In Name Only stars Cary Grant, Carole Lombard & Kay Francis. It's directed by John Cromwell and adapted by Richard Sherman from the novel "Memory of Love" written by Bessie Breuer. Plot finds Grant as Alec Walker who is stuck in a loveless marriage to Maida (Francis). She only married him for money and social standing. One day Alec meets Julie Eden (Lombard) fishing on the lake and they fall in love, but Maida refuses to grant Alec a divorce and the lovers seem fated to never be together.
View as a romantic melodrama with the odd light touch and you shouldn't be disappointed in this very professional production. The film was originally planned as the fourth pairing between Grant & Katharine Hepburn. But Hepburn had severed her ties with RKO after the fall out from "Bringing Up Baby" (a flop on release that helped create the ridiculous notion of her being box office poison). In came Lombard who wasn't actually that keen to do the picture. Massively popular at the time, she had just married Clark Cable and was looking to spend more time at home. However, money and contracts talk, and Lombard got a tremendous deal that included profit percentages and top billing. This annoyed Grant who then threatened to quit the picture, but after some renegotiation's and haggling the film thankfully got made with Grant & Lombard in place.
Director John Cromwell was coming off his hit movie "Made for Each Other" with Lombard & James Stewart in the lead roles. In Name Only is not a million miles away from that picture in tone and story telling. It's a fine movie, a three-star romantic triangle piece that thematically is a time capsule from a time when attitudes to fidelity and divorce were vastly different than today. But thanks to the emotional depth from Lombard and a delicious bitch turn from Francis, the film is able to hold its own in any decade. Of course having Grant handsomely nestling between these two polar opposite pillars of sexuality is also a selling point. Audience reaction was mixed, understandably so. Lombard & Grant between them had done some fast and popular comedy movies in the 30s, so for many the tone of this film was unexpected. However, the film was a commercial hit for RKO and it stands up as a good reference point to the merits of Lombard & Francis' dramatic worth. Grant would appease the screwball lovers the following year with the quite brilliant "His Girl Friday" for Howard Hawks.
A film to warm the cockles of your heart on a blustery winters day, In Name Only is recommended to romantic drama fans. 7/10
View as a romantic melodrama with the odd light touch and you shouldn't be disappointed in this very professional production. The film was originally planned as the fourth pairing between Grant & Katharine Hepburn. But Hepburn had severed her ties with RKO after the fall out from "Bringing Up Baby" (a flop on release that helped create the ridiculous notion of her being box office poison). In came Lombard who wasn't actually that keen to do the picture. Massively popular at the time, she had just married Clark Cable and was looking to spend more time at home. However, money and contracts talk, and Lombard got a tremendous deal that included profit percentages and top billing. This annoyed Grant who then threatened to quit the picture, but after some renegotiation's and haggling the film thankfully got made with Grant & Lombard in place.
Director John Cromwell was coming off his hit movie "Made for Each Other" with Lombard & James Stewart in the lead roles. In Name Only is not a million miles away from that picture in tone and story telling. It's a fine movie, a three-star romantic triangle piece that thematically is a time capsule from a time when attitudes to fidelity and divorce were vastly different than today. But thanks to the emotional depth from Lombard and a delicious bitch turn from Francis, the film is able to hold its own in any decade. Of course having Grant handsomely nestling between these two polar opposite pillars of sexuality is also a selling point. Audience reaction was mixed, understandably so. Lombard & Grant between them had done some fast and popular comedy movies in the 30s, so for many the tone of this film was unexpected. However, the film was a commercial hit for RKO and it stands up as a good reference point to the merits of Lombard & Francis' dramatic worth. Grant would appease the screwball lovers the following year with the quite brilliant "His Girl Friday" for Howard Hawks.
A film to warm the cockles of your heart on a blustery winters day, In Name Only is recommended to romantic drama fans. 7/10