Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

jjnxn-1 Considering the three main stars a curiously obscure drama from the legendary year of 1939. Superior soap opera contains some of the best work Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and Kay Francis ever put on film. Carole shows that she wasn't just a superb comedienne but a skilled dramatic actress. Cary is just right in blending the facile with the seriousness of the untenable situation he finds himself in. As good as both of them are, and they are great, even better is Kay Francis, a portrait in silky malevolence. This was inexplicably almost the end of her film career, she ended up in Poverty Row junk only a few years later and after watching this it's hard to understand how this didn't open up a whole new chapter for her as the wicked woman of cinema. Perhaps she was just too early for noir, she would have been perfect as a poison pit viper in many of those pictures.

barnettj I love watching this film because of the love-hate relationship I develop with each of the lead characters. I'm a sucker for true love but I loathe infidelity. My moral compass tells me I should be aligned with wife Maida, but my heart belongs to adultress Julie. Were I in husband Alec's position, I would be compelled towards loyalty and fidelity, but feeling unloved, could I be strong enough not to follow the path my heart wants me to take? Why should Alec not follow his heart? Life is short.The only criticism I really have for this film has to do with Cary Grant. When husband Alec reads, or pretends to read, the newspaper, Cary has this odd, tunnel-vision stare. I don't understand its purpose, if there is one.

bkoganbing In Name Only was the second film in a row for both director John Cromwell and Carole Lombard. Earlier in 1939 they had collaborated on Made For Each Other which was another romantic melodrama where Lombard co-starred with James Stewart. You'll find a lot of similarities with the plot and the tone of the film is almost identical.Widow Lombard rents a cottage from a wealthy family to spend a summer with her daughter, Peggy Ann Garner. One day while attempting to fish in a stream that had long been fished out, she runs into her landlord who happens to be Cary Grant. Grant's something of a player, but he's trapped in a loveless marriage to Kay Francis who has everyone fooled, including Grant's parents Charles Coburn and Nella Walker. In fact another of Francis's friends, Helen Vinson, makes a play for Grant, but he's only got eyes for Lombard.The problem is that Francis likes being Mrs. Cary Grant and all the perks that lifestyle brings. At some point it's made abundantly clear that she won't let Grant go under any circumstances.In Name Only is dated because at the time divorce laws were a whole lot stricter, especially in New York State where until the Sixties the only grounds for divorce is adultery. It's like Joel McCrea's complaint about his wife in Sullivan's Travels, he's been trying to catch his wife colluding, but she won't collude or is being real discreet about it.Grant and Lombard register well as lovers just as she and Stewart did in Made For Each Other. Francis though really steals the show and the script is done well in that her evil is shown by increments. You really do believe that Coburn and Walker believe she's the injured party right until the very end.In Made For Each Other the plot device bringing everything to a head is the sickness that Stewart and Lombard's little boy is suffering. Here it's Grant who feeling depressed has too much Christmas cheer and ends up with pneumonia. His illness and the gathering together of all the principals brings matters to a close.Grant's performance is similar to what he later did in Penny Serenade and Lombard shows what a fine dramatic actress she is. Interesting that both of them made their primary reputations in comedy. But it's Kay Francis who you will love to hate in In Name Only.

aadams46214 Always a Cary Grant fan and never able to resist a romance, I was very surprised with so many elements of this movie. Carole Lombard was wonderful as was Kay Francis. It definitely made me notice both actresses. Carole Lombard especially. I had to immediately read her bio and learn the awful news of how she died. Most importantly, I found it to be believable. It didn't have the usual 1930's style of overacting and of course Cary was irresistible. The style of the movie was authentic as well. The only scene which might have raised an eyebrow, was the car accident. The Walker family physician was excellently portrayed as was the senior Mr. Walker (whose name escapes me). Overall, one of my absolute favorites!