia Ralston, and produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It was written by Herbert Fields and Joseph Fields with additional dialogue by Irving Brecher, and uncredited contributions by others based on the unproduced 1936 play Return Engagement by Nancy Hamilton, James Shute and Rosemary Casey. The songs are by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.
A Scandal in Paris is a 1946 American biographical film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Signe Hasso and Carole Landis. It loosely depicts the life of Eugène François Vidocq, a French criminal who reformed and became a famous French Prefect of Police during the Napoleonic era.
Lady by Choice is a 1934 American romantic drama film released by Columbia Pictures starring Carole Lombard as a fan dancer and May Robson as a homeless drunk asked to pose as the dancer's mother for a publicity stunt, with unexpected consequences. Promoted as a follow-up to Frank Capra's 1933 hit Lady for a Day (1933), it resembles the earlier film only in the casting of Robson.
Downstairs is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film. It stars John Gilbert as a charming but self-serving chauffeur who wreaks havoc on his new employer's household, romancing and fleecing the women on the staff, and blackmailing the employer's wife. Gilbert had written the story in 1928 for a proposed silent film that was never produced.
Sinners in the Sun is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Alexander Hall, and starring Carole Lombard, Chester Morris, Adrienne Ames, and Alison Skipworth. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Smart Woman is a 1931 pre-Code comedy-romance and drama film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Mary Astor, Robert Ames, and John Halliday.
Brief Moment is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by David Burton and starring Carole Lombard and Gene Raymond. It is based on the 1931 play of the same name by S. N. Behrman.