Don't Bet on Women (1931) User Reviews

A Lightweight Comedy of Manners

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 12 January 2016]

I saw this film on TCM as "Don't Bet on Women". In the early part of the film, the viewer might feel--based upon the viewpoints expressed by the male characters--that this film is positively prehistoric regarding its opinion of women. But no--those are just the views of the characters, not the playwright who originally penned the story.

This is a pre-Code film and its departures with convention pertain mostly to its examination of the (changing) roles of women, particularly as they pertain to romance and marriage.

Herbert Drake (Roland Young) prattles on about his parental views of women to Roger Fallon (Edmund Lowe). This amuses Fallon, perhaps because Drake's opinions are even more patronizing than his own. Drake is also very arrogant in general and refuses to ever admit he is wrong--as if it's a matter of principle.

At one point, Drake--eager to prove his superior knowledge of women--bets Lowe $10,000 that he cannot kiss the next woman who enters the veranda. A very Shakespearian device to be sure. And of course Mrs. Drake (Jeanette MacDonald in a non-singing role) obliges.

Mrs. Drake aka Jean immediately learns of the wager and is insulted, but she insists that the bet remain--allegedly to test her faithfulness as a wife.

The film also features Una Merkel as Tallulah Hope, Jean's friend who spouts non sequiturs as fast as Gracie Allen ("I think scenery adds so much to a view!").

Though its roots in the theater are rather obvious, the story has charm and the acting is fun to watch, even if it's not the best. What Loy and Powell could have done with this!

Not A Note

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 12 August 2009]

One thing I will never understand is how Jeanette MacDonald could be loaned out from Paramount to Fox for a NON-musical picture. This is the only film in which Jeanette sings not a note. Though in one scene she does go to the piano and play a few notes, but then just breaks into conversation with Edmund Lowe. What a tease that must have been for the audience in 1931.

Don't Bet On Women is based on a flop Broadway play by William Anthony McGuire that only ran for 31 performances back in 1919. It was produced by Harry Frazee and it was one of those flop shows that prompted that Red Sox fire sale to the New York Yankees of many of their stars, including most importantly Babe Ruth. If this show had been a hit the whole course of baseball history might have been changed.

Harry Frazee died in 1929 and I'll bet his estate sold the film rights to William Fox just to provide for the widow and children. I'll bet Fox paid nickels on the dollar for this story.

So both as Jeanette's only non-musical film and as something that caused baseball history to be made, this film/play has its own unique place in trivial history. So goes it for Don't Bet On Women aka A Good Bad Woman it's original title on Broadway.

Edmund Lowe is a dapper playboy who has a cynical attitude towards women after being taken to the cleaners by one. He's also not too crazy about his banker Roland Young who holds the purse strings on his trust fund. Young is married to Jeanette whom of course he takes for granted. In fact the funniest line in the film for me was Young declaiming how he doesn't think excitement is good for a woman.

Well with that kind of attitude no wonder Jeanette starts looking on Lowe. Especially after Lowe makes a bet with Young that he can get any woman to kiss him within 24 hours and wouldn't you know it, Jeanette comes on a veranda and becomes the bet object.

That gambit's been used so many times, from Guys and Dolls to Saved By The Bell on one of their episodes. If you care to see what happens by all means watch the film.

I can't get over the disappointment of Jeanette MacDonald not singing even though I knew that before seeing the film. Don't Bet On Women is an all right comedy, nothing terribly special about it. The second leads Una Merkel and J.M. Kerrigan are fun, Merkel also has some devastating lines as an empty headed southern belle.

I'm not sure Jeanette's fans will appreciate a non-singing role for her.

A drawing room comedy of manners, unlike most Fox films of the era...

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 20 March 2021]

... which were largely films made for rural audiences. There was the occasional prestige picture like "Bad Girl" (1931), but that was rare.

Edmund Lowe plays the wealthy and dapper Roger Fallon. He has been married once to Doris, and her breaking his heart has made him a confirmed bachelor. When she comes to him and say she wants him to set up a trust fund for her so she can remarry, he readily agrees. This takes him to the office of his lawyer, Herbert Drake (Roland Young) who, although he disagrees with Roger's move, agrees to draw up the paperwork. They then launch into a discussion about women. Roger says all women are bad - that is why he is so generous to Doris, because she taught him this lesson while they were married. Herbert says all women are children, and whether they are good or bad children is entirely the husband's fault.

Well, it turns out that Roger ends up invited to the Fallon home, and meets Herbert's wife (Jeannette McDonald as Jeanne.). He finds her charming, and Roger ends up betting Herbert ten thousand dollars that he can kiss his wife before the weekend is up. The problem is, Jeanne finds out about this bet too, and plans to teach both men a lesson. Una Merkel rounds out the cast doing what she does best, being the mischievous but loyal friend - in this case to Jeanne.

This film has a lovely score that is unfortunately seldom heard. The art deco is beautiful to look at, and everybody here plays their roles with great aplomb. The problem is the script. There is just no meat on the bones. This would have been a great two reel Vitaphone short, but it is just stretched too thin to be an entire film, even a 70 minute one. It makes me wonder if this was one of those films originally intended to be a musical - after all this is Jeannette McDonald's only film of the 30s where she doesn't sing a note - and then the early 30s film musical craze landed with such a thud that Fox decided to forge ahead without the musical portions.

It seems to be going for that Lubitsch touch, but instead of touching it, he just brushed up against it.

Deadly

[bighebeal · 3/10 · 8 November 2015]

What a missed opportunity.

Saw it today at MoMA, just before Howard's "Trial of Vivienne Ware", and it's almost impossible to believe that these two films were made by the same director and just a year apart.

"Trial" is a lightning-fast melodrama, fast even by pre-code standards, and very entertaining. This, on the other hand, has that awful early talkie pacing that you always hear about but rarely see so vividly. It also has uninspired direction and clueless casting of two of the three leading male roles.

J.M. Kerrigan is the hero's 'comic sidekick', the let's-go-out-and-party guy that Edmund Lowe picks up chicks with. Ahh... J.M. KERRIGAN?!! Are they kidding? They couldn't get Lupino Lane, or Roscoe Karns, or... ANYBODY ELSE?!!! Kerrigan seems twenty years too old, and looks for all the world like he wants to sit in a Morris chair sipping port while his dog lies at his feet, dying.

Edmund Lowe is the lead, and he's even worse. He's sincere and naturalistic, but BORING as all get-out. There are no stakes, no 'pep', no color, no comic liveliness. He's just not a comedy guy. If it had had somebody like Frank Fay, say (whose comedies of this period are not bad at all), or Lowell Sherman, or Melvyn Douglas, or...

The rest of the cast is fine -- McDonald, Young, Merkel, all are people who know their way around a comic scene -- but Lowe, Kerrigan, and the pace and direction sink it.

A pity, because the basic idea, dated as it is, is still funny, and this could have been a lot of fun... if only it had been directed and acted by people with a feeling for comedy.

Anyhow, this is what it is. Don't go out of your way for it.

Delightful Lubitsch-like comedy of manners - wonderful ensemble playing

[bbmtwist · 10/10 · 29 May 2013]

This is a delightful Lubitsch-like comedy of manners, very well written - the ensemble acting from all concerned (MacDonald, Loewe, Merkel, Young) is exemplary under William K. Howard's direction. It does have a low concept of women, as being children needing a man's guidance, which Merkel and MacDonald soon disprove.

It is elegant and sophisticated and very highly recommended.

Unfortunately, the only DVD print available, through Loving The Classics, is washed out, fuzzy, dark at times and the entire last 30 minutes of it involves a shaking screen. It's taken from a VHS copy with horizontal blips in a few scenes. There are no songs for anyone in the cast.

MacDonald doesn't make her entry until 21:45 into the action.

Risqué gay innuendo from MacDonald: "What are you two men doing on a yacht? Cruising? "

Caesar Romero is seen for one second taking over Merkel as dancer, when Kerrigan exits.

Talk about Indecent Proposals.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 10 May 2014]

An obvious former playboy (Edmund Lowe) is disgusted with the species known as female, yet can't seem to escape them, whether it is his ex- wife (Helene Millard) asking for financial help for a broke new husband or his sudden encounter with the married Jeanette MacDonald after rescuing her drowning friend (Una Merkel). Lowe decides to test the sanctity of womanhood by making a wager with MacDonald's stuffy husband (Roland Young) at a party that he can get the next woman entering the room to kiss him, and low and behold, it ends up being the tempted MaDonald.

This chatty drawing room comedy (set mostly on a yacht) has amusing pre-code dialog, but suffers from an unbelievable and tacky situation. In addition, Merkel's character (named Tallulah, no less!) is an obnoxious, shrill-voiced chatterbox who barely breathes beyond sentences, little of which makes any sense. MacDonald, in her only non-singing screen role, retains her lady like presence and comes off unscathed while Lowe and Young's competition over her adds to her amusement. A definite rarely seen curiosity, this will be of interest mainly to the Jeanette MacDonald cult which seems to increase as time goes by.