Ex-Lady 
Directed by Robert Florey
Written by David Boehm; story by Robert Riskin and Edith Fitzgerald
1933/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 7
Hugo Van Hugh: Oh, those modern young people. Give me the old fashioned girl. Do you remember the bustle?
Don Peterson: Do you?
Hugo Van Hugh: No, more’s the pity. I remember the hobble skirt. Oh, there was an invention! The hobble skirt – they couldn’t walk fast nor far in the hobble skirt. You could trust them. And now… Iris is gone.
This remake feature Bette Davis still in the blonde ingenue mode that she fought so hard to get past. She’s quite good nonetheless but give me Barbara Stanwyck in the original.
This is basically a remake of Frank Capra’s Illicit (1931) starring Stanwyck. Helen Bauer (Davis) is a successful commercial artist. Don Peterson (Gene Raymond ) runs a fledgling advertising agency. Don spends most night at Helen’s apartment. Her parents are furious. Don is tired of sneaking around but Helen believes marriage takes the fun and spontaneity out of relationships. She’s also not interested in having children. But finally she relents.
Most of Helen’s predictions come true. So she declares the wedding experiment a flop and separates from him. She doesn’t stop seeing him though and soon he is a frequent visitor at her new apartment. The separation gives Don the opportunity to respond to a married lady’s advances. Helen begins to date Nick Malvyn (Monroe Owsley). Both partners are extremely jealous. I won’t say how this works out. But I bet you will need only one guess. With Frank McHugh as an intellectual (!) and Claire Dunn as his bored wife.
This is definitely pre-Code but is somewhat tamer than Illicit (1931). It’s a solid production and everyone, even the always bland Raymond, are fine. A short enjoyable watch.
Bette Davis sure wore clothes well for such a petite woman.
