Highly Overrated But Still Good

Awesome Movie

A different way of telling a story

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

For years I thought this film existed.There was also earlier information claimed that their was a Technicolor sequence and that was lost.Recently I had discovered that the whole movie was lost all along and that it had no technicolor sequence at all.Not to long ago it was found through16mm safety film,as a part of an early home movie distribution,using a 16mm Vitaphone type projector ,This included the sound disc of the film.The problem is that it was only restored in putting back the sound ,that is about it.It did not include cleaning the print through elimination of the scratches ,the jump cuts and the occasional end of the sentence dialog repeat echos and the surface noise of the sound discs. It would of been as good as the original 35mm print .There was an occasional sound drop ,but that was probably the disc ,but it was not enough to interfere in hearing the dialog.Never the less the story was interesting.Fred and Ann play newlyweds.She wants to make it work.She even discuses about him and her not being a monopoly and that he and she should still be allowed to see other men and women,This pre code movie discuss the pro's and cons of open marriage.It turned out that parent,played by George Irving and Charlotte Walker,of Fred got a divorce when when Charlotte discoverer that Irving had a causal affair with another women and so Charlotte got a divorce.HE jumps on her that she should of excepted him o an open level and continued the marriage.That what he did had nothing to do with them.Well Ann and Fred have to ex girl friends and boy friends,played by Carmelita Geraghty and Leslie Fenton.Carmel loves Fred still and Leslie loves Ann.Ann just wants to be friends with Leslie and will allow him to come visit her and use her piano to create a ballet and just be friends.Well Fred had to go to Paris for publishing business,but he goes their too frequently and she is alon.then she find out from Ilka that he been sing him in Paris with as if she ,Ann was with him.This is when Ann principle of open marriage falls into the garbage.Yes Fred had been having an affair with Carmen.Ann can't take it and now wants a divorce .Her father an law tries to pursuade her not to do an that some time the other half needs someone else too some times.The hays code was enforce back then but not totally,ts subtle ,but your dealing with early swingers. Now Leslie begs her that they have an affair too,she give in,but she hears the door knock in,She has told Leslie to take a walk around the block.While she tell her husband what she is going do.Ask for divorce,but it's her friends.It turns out that she was suppose to organize her wedding anniversary and when is the party going to start tomorrow.but she changes her mind and ilk suggest that she should share her wedding anniversary with friends.Another idea that married couple need to mingle with other too.Frederich show back and no long having an affair with Carmen and just want to be with her only.I don't know if this was in the Philip Barry play or the hays code changed it.In spite of it's lack of Restoration and it's 16mm it's no longer lost and it historically important.I found out about this film at one of the vitaphone newsletter.I forgot how many year ago this news letter was.That when was able to order it from grape vine video.It's worth while. 02/15/18.

Thanks to the efforts of Gary Lacher who found and repaired a 16mm print, this is no longer a lost film. Alas, it's no lost masterpiece either. In fact, as we might expect from an early talkie, it's all talk, talk, talk and little, little action. But Ann Harding gives a competent performance and the other players, with one exception, are also up to scratch. The exception, oddly enough, is Fredric March, here making his eighth movie appearance, and his third sound film. His is a vital character, but March seems to be playing the role as if he were just discovering movies for the first time in his career. His performance is hesitant, to say the least. Admittedly, director Edward H. Griffith is of no help. He certainly gives Ann Harding the best camera angles, but March doesn't fight back. He seems both intimidated and so overawed that he's content to stay in the shadows, as it were. Just look at the posters reproduced on the Grapevine DVD. At first sight, the cover reproduction of the original 1929 poster does not feature March at all. Ann Harding takes up at least half the poster and her name is right up there in big, big letters. But with the aid of a magnifying glass, you can just make out the name of Fredric March, buried under the leg of some sexy chorus cutie!

I watched the 1929 Paris Bound, based on a play be Philip Barry and starring Ann Harding in her film debut and Fredric March. They play a loving couple who claim their love will never be tainted by others. March's parents caused a scandal in their set when she divorced him after his affair. They argue at the wedding that the woman was foolish and cost them both their home because of her divorce actions.With that set up we see March and Harding through their first happy years of marriage. They are devoted but very modern. When business takes March to Paris, he goes alone. They believe a "break" is good for their marriage and she has her work with Richard (Leslie Fenton) on a ballet score. But into this bliss creeps the jealous Noel (Carmelita Geraghty) who has never gotten over losing March to Harding. She sees in the society news that March has gone to Europe alone and she chases after him.After Harding learns of this, she decides to have an affair with Fenton but March returns home. Will they break up? Will they be able to patch things up? Harding is just wonderful in her first film. She's quite natural and at ease. March is also very good. Together they avoid the stagy acting and over pronunciation that mars other early talkies. Fenton and Geraghty are also good. Ilka Chase takes honors among the supporting cast (also in her film debut). Co-stars include George Irving, Hallam Cooley, Charlotte Walker, Juliette Crosby, and Rose Tapley.

The movie begins with the wedding of Mary (Ann Harding) and Jim (Fredric March). They will be a quite happy couple. Their wedding vows are terribly solemn. It turns out that that dedication won't be the only reason for their bliss.After the ceremony, the couple's female 'friend,' Noel, is distraught because she will never give up pining for Jim. Jim reluctantly obliges Mary's request that he try to assuage Noel before they alight on their honeymoon. It appears second nature for Mary to consider another woman's feelings at a time when she could be feeling the euphoria of marrying the man she treasures. The woman Mary sends Jim off to comfort is not a retiring flower. Noel revels in self-pity over her unrequited love, telling Jim, 'I know you kiss me every time you see me… what does it matter if you haven't done it as long as you're thinking of it? You can't be indifferent to me so don't try.' Later, Mary tells Noel that she and Jim both love Noel. That is the thing about Mary – she has the right touch. She had the wisdom to send Jim to Noel to try to calm her and the kindness to try to make Noel feel loved. Mary intends to be wise about her marriage, too. She and Jim are very wrapped up in each other. How desperately they want to be a 'success.' They must mingle with people often so that they won't long for some experience beyond each other: Mary: I don't like monopolies, at least not for you and me. Jim: Okay, but I'll like you best.The point is not to let other people become novelties (temptations). Richard admires Mary from afar. She once spent much time listening to and composing music with him. She tries to make him feel comfortable with her new status, calling herself an old married woman and telling him that she expects that he visit her and work in her new music room.Mary determines to be self-disciplined each year as publisher Jim goes to Paris to meet authors. She never goes with him. 'What about my child?' is one of her excuses. But she can hardly bear even to see Jim off at the ship so much does his absence hurt her. 'Heavens yes,' she would like to go with him, but 'I have the notion that married people need a holiday from each other.' So as for spending six weeks in Paris with him she says, 'I just never do.' Mary is filled with exemplary traits: She has the charm of being well-spoken. To 'How's your baby?' she quips, 'Come out tomorrow and I'll hold a one man exhibit.' And no one could be more discreet. When her friend asks her why she didn't come to visit when she was with Jim in Paris the previous year, Mary realizes that she has been mistaken for the 'other woman' Jim was really with, and calmly replies, 'It was the shortest kind of a trip.'One is left to wonder if the thesis of the film is that infidelity doesn't matter because in truth it doesn't even matter to the person committing it. A wanderer is compelled by physical stirrings beyond his or her control almost as if s/he were an innocent bystander to chemistry.Two scenes in the film bring this theme to light. Jim's divorced parents have a curious conversation:Father: You made a failure of your marriage. I may have committed infidelity but you committed divorce. You did me out of my marriage and home. You destroyed a spiritual relationship that belonged only to us. Jim is a lot like me. Mother: Then I pity Mary.The father repeats this line of reasoning when Mary discovers that Jim may have been unfaithful.Mary: I don't feel compelled to share him. Father: What has this one misstep got to do with you? I doubt if you've shared anything. Mary: I'm insulted. He couldn't love me and go with her.Has Mary never had any 'stirrings' for anyone else in all the years she has been married to Jim? Never, she says. He wishes she had so that she would know it's possible.Richard is writing the music for a ballet. He can't finish it. Mary tells him he'll never finish anything. Richard believes that the unfinished ballet represents Mary's unfulfilled relationship with him. She never finishes anything either, i.e. her self-discipline toward her marriage leads her to repress her feelings.Is the film trying to say not only that such attractions are inevitable but that acting on them may also be unavoidable at times? Because, you see, the next thing Mary knows, she has had a minor indiscretion of her own.Father's point seems to be that chemical attraction is a small thing that one is powerless to control and that when one acts on it, one is not sharing anything that is really of value to one's spouse. Perhaps Mary's experience with Richard teaches her this.Mary tries to be honest with Jim:Jim: I'm not certain I want to hear it. I'm certain I don't want to hear it. I don't ever want to hear any bad news.He suspects Mary wants to tell him of her weak moment with Richard. He knows only that he wants to keep alive the truly affectionate love they have shared. He has no double standard. In rejecting this 'news,' Jim is not only excusing his own actions but excusing Mary's transgressions, if she has made any.Neither lets pride destroy the unique romantic married relationship they have. Spontaneously, they set off at 2 a.m. to see their little son. Jim loves to see him when he's asleep.Jim: Have you forgotten anything? Mary: Only my dignity. Jim: That's not anything.