Sin takes a holiday 1930 - Ahead of its time for liberated thinking

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021377/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,3

Director: Paul L. Stein
Main Cast: Constance Bennett, Kenneth MacKenna, Basil Rathbone, Zasu Pitts

"This pre-Code comedy is more interesting for its decor and reflection of the morals of the day than for its acting or story. The plot revolves around three characters, each in love with the one who isn't in love with her or him. Things work out in a way - two characters find each other and the third is left to move on. All this happens in an atmosphere of wealth, where amoral dalliance is both expected and titillating.
Gaylord (Kenneth MacKenna) quickly arranges a marriage of convenience to his secretary, Sylvia (Constance Bennett) to avoid the advances of his socialite friend, Grace (Rita le Roy). Gaylord draws up a 1 year contract with Sylvia so that there is an understanding about how they can both behave and he encourages her to travel to France and do her own thing. However, after spending time in France with Reggie (Basil Rathbone), Sylvia returns to Gaylord to ask what he truly feels....
In this film no-one is correct - everyone behaves atrociously. The men are ultimately revealed as cads or blind to their actions while the women are calculating and far more deliberate and nasty in their actions. It's interesting to watch to see who Sylvia will end up with - she ain't no angel - don't be fooled by her apparent innocence. She's just as much of a bitch as Grace as her behaviour demonstrates. We have a confrontation at the end between all the characters involved which is what we have been anticipating and the dialogue is very entertaining.
In real life Kenneth MacKenna was married to Kay Francis for about 3-4 years in the early 30s (they were divorced in early 1934). He preferred being behind the camera directing rather than out in front, so that explains his disappearance from film acting after 1933."

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Monte Carlo 1930 - "Beyond the blue horizon"

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021153/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Buchanan, Claud Allister, Zasu Pitts

"Monte Carlo was intended to build upon the success of the earlier Jeanette MacDonald-Ernst Lubitsch collaboration, the delightful Love Parade. Unfortunately, although it has one moment that is perhaps better than any isolated moment in the earlier film, Monte Carlo doesn't live up to its promise. Much of the problem is with co-star Jack Buchanan, who simply does not partner MacDonald as well as Maurice Chevalier did in Parade. He doesn't have the power needed to keep pace with MacDonald, especially at this point in her career, and there's a smugness to his personality that is annoying. Lubitsch has done his usual, dependable job of supplying the film with a great number of subtle, sly winks and of keeping the storytelling interesting, but the story itself is too old hat to succeed without a more consistently witty and involving script. Richard Whiting and W. Franke Harling's score is quite good, however, with 'Whatever It Is, It's Grand' and the marvelous 'Beyond the Blue Horizon' exceptional. The latter provides the film's highpoint, as part of the magnificent wedding sequence that opens the film. Lubitsch builds the number, matching the sound and movement of the train to the song to create a genuinely thrilling number. Had the rest of the film lived up to this terrific opening section, Monte Carlo might have been a classic rather than a moderately entertaining trifle." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/monte-carlo-v102788/

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The devil's holiday 1930 - Nancy Carroll gives the performance of her life

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020823/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,1

Director: Edmund Goulding
Main Cast: Nancy Carroll, Phillips Holmes, James Kirkwood, Hobart Bosworth, Ned Sparks, Paul Lukas, Zasu Pitts

"Nancy Carroll brings a touch of freshness to the well-worn plot convolutions of Devil's Holiday. Ms. Carroll plays a manicurist who woos and weds wealthy Phillips Holmes. She tells herself that she harbors no mercenary notions, but when Holmes' family offers to buy her off if she'll leave, Carroll accepts the offer. The girl's basic loyalty surfaces when Holmes goes temporarily insane; Carroll reneges on her cash deal with the family and returns to her husband. Devil's Holiday is one of those class-conscious early 1930s pictures that always scored a hit with middle-class filmgoers, who liked to believe that they, too, would behave as altruistically as Nancy Carroll if given the chance." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-devils-holiday-v89378

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