Merrily We Go to Hell
Directed by Dorothy Arzner
Written by Edwin Justus Mayer from a play by Cleo Lucas
1931/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
Joan Prentice: I spent the morning realizing that we’re living in a modern world – where there’s no place for old-fashioned wives. You seem to want a modern wife and that’s what I’m going to be. You see, I’d rather go merrily to Hell with you than alone.
The sad story of marriage to an alcoholic, expertly delivered by Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March.
Jerry Corbett (March) is an alcoholic newspaper reporter/aspiring playwright. One night he chances to meet heiress Joan Corbett at a party. He is attracted and she appears to be swept off her feet despite his evident inebriation. During their courtship, Jerry lets Joan down over and over again. Joan’s father violently objects to Jerry and opposes their eventual plans to marry. But Joan remains madly in love and he realizes he can’t stop them and goes with the flow.
Joan helps Jerry sober up, settle down, and finish writing his play, which is about his breakup with his ex-girlfriend. They are happy during this time. Then the play is accepted for production. The leading lady is the ex-girlfriend and soon Jerry is off the wagon again. The couple moves to New York.
The play is a great success. Jerry shows up very late and totally blotto to his own cast party. He takes up with the ex-girlfriend again, making no effort to disguise this from Joan. So Joan decides that what is good for the gander is good for the goose. She begins drinking and starts going to drinking parties with other men, including Charlie Baxter (Cary Grant). Things sort of go downhill from there. Can Hollywood pull out a happy ending?
I have long maintained that Fredric March makes the most believable drunk in classic cinema and Sylvia Sidney is a favorite. Arzner saw that the production of this sad story was told with realism and a light touch on the melodrama. Very worth seeing.
Restoration trailer – English with French subtitles
