An extremely racy pre-Code entry that stars Fredric March, Gary Cooper and Miriam Hopkins as one attractive menage-a-trois.
The three play Americans living in France. Hopkins falls in love with both men and can't decide which one she wants more, so she has them both at turns, switching allegiances to whichever man she happens to be with in the moment. The film is very frankly sexual -- the gist is that all three characters are horny as hell and their passions are driven far more by lust than by any real love. The novelty of such an old film being so obviously naughty masks the fact that neither the story nor characters are very fleshed out, and the dramatic conflict, which can be reduced to a woman trying to decide whether or not she likes either man enough to be faithful to him, isn't overly compelling. It is refreshing for a change to see a woman in the driver's seat when it comes to her sexual dalliances, and a film that allows a female character to embrace her own sexual needs without shame or the obligation to give her a comeuppance. But this isn't a Lubitsch classic on the order of another Hopkins vehicle ("Trouble in Paradise") let alone the masterpieces "Ninotchka" and "The Shop Around the Corner."
Grade: B
The three play Americans living in France. Hopkins falls in love with both men and can't decide which one she wants more, so she has them both at turns, switching allegiances to whichever man she happens to be with in the moment. The film is very frankly sexual -- the gist is that all three characters are horny as hell and their passions are driven far more by lust than by any real love. The novelty of such an old film being so obviously naughty masks the fact that neither the story nor characters are very fleshed out, and the dramatic conflict, which can be reduced to a woman trying to decide whether or not she likes either man enough to be faithful to him, isn't overly compelling. It is refreshing for a change to see a woman in the driver's seat when it comes to her sexual dalliances, and a film that allows a female character to embrace her own sexual needs without shame or the obligation to give her a comeuppance. But this isn't a Lubitsch classic on the order of another Hopkins vehicle ("Trouble in Paradise") let alone the masterpieces "Ninotchka" and "The Shop Around the Corner."
Grade: B