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Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

MartinHafer This film was made by the low-budget Weiss Brothers Studio and this surprised me. I knew that the Weiss' had made some silent comedy shorts with Ben Turpin and Snub Pollard, but I didn't know that their tiny production company made any sound films. Apparently this is among their later productions and it stars Virginia Valli—a name virtually forgotten today.The story is about a seemingly perfect marriage. When the wife catches her husband with another, she runs to Reno for a divorce. Once there, the husband seeks her out, as he wants a reconciliation. Near the end, however, the story gets really weird as a murder appears in the plot from completely out in left field—leading to an interesting conclusion.While the story in this B-movie wasn't bad, the acting sometimes was. The worst of the bad actors was probably the maid near the beginning of the film—she could barely recite her lines better than a drunk robot! But, Clarence Wilson as Mr. Garrett was a bright spot in the film. The skeletal actor was a common bit actor in various films (including playing 'Mr. Geezer' in the Little Rascals films) but here he has a larger than usual and more comical role than you'd expect from him—and he makes the most of it—making at least his scenes very entertaining as a shifty divorce attorney. Sadly, though, this isn't enough to make this film anything more than just passable entertainment.

Jay Raskin This is an adult comedy for 1931. It hints at adultery, prostitution, and swinging (wife swapping). None of this subject matter could have been handled as openly three years later when the Hayes Moral Code started to be enforced.Jameson Thomas is pretty good as the lead. He made this three years before playing gold-digger King Wesley, the rival to Clark Gable for Claudette Colbert in "It Happened One Night." Dixie Lee who married Bing Crosby and died tragically young at 42 has a small part as the woman who seduces Thomas away from his wife. She is quite radiant. She could have been another Jean Harlow perhaps with some breaks.Clarence Wilson as a shady divorce lawyer named Garrett, Arthur Housman who specialized in playing drunks, as he does here, and Carmelita Garaughty, as a scorned women seeking revenge, liven up the movie with good performances.It is interesting to see a Reno casino in a hotel circa 1931 and see the open prostitution and male and female sexual hunting going on there. Apparently women and men had to wait six weeks to finalize their divorce and they typically sort out new sexual adventures while waiting for the final decree. This is something I would not have known about except for this movie.The direction was quite stagy with mostly long medium and full wide shots. It looks more like a 1921 film than 1931, possibly because of the sensitive new sound equipment which made camera moves difficult. Still, the interesting subject matter overcome this handicap to make the movie quite watchable and generally interesting.

classicsoncall Well you'll just have to see the humor in this picture because the story itself is largely unexplainable. When a pretty young wife (Virginia Valli) is cheated on by her husband (Jameson Thomas), she heads off to Reno for a quickie divorce, engaging the services of one of the most annoying screen attorneys I've ever seen (Clarence Wilson). Later, husband John Wyatt seeks out the same attorney in an attempt to reconcile with his wife. Questions abound regarding lawyer/client confidentiality, as well as conflict of interest when lawyer Garrett accepts a retainer from both parties. I'm no expert, but that seems just the slightest bit unethical to me.Then there's that scene with the police chief towards the end of the story when he asks Wyatt to confess to a murder to let his wife June off the hook. And he agrees! What?!?! And where exactly did that conversation take place? It wasn't in a police station, because the room was decked out like a library! Pay attention though, and you'll catch an interesting quip from the bald headed old coot who traded his hairpiece for a stake at the gambling tables. Sitting next to Wyatt at the night club, he's overheard speaking to his lady companion about a trip to Africa, where animals go in and out your window, and you find 'beavers under your bed'. I don't believe there are beavers in Africa, but I don't think he was talking about the four legged kind to begin with. Have to love that pre-Code stuff.Anyway, like a lot of these films of the era, you'll just have to see 'em to believe 'em, and if you're like me, you won't believe 'em even then. I'd like to say if you've seen one you've seen them all, but that's just not the case. Pick up the sixty disc/two hundred fifty film DVD Mystery Collection from Mill Creek Entertainment and it will have you scratching your head for answers picture after picture with offerings like this.

kidboots I found this film in a box set of 50 and wondered what night life in Reno would have been like in 1931. What a wonderful surprise to see Dixie Lee's name playing "the other woman". She didn't make many films after this being too busy as Mrs. Bing Crosby. She is completely ravishing as Dorothy and it is very believable that she could charm away Virginia Valli's husband (although he seems a bit of a stuffed shirt).Unfortunately within 15 minutes she is out of the film and Virginia Valli is on her way to Reno to get a divorce. Her husband, John, quickly follows, hoping to bring about a reconciliation. She has other ideas.He finds a chum (Roy) who wants to set him up with a date for the night. Roy's date turns out to be John's wife. She also turns out to be a big flirt.Virginia Valli is pretty insipid in the main female lead as are the two men (they both looked very similar to each other). Carmelita Geraghty has a small part as Roy's estranged wife Rita and she adds a bit of colour to the film's drabness.Night Life in Reno was a big yawn.