Slightly married is a mixture of comedy, drama and tragedy. Richard Thorpe, who seems to have directed every poverty row feature in the early 30s, shows his professionalism in pulling this mixture off. It could have been bathos, but it isn't. It could have been ridiculous, but it isn't. And it could have been horrifying but it isn't. Instead, it's a programmer that rises above standard fare. The subject is handled with taste and delicacy. The leads are more than adequate to carry it off. Despite the improbability of the situation, the film is believable, and worth watching..
9 Reviews
Not that strange of a marriage for a precode but...
AlsExGal15 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
... it's a great showcase of Marie Prevost's talent in the talkie era, and she really got so few chances after talking films came in.
It was also a great role for Evalyn Knapp as Mary Smith, a poor out of work girl who finds herself in night court being falsely accused of prostitution after being entrapped by a police officer. She claims she was waiting on the street for a man she was planning to marry but he never showed up. The judge is not buying her story when a drunken guy in formal attire - very overdressed for night court - says he is the man. The judge calls the bluff by saying that in order to release Mary the guy (Walter Byron as Jimmy Martin) must marry her. They do get married and Jimmy sobers up on her couch and then leaves. Jimmy married her partly out of sympathy and partly out of rebellion as his mother plans on marrying him off to the member of another wealthy family that he does not even like much less love. How can she get away with this? Jimmy does not come into his own money for a couple of years and is totally dependent upon mom's income. He could get a job, but this is the Depression and there are many applicants for every job. Plus who would want to cross his wealthy mom by hiring him? There is basically every stereotype about the rich looking down on the poor in this film, and Jimmy's fiancée is a piece of work. Why does she want so badly to marry somebody who loathes her when she has her own money and is attractive enough to find somebody in "her class" to marry her for the right reasons?
Marie Prevost reappears about two thirds of the way into the film after being absent since the opening night court scene and saves Mary from some of her more unselfish instincts - the worst being not wanting to take a dime from Jimmy's family. There is a hilarious scene in which Prevost takes some of the Martin's settlement money and tries to open a bank account on Mary's behalf that really shows her flair for comedy.
This was probably supposed to be one of those "sham marriage" pictures where a couple marries for all the wrong reasons, separates, and then realizes they were in love later. I probably would have given this film an extra star if it were not for the casual way Jimmy's drunken rape of Mary is treated. It doesn't make her hate him - instead she doesn't declare her love for him until AFTER the rape! This is just a little too much for this modern viewer to swallow.
It is pretty well acted though, and I'd recommend it just for a chance to see what there is not too much of - Evalyn Knapp and Marie Prevost in bigger parts than they usually got.
It was also a great role for Evalyn Knapp as Mary Smith, a poor out of work girl who finds herself in night court being falsely accused of prostitution after being entrapped by a police officer. She claims she was waiting on the street for a man she was planning to marry but he never showed up. The judge is not buying her story when a drunken guy in formal attire - very overdressed for night court - says he is the man. The judge calls the bluff by saying that in order to release Mary the guy (Walter Byron as Jimmy Martin) must marry her. They do get married and Jimmy sobers up on her couch and then leaves. Jimmy married her partly out of sympathy and partly out of rebellion as his mother plans on marrying him off to the member of another wealthy family that he does not even like much less love. How can she get away with this? Jimmy does not come into his own money for a couple of years and is totally dependent upon mom's income. He could get a job, but this is the Depression and there are many applicants for every job. Plus who would want to cross his wealthy mom by hiring him? There is basically every stereotype about the rich looking down on the poor in this film, and Jimmy's fiancée is a piece of work. Why does she want so badly to marry somebody who loathes her when she has her own money and is attractive enough to find somebody in "her class" to marry her for the right reasons?
Marie Prevost reappears about two thirds of the way into the film after being absent since the opening night court scene and saves Mary from some of her more unselfish instincts - the worst being not wanting to take a dime from Jimmy's family. There is a hilarious scene in which Prevost takes some of the Martin's settlement money and tries to open a bank account on Mary's behalf that really shows her flair for comedy.
This was probably supposed to be one of those "sham marriage" pictures where a couple marries for all the wrong reasons, separates, and then realizes they were in love later. I probably would have given this film an extra star if it were not for the casual way Jimmy's drunken rape of Mary is treated. It doesn't make her hate him - instead she doesn't declare her love for him until AFTER the rape! This is just a little too much for this modern viewer to swallow.
It is pretty well acted though, and I'd recommend it just for a chance to see what there is not too much of - Evalyn Knapp and Marie Prevost in bigger parts than they usually got.
"Do You Prefer Cream Eclairs - Or Custard"??
kidboots29 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
That seems to be the million dollar question in this quite quirky movie that could never have been made after the enforcement of the code. It didn't seem to know whether it wanted to be light hearted in approach to a taboo subject or bring on the heavy dramatics!!
Mary Smith (Evalyn Knapp) is hauled into night court for soliciting, she concocts a far fetched story that she was merely waiting for her fiancée who didn't show up. Also in court is drunken blue blood Jimmy Martin (English actor Walter Byron who seems to have made a career out of playing the same part) who stands up and confesses that he is her wayward fiancée - and desperate Mary calls his bluff!! It's almost as though Byron has been told to keep his approach good humoured while the rest of the cast has been advised to go for the melodramatics.
They return to Mary's flat married - but she then confesses there was no fiancée and that she was desperate and hungry, then Jimmy starts an in-depth conversation about the merits of cream eclairs verses custard ones!! After twenty minutes the light hearted banter is out the window - Jimmy's mother finds out about the marriage (she is desperate for him to marry snooty Marjorie (Dorothy Christy)), Mary realises that if Jimmy stays married to her it will jeopardize his inheritance and also Jimmy's pal is moving in on Mary's vulnerableness and causes another breach between the two love birds. Jason Robards takes time out from playing crooked lawyers and politicians to play a crooked pal!!
And just when you wondered if Marie Prevost was going to re-appear (for her star billing she had only uttered one sentence during the night court sequence) she meets up with Mary again. Mary has started a new life, away from the "idle rich" as a cinema cashier and Nellie finds her pregnant and desperate. Yes, that's right, even though they are now divorced, there was a night when Jimmie's passions got the better of him!! Nowadays, it would be called rape - in this strange little movie Mary's forlornness afterwards leaves the viewer in no question as to what had just occurred and when Jimmy confesses what happened, his valet calls him all the names under the sun.
The ending is pretty odd - when Mary finds Jimmy is to be married, suddenly the most important thing in the world is for him to acknowledge his son - odd, because five minutes before, it wasn't!! And Nellie's last words would not be heard in a film after 1934 for probably quite a few decades!!
Evalyn Knapp's bright and breezy personality helped her carry off many a far fetched role and none more so than this one!! She probably thought she was on her way when she was cast in "Sinner's Holiday" but unfortunately both Joan Blondell and James Cagney made their feature debuts so Knapp was lost in the shuffle. So much so that by 1932 she had only a bit as a workmate of Ann Dvorak in "The Strange Love of Molly Louvain" but by this time she was thoroughly entrenched in programmers which kept her busy throughout the 1930s. Poor Evalyn, not even being named as a 1932 Wampas Baby Star helped!!
Mary Smith (Evalyn Knapp) is hauled into night court for soliciting, she concocts a far fetched story that she was merely waiting for her fiancée who didn't show up. Also in court is drunken blue blood Jimmy Martin (English actor Walter Byron who seems to have made a career out of playing the same part) who stands up and confesses that he is her wayward fiancée - and desperate Mary calls his bluff!! It's almost as though Byron has been told to keep his approach good humoured while the rest of the cast has been advised to go for the melodramatics.
They return to Mary's flat married - but she then confesses there was no fiancée and that she was desperate and hungry, then Jimmy starts an in-depth conversation about the merits of cream eclairs verses custard ones!! After twenty minutes the light hearted banter is out the window - Jimmy's mother finds out about the marriage (she is desperate for him to marry snooty Marjorie (Dorothy Christy)), Mary realises that if Jimmy stays married to her it will jeopardize his inheritance and also Jimmy's pal is moving in on Mary's vulnerableness and causes another breach between the two love birds. Jason Robards takes time out from playing crooked lawyers and politicians to play a crooked pal!!
And just when you wondered if Marie Prevost was going to re-appear (for her star billing she had only uttered one sentence during the night court sequence) she meets up with Mary again. Mary has started a new life, away from the "idle rich" as a cinema cashier and Nellie finds her pregnant and desperate. Yes, that's right, even though they are now divorced, there was a night when Jimmie's passions got the better of him!! Nowadays, it would be called rape - in this strange little movie Mary's forlornness afterwards leaves the viewer in no question as to what had just occurred and when Jimmy confesses what happened, his valet calls him all the names under the sun.
The ending is pretty odd - when Mary finds Jimmy is to be married, suddenly the most important thing in the world is for him to acknowledge his son - odd, because five minutes before, it wasn't!! And Nellie's last words would not be heard in a film after 1934 for probably quite a few decades!!
Evalyn Knapp's bright and breezy personality helped her carry off many a far fetched role and none more so than this one!! She probably thought she was on her way when she was cast in "Sinner's Holiday" but unfortunately both Joan Blondell and James Cagney made their feature debuts so Knapp was lost in the shuffle. So much so that by 1932 she had only a bit as a workmate of Ann Dvorak in "The Strange Love of Molly Louvain" but by this time she was thoroughly entrenched in programmers which kept her busy throughout the 1930s. Poor Evalyn, not even being named as a 1932 Wampas Baby Star helped!!
Hoary gimmicks
lor_14 October 2023
An undernourished romance, "Slightly Married" clunks along at an uneven pace, milking various gimmicks until its long-delayed but telegraphed conclusion.
The obscure leads are merely competent in roles that required a lot more talent and charm to put over. Of course, the subject matter mocking class distinctions and naughtiness (prostitution, unwed motherhood, etc.) grabs one's attention but is merely a source of sentimentality. Crudest gimmick is to give over the movie almost entirely to the earthy, amusing Marie Prevost for the final reel or so, after introducing her in merely a cameo in the very first scene. It's a glaring sort of "hail mary" pass to try and save a movie that's run out of gas.
Using the Peter Principle, director Richard Thorpe was kicked upstairs to handling impersonal projects with big stars at MGM.
The obscure leads are merely competent in roles that required a lot more talent and charm to put over. Of course, the subject matter mocking class distinctions and naughtiness (prostitution, unwed motherhood, etc.) grabs one's attention but is merely a source of sentimentality. Crudest gimmick is to give over the movie almost entirely to the earthy, amusing Marie Prevost for the final reel or so, after introducing her in merely a cameo in the very first scene. It's a glaring sort of "hail mary" pass to try and save a movie that's run out of gas.
Using the Peter Principle, director Richard Thorpe was kicked upstairs to handling impersonal projects with big stars at MGM.
Slightly worth seeing
JohnHowardReid16 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Strange Marriage" (1932): Also known as "Slightly Married", this movie will surprise most viewers with ribald language and situations they would not normally expect in a movie made way back in 1932. These days, of course, it's rather tame and would cause nary a ripple. Anyway, the unmarried mother is played by the skinniest mother in movie history, an extremely famished young lady with extraordinarily thin arms, cheeks, legs and body. I hate to think what she looked like in real life, because the camera, as we all know, tends to make women look dumpy and men look thin. Why it does this, has never been satisfactorily explained. Anyway, the name of this scarecrow is Evalyn Knapp and I'll certainly be giving all 69 of her movies a wide berth in the future, even though her acting was most convincing. She plays a dopey-minded actress who succeeds in making a whole lot of trouble for herself on account of her extraordinary stupidity from first to last. My contender for the dumbest and dopiest movie broad of all time.
True, the other characters, headed by Walter Byron and Marie Provost are only about ten degrees less stupid. Lloyd Ingraham is the dope of a judge, but this is par for the course. Offhand, I can't name a single non-Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie in which a judge was not portrayed as a halfwit.
Despite its bottom-of-the-barrel feel, production values are not bad. The photography is routinely competent and sometimes even indulgent to all the players except Miss Knapp. Even when they are in the same shot as Miss Knapp, both the men and women still look at least reasonably attractive. And Miss Knapp does perform another engaging service. She takes our attention away from the plot. While the film is running, it all seems reasonably realistic, except for two or three plot turns which do come across as rather strained. It's not until we read the synopsis on Alpha's good-quality DVD that we wonder how on earth we swallowed all this ridiculous plotting, let alone stayed with it from beginning to end!
True, the other characters, headed by Walter Byron and Marie Provost are only about ten degrees less stupid. Lloyd Ingraham is the dope of a judge, but this is par for the course. Offhand, I can't name a single non-Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie in which a judge was not portrayed as a halfwit.
Despite its bottom-of-the-barrel feel, production values are not bad. The photography is routinely competent and sometimes even indulgent to all the players except Miss Knapp. Even when they are in the same shot as Miss Knapp, both the men and women still look at least reasonably attractive. And Miss Knapp does perform another engaging service. She takes our attention away from the plot. While the film is running, it all seems reasonably realistic, except for two or three plot turns which do come across as rather strained. It's not until we read the synopsis on Alpha's good-quality DVD that we wonder how on earth we swallowed all this ridiculous plotting, let alone stayed with it from beginning to end!
Did he or didn't he? Well, it turns out he DID!!!
planktonrules30 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
"Slightly Married" is one of the strangest Pre-Code films I've ever seen. Like many films made during the era, there's plenty of adult content...but like they so often did, it's heavily implied and you aren't always sure what just happened.
The story begins with Mary in court. I think she's up on solicitation charges...but that isn't 100% clear. She says that she wasn't up to anything immoral but was waiting on the street for her fiance. Well, unexpectedly, a rich drunk stands up in court and announces he is Mary's fiance! Well, he was lying to try to help her...and the judge believes as much. So the judge calls their bluff and offers to marry them right there on the spot. Unwilling to go to jail for purgery, they agree...and the scene then switches to her apartment. He seems like a swell guy--and pays off her rent and buys her food. After all, she's broke and it is the Depression.
During the course of their limited time together, Jimmie and Mary fall for each other. But here is where it gets icky and confusing....one night Jimmie shows up and rapes his new wife. You aren't sure about this as you don't see it...but after they soon divorce, you learn she's pregnant! But she won't tell Jimmie about it. After all, he's rich and now engaged to a society lady...and there's no mention that he's a rapist. In fact, Mary STILL seems in love with the man who brutalized her! And, you know she'd love to have him back! Talk about strange 1930s morality!!!
While this B movie is reasonably well made, it has a major problem. While it starts off well, the rape totally changes the tone of the film...yet the filmmakers see it as a romance! Nothing romantic about rape! Andwhen she tries to get him back at the end you wonder why she'd want this jerk back in the first place! A confusing and morally suspect film to say the least!
The story begins with Mary in court. I think she's up on solicitation charges...but that isn't 100% clear. She says that she wasn't up to anything immoral but was waiting on the street for her fiance. Well, unexpectedly, a rich drunk stands up in court and announces he is Mary's fiance! Well, he was lying to try to help her...and the judge believes as much. So the judge calls their bluff and offers to marry them right there on the spot. Unwilling to go to jail for purgery, they agree...and the scene then switches to her apartment. He seems like a swell guy--and pays off her rent and buys her food. After all, she's broke and it is the Depression.
During the course of their limited time together, Jimmie and Mary fall for each other. But here is where it gets icky and confusing....one night Jimmie shows up and rapes his new wife. You aren't sure about this as you don't see it...but after they soon divorce, you learn she's pregnant! But she won't tell Jimmie about it. After all, he's rich and now engaged to a society lady...and there's no mention that he's a rapist. In fact, Mary STILL seems in love with the man who brutalized her! And, you know she'd love to have him back! Talk about strange 1930s morality!!!
While this B movie is reasonably well made, it has a major problem. While it starts off well, the rape totally changes the tone of the film...yet the filmmakers see it as a romance! Nothing romantic about rape! Andwhen she tries to get him back at the end you wonder why she'd want this jerk back in the first place! A confusing and morally suspect film to say the least!
Charming Start, But Loses Its Way
boblipton6 January 2018
When drunken Walter Byron claims to be the man Evalyn Knapp was waiting for on a street corner on order to get her out of a charge for prostitution, they may wind up married, but there is the usual ruckus when a rich young man marries a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. The leads have a great deal of chemistry to enliven this poverty row second feature, but the script loses its way about the half-way mark, uncertain what to do when they realize they love each other, but they have their pride -- and Byron won't come into his own money for a couple of years.
Nor is this the sort of material that director Richard Thorpe is particularly good with. There is some real talent in supporting roles, including Jason Robards Sr. as Byron's friend who tries to move in when Byron leaves, and Marie Prevost comes in towards the end to try to buffer the plot and offer some comedy, but after the first twenty minutes, the movie loses steam and never recovers.
Nor is this the sort of material that director Richard Thorpe is particularly good with. There is some real talent in supporting roles, including Jason Robards Sr. as Byron's friend who tries to move in when Byron leaves, and Marie Prevost comes in towards the end to try to buffer the plot and offer some comedy, but after the first twenty minutes, the movie loses steam and never recovers.
Be careful of the drunks you marry!
mark.waltz22 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
He's a wealthy bon vivant who gets drunk to deal with his snooty family, and she may or may not be a hooker. One night in court, he comes to her rescue when she is on the verge of being sent to prison for soliciting and the clever judge decides to marry them on the spot. Will sobriety and the morning after wake him up yo reality or true love? This decent pre-code drama is fast moving and a bit raunchy with the usual exuberant performance by Marie Prrvost as the heroin's best friend. Evelyn Knapp exudes both street smarts and innocence. Walter Byron may not be a typical leading man but is understandable and dashing. While the premise is slightly absurd, the plot moves along briskly and features fum, racy dialog. Not bad for what it is but no classic either.
Intelligent this was not
view_and_review7 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
In this dumb movie a man married a prostitute just to keep her from going to jail. Only in a movie could such a stupid move be viewed as chivalrous and *ahem* romantic.
I'm sure you're wondering why. I am too, but let me at least partially explain the scenario.
Mary Smith (Evalyn Knapp) was in court as a defendant for prostitution. Of course, back in those days they didn't use the word prostitution, they called it solicitation if they called it anything at all. She came up with a cockemamie story about how she was on the corner waiting for her fiance then a guy offered her money and she took it. The judge was about to sentence her when the knight in shining armor named James 'Jimmy' Martin (Walter Byron) stood up and said that he was the man she was waiting for. The judge called him on his bluff and they were married.
I fully expected Jimmy to wake up the next morning hungover and clueless as to what he did the night before, but that didn't happen. The next morning when Mary asked Jimmy why he married her his answer was to get her out of a jam and they could just as easily be divorced.
Idiot.
In "Slightly Married" Mary was the hooker with a heart of gold, but she could just as easily have been a gold digger who wouldn't accept a divorce without a settlement. In fact, she could've been any kind of unstable person who was just gifted a sucker because of her blond hair and petite figure.
After their sham of a marriage the two actually fell in love. It wasn't even a full twenty-four-hours later that Jimmy and Mary were in each other's arms like real newlyweds. The movie got worse when their relationship was strained by Jimmy's mother. Jimmy's mother and their family lawyer convinced him that Mary only wanted his money. The real kicker is that he had the nerve to be upset with Mary. It was a ludicrous scene.
Even though she wasn't after his money, so what if she was? Yo man, you just married a streetwalker who you didn't know at all and now you want to get mad at her because you think she wants your money. GTFOH.
On top of being plain stupid, Jimmy was a drunk. Too bad Mary couldn't see the danger in that. He got sloppy drunk one night, after they decided to call it quits, and raped her. How do we know that?
1. He went over Mary's house in an abusive mood throwing around the claim that he was still her husband, which is code for "I still get the privileges of a husband." He was pressed up against her refusing to leave her apartment, then fade to black.
2. A few scenes later Jimmy was telling his butler, Hodges (Herbert Evans), how awful of a person he was because a few weeks back he went to Mary's apartment and... and they left out everything he said, which is another way of telling us that he did the unthinkable.
3. Mary had a baby.
Put all three of the aforementioned facts together and you know what happened that night between Jimmy and Mary, and you also know it wasn't consensual.
But this is the '30's and this is Hollywood.
Mary was still over-the-moon in love with Jimmy Martin even after only knowing him for a short while, after his behavior toward her, after his forcing himself on her, and his being a drunk. She even named her unborn child Jimmy. When asked, "What if it's a girl?" she responded, "I never thought of that." And that's all you need to know about Mary. A thinker, she was not. And that's all you need to know about this abysmal movie--intelligent, it was not.
Free on YouTube.
I'm sure you're wondering why. I am too, but let me at least partially explain the scenario.
Mary Smith (Evalyn Knapp) was in court as a defendant for prostitution. Of course, back in those days they didn't use the word prostitution, they called it solicitation if they called it anything at all. She came up with a cockemamie story about how she was on the corner waiting for her fiance then a guy offered her money and she took it. The judge was about to sentence her when the knight in shining armor named James 'Jimmy' Martin (Walter Byron) stood up and said that he was the man she was waiting for. The judge called him on his bluff and they were married.
I fully expected Jimmy to wake up the next morning hungover and clueless as to what he did the night before, but that didn't happen. The next morning when Mary asked Jimmy why he married her his answer was to get her out of a jam and they could just as easily be divorced.
Idiot.
In "Slightly Married" Mary was the hooker with a heart of gold, but she could just as easily have been a gold digger who wouldn't accept a divorce without a settlement. In fact, she could've been any kind of unstable person who was just gifted a sucker because of her blond hair and petite figure.
After their sham of a marriage the two actually fell in love. It wasn't even a full twenty-four-hours later that Jimmy and Mary were in each other's arms like real newlyweds. The movie got worse when their relationship was strained by Jimmy's mother. Jimmy's mother and their family lawyer convinced him that Mary only wanted his money. The real kicker is that he had the nerve to be upset with Mary. It was a ludicrous scene.
Even though she wasn't after his money, so what if she was? Yo man, you just married a streetwalker who you didn't know at all and now you want to get mad at her because you think she wants your money. GTFOH.
On top of being plain stupid, Jimmy was a drunk. Too bad Mary couldn't see the danger in that. He got sloppy drunk one night, after they decided to call it quits, and raped her. How do we know that?
1. He went over Mary's house in an abusive mood throwing around the claim that he was still her husband, which is code for "I still get the privileges of a husband." He was pressed up against her refusing to leave her apartment, then fade to black.
2. A few scenes later Jimmy was telling his butler, Hodges (Herbert Evans), how awful of a person he was because a few weeks back he went to Mary's apartment and... and they left out everything he said, which is another way of telling us that he did the unthinkable.
3. Mary had a baby.
Put all three of the aforementioned facts together and you know what happened that night between Jimmy and Mary, and you also know it wasn't consensual.
But this is the '30's and this is Hollywood.
Mary was still over-the-moon in love with Jimmy Martin even after only knowing him for a short while, after his behavior toward her, after his forcing himself on her, and his being a drunk. She even named her unborn child Jimmy. When asked, "What if it's a girl?" she responded, "I never thought of that." And that's all you need to know about Mary. A thinker, she was not. And that's all you need to know about this abysmal movie--intelligent, it was not.
Free on YouTube.
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