Men of Chance (1931) User Reviews

Simple and enjoyable.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 6 May 2014]

When the film begins, Marthe (Mary Astor) is broke in Paris and unable to feed herself, let alone boat fare back to the US. However, an odd man befriends her and grooms her for marriage. Now, this woman of humble birth is a countess--and soon ropes a rich gambler, Johnny Silk (Ricardo Cortez). He's daffy about her and wants to marry her...and she is afraid to tell him the truth about herself. She does love him and reluctantly agrees to marry him.

Back in the States, the couple is quite happy though Marthe still hasn't told him the truth. In the meantime, Marthe's old benefactor arrives from Paris. He says he's broke and she offers him help....and he then springs his trap. What this trap is and why is something you'll need to see for yourself as well as Marthe's reaction when she realizes she's been a pawn in a very expensive and complicated game.

This is a very interesting film and offers several nice twists and turns. Along with some nice acting, this one is a nice little film and worth your time.

Implausible, but get a load of Mary

[marcslope · 7/10 · 2 February 2022]

She's a starving artist in a fetching studio-bound Paris, entrapped for soliciting (Implausibility #1) and bailed out by John Halliday, who sees something.unique in her and offers to set her up as a countess, a disguise nobody bothers to look into (Implausibility #2). In that guise she meets a smitten Ricardo Cortez, who falls instantly in love with her and demands that they get married (Implausibility #3), taking her best pal (a fun Kitty Kelly), who's been posing as her maid, along on the honeymoon (Implausibility #4). Cortez, who's at his most boisterous and leading-man-handsome here, is a gambler and horse aficionado, which leads to Mary innocently feeding info to Halliday that ruins Cortez, who instantly turns on her and throws her out (Implausibility #5), until she engineers a way of turning around her innocent mistake. It's not, in short, credible, but the two stars are photogenic, and Astor already owns the screen, offering a layered performance of a not very layered character. The horse racing sequences are exciting, and the horse Cortez bets it all on is a real beauty; the scene between him and the horse is truly touching. I'd expected this to be Warners, but it's RKO, and it's a good-looking, lively early talkie. With many implausibilities.

Mary Astor and the Art of Scene Stealing

[boblipton · 6/10 · 4 May 2006]

I'm not quite sure what happened to Ricardo Cortez' career. True enough, he was pretty shaky in his early talkies, still (mis)cast as the foreign lover with a Bowery accent, but by the time this movie was made, he was absolutely solid and well cast as a gambler. Perhaps by this point in his career, people were no longer interested in paying money to find out.

Mary Astor, on the other hand, had finally learned her craft. In silent movies, she had relied on her immense, youthful beauty. In her early talkies, she seems timid and overwhelmed, but by this time she knew how to steal a scene by repose: in a swirling sea of movement, she was the still spot. Think of her in THE MALTESE FALCON, seated in the armchair. Think of her in DODSWORTH offering her hand to Walter Huston. Think of her in PALM BEACH STORY chattering a mile a minute.... but no. Everyone is brilliant in a Preston Sturges comedy, and unexpected.

She is not note perfect here: a bit weak in the early scenes. But still, by the 20-minute mark in this one-hour programmer, she owns it. Take a look at it.

"Just Martha and me and Golden Lad makes three"

[Jim Tritten · 7/10 · 5 May 2006]

Fair drama set in France and around the horse racing circuit in the US centered around a contest of wills between gentlemen who earn their living by betting on the outcome of horse races. Ricardo Cortez as Diamond Johnny Silk does well as the protagonist vs. an equally capable John Halliday, playing Vincent Dorval, as the antagonist. As the story opens, Silk has taken Dorval and his partner Joe Farley for a quarter of a million. Dorval schemes and wins back a like amount.

The fem fatale is Mary Astor, playing Martha, a American who has failed to make it as an artist in Paris and who is about to turn to street walking to earn enough to eat. Dorval rescues her, makes her into a "lady who glitters" and palms her off to Silk as a countess. Silk falls in love and Martha marries him despite not being in love to avoid returning to a life of hopelessness. What is clever in the writing is that Dorval assumes that Martha eventually will fall in love with Silk and manages to dupe her into betraying her husband anyway.

Martha cannot contain herself and confesses all to Silk who spurns her for ruining him. Martha in turn realizes that Silk only loved her because she was a countess. This sets the scene for the finale at the big race where Golden Lad can either win back Silk's losses or ruin him forever. The outcome is in doubt until the very end and there are some great shots of horse racing down to the wire. Recommended.

good Mary Astor film

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 30 June 2015]

Ricardo Cortez and Mary Astor star in "Men of Chance" from 1931, also starring John Halliday.

Astor plays Marthe, a literal starving artist in Paris who is picked up by Dorval (John Halliday). He makes her an offer she can't refuse in her present situation: he will dress her, put her up in the best hotel, and introduce her around as a French countess. She attracts a wealthy man, rich American gambler Johnny Silk (Cortez), who proposes to her. At first she's interested in him for his money, but later, she falls in love with him.

Dorval and his partner Farley are actually after Johnny and want to bring him down. Without realizing it, Marthe is feeding racing tips to them, and they're winning and depleting Silk's fortune.

Good, straightforward film, with a nice horse race sequence at the end. The lovely Astor gave a winning performance as poor Marthe, the regal Countess, and finally a woman in love. She was an interesting actress - an ingénue in the silent era, a leading lady with a beautiful speaking voice in the '30s, and made her big mark as the mysterious, treacherous Bridget O'Shaunessey in The Maltese Falcon in 1941. By the mid-40s, she was doing character roles, which she did until 1964, a 43-year-career.

Ricardo Cortez to me has never been anything but okay, though he was pleasant looking. He entered silents during the Valentino era and promptly changed his name from Jacob Krantz. There was just nothing special about him or the films in which he appeared. He slid to B films and then character parts and finally returned to working on Wall Street though he kept acting until 1960.

John Halliday is appropriately evil and slimy.

If you catch this on TCM, see it, you'll like it. Even though it's precode, though, the only racy thing is the horses.

your different! Your a thoroughbred! Your expensive! Your handicap class!

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 25 January 2012]

***SPOILERS**** Big time gambler Johnny Silk, Recardo Cortez, knows his horses but as we see in the movie "Men of Chance" doesn't know his women in being snookered into marrying down and out in Paris France American Martha Preston,Mary Astor. It's in Martha's new found and good friend Richard Dorval, John Holiday, coming up with this scheme to make Martha a French Countess that clouded Johnny Silk's opinion of her. In fact Martha was just about to hit the streets,as a hooker,of Paris in being dead broke and having nowhere to stay and nothing to eat. That's until Dorval came to her rescue by bailing Martha out in court from serving a 60 day sentence behind bars.

Unknown to Martha Dorval has a plan to use her together with his partner New York bookie Joe Farley, Ralph Ince, to get Johnny Silk who's just crazy about her to give them the names of the horses he's betting and have them pulled,by paying off their jockeys,so they can bust him. This is in revenge for all the money Johnny Silk won off them over the years, by placing big bets with bookie Farley, betting at the racetrack. It's only too late that Martha, who was by then married to Johnny Silk, realized that she was being used by both Dorval & Farley to financially destroy her husband! That lead a tearful Martha to confessed to him that she wasn't a French Countess and what she was up to, without her knowing about it, that had poor Martha kicked out of the couples luxury New York city apartment!

With a battered bloodied and almost broke Johnny Silk now seeking to get even with both Farey & Dorval he plans a betting "Hail Mary" by him betting heavily and secretly on his horse "Goldon Lad" who's actually stake or kentucky Derby racing material by entering him in a cheap race $1,000.00 claiming race at Belmont Park without anyone knowing that he's the horse's owner. Martha by then on the outs and estranged from her husband Jonny Slik and told Dorval about his plan is given a bunch of poisoned or LSD-like laced sugar cubes by him to feed "Goldon Lad", which is his favorite treats, just before the race to keep him from winning it.

***SPOILERS*** Exciting but not at all surprising finish as Martha has a sudden change of heart, she's still in love with Johnny Silk, and doesn't go through with the plan that Droval & Farley set up for her; in Keeping "Goldon Lad" from winning the race by drugging him. In the end Johnny Silk is back in the big time, with "Goldon Lad" winning at odds 30 to 1, with both Dorval & Farley in betting against Johnny Silks's horse and ending up losing their shirts. But the best thing to happen in all this is that Johnny Silk is also back with Martha whom he only married because he mistakenly thought she had class and breeding in her being a French Countress but later found out that she had a lot more then that: She was really in love with the big hearted fun loving and at times obnoxious guy not his money.

those rough and tumble early 1930's

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 31 January 2022]

From rko, martha and gertie (mary astor, kitty kelly) are in paris, pretending to be royalty to attract a man. Also in paris is famous gambler john silk (ricardo). Fellow americans dorval and farley are also here, trying to get back some of the dough they have lost to silk over the years. Intrigue as each party tries to put one over on the others. Things take a serious turn when silk proposes to martha. Can she get out of this? And does she want to ? What will happen if all the lies are exposed? Mary astor had started in the silents, and even won the oscar for great lie 1941. Although we probably all know her better from falcon. I'm surprised that she wasn't even nominated for falcon, but i guess we can't be greedy. Directed by george archainbaud. He had started in the early days of silent film. Directed the 1939 version of some like it hot. Which has nothing to do with the 1959 version. Story by louis weitzenkorn. Had several projects made into film, but died young at 49. He was a newspaper editor, and even wrote a play about the business. It was later turned into a film. Men of chance is good; a snapshot of the times... organized crime running the rackets, women just looking for a husband. Any husband.

It's all about that fabulous scenery and dialog.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 14 December 2018]

The performances of Mary Astor and Ricardo Cortez in this pre-code drawing room drama are brilliantly brought to life through the intelligent screenplay that makes this sometimes slow-moving film seem better than it is. Struggling to make ends meet and living basically as a street walker, Astor is picked up by dashing rogue John Halliday who in true Henry Higgins fashion turns her into a phony countess. He sets her after wealthy Cortez who makes a living as the owner of top notch race horses. Astor, acting as the perfect lady, wins Cortez over and gets him to propose to her. But as his luck changes, she is forced to confess her true status which brings on a nasty confrontation between the two that is the dramatic high point of this pre-code film.

Showing depression-era Paris at its most audacious, this takes the viewer into the highest of social scenes and puts the beautiful Mary Astor into some gorgeous gowns. Cortez gets not only to be dashing but is given dialogue that sounds like it could have been written by the likes of Noel Coward or Moss Hart. Unfortunately, that makes the film seem very stagey in certain parts and certain elements of the plot line, such as Astor's attempt to pose as a countess (a claim that could be easily checked), seemed rather difficult to believe. But with its energetic leads and glamorous almost operetta like setting (perfected in films being made by Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier over at Paramount), this is sumptuous to look at. It is also a reminder that Mary Astor, an actress best known for character parts, was once one of Hollywood's top leading ladies.

Worth Seeing For Its Two Leads

[Handlinghandel · 4/10 · 7 May 2006]

Mary Astor and Riccardo Cortez worked well together. Here, she is a bad girl. Or she is perceived to be a bad girl. She's in Parish when we meet her. Her dreams of being an artist have fizzled and she's down on her luck.

She marries American gambler Cortez. He's hard-boiled but falls for her right away. She's hard-boiled and doesn't fall for him right away but does eventually. (This is not giving away the plot.) Both are excellent. It is, however, a rather creaky plot. Though the movie was made before the Code, it is not at all racy. The racetrack scenes look authentic and are fun.

Not great, but worth watching!

[ronrobinson3 · 8/10 · 16 December 2023]

The title of this film is deceiving. The film is really about Mary Astor and her involvement with the "Men of Chance", John Halliday and Ricardo Cortez. Cortez and Halliday are both gamblers on the horse races. They are shady and fix the races. But they are in rival associations and compete. Halliday has lost hundreds of thousands due to Cortez's trickery and he wants his money back and revenge.

Halliday brings in Mary Astor to find out what Cortez is up to and to fix the bets so the odds are against Cortez. At first Astor goes along, but then she ends up falling in love with Cortez.

The film is not great but it is very good as it kept me guessing as to Mary Astor's character's motives. Is she really helping Cortez or Halliday? If you are not familiar with Mary Astor's work, she will show you what she can do in this film! She is great. And really kept me guessing.

I fell in love with Mary Astor when I first experienced her in "Dodsworth". And now I really look forward to films where she has a role, no matter how small. But, in this film, she is the central character.

So, I recommend this Classy Classic! It is just on the border of being great, but it is worth the viewing!

Shades of "Smart Money" and "The Lady Refuses"

[view_and_review · 3/10 · 22 August 2022]

"Men of Chance" is one of those romances where one or both of the parties accidentally fall in love. In this case a woman named Marthe (Mary Astor) was being used as a plant to sink Johnny Silk (Ricardo Cortez).

I'd seen both actors in other movies. Mary Astor in "The Royal Bed," "Other Men's Women," and "Behind Office Doors"--always the romantic interest. Ricardo Cortez in "Ten Cents a Dance" and also "Behind Office Doors."

Marthe was bailed out of a sticky situation in France by a man named Dorval (John Halliday). For that she was to pretend to be a countess in order to be in a romantic relationship with Johnny Silk. Johnny was a professional gambler who repeatedly beat the bookies. One bookie who had had enough was Farley (Ralph Ince). He and Dorval hatched a plan to finally sink Silk.

The phony identity worked like a charm. Johnny wasn't attracted to regular girls, no matter how pretty, but a countess was something else. Marthe pretending to be a countess was just the ticket to lure Johnny.

He had lived a charmed life to that point and he let it get to his head. As he exclaimed to Marthe, "There are three things that I know: horses, gambling, and women. Why I'd stake my bankroll on you." Yet, little did he know he was getting played.

He was so goofy he asked her to marry him after two weeks and didn't even allow her to say no. If he had half a brain he would've noted her hesitation and protestations, however soft they were. This guy wouldn't take no for an answer and it was quite unnerving. I know I'm watching through 21st century eyes, but seeing a guy make wedding plans without a full consent from the bride-to-be didn't sit well with me. And if that wasn't odd enough, Marthe was pressured by Dorval to go through with the marriage. All to avoid sixty days in jail!

Yes. When Dorval found Marthe she was being booked for vagrancy (though she hadn't done that) and she was sentenced to 60 days in jail. She was willing to sleep with Dorval to avoid the jail sentence, but Dorval didn't want that, he wanted her for his scheme involving Johnny Silk. I could almost understand a woman having sex with a stranger to avoid a jail sentence, but marriage? And for a sixty day sentence at that?? Is sixty days in a French jail so horrible that she'd agree to a lifetime commitment to avoid it???

So, Marthe agreed to marry Johnny and continued to be Dorval and Farley's plant until she fell in love. And love always complicates things.

The movie was a little of "Smart Money" (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson with a splash of "The Lady Refuses" (1931) starring Betty Compson.

Edward G. Robinson was a big time gambler who was ruined by a woman in "Smart Money," and Betty Compson played a woman hired to woo a man who fell in love with her in "The Lady Refuses." Both movies were better than this one because this was really all about money and not love. When Silk thought Marhe ruined him, he didn't love her; as soon as she restored his wealth, he loved her again. How convenient.

Free on YouTube.

Another horseracing drama

[HotToastyRag · 4/10 · 14 March 2019]

In Men of Chance, Mary Astor finds herself poor and destitute in Paris. When she gets arrested for suspected prostitution, when all she was doing was allowing a fellow traveler to sit beside her at a café, she thinks the worst has happened. Then, John Halliday comes to her rescue and reinvents her image as a rich countess. Before she knows it, she's highly respected and the successful gambler Ricardo Cortez falls in love with her.

Similar to other racehorse films of the 1930s, like Saratoga and Broadway Bill, this romantic drama has been forgotten over the decades. It's not really the best movie out there, even though the beginning setup with Mary's arrest is interesting. If you like racehorses in movies, you'll find a host of movies to watch in the 1930s, when the sport was extremely popular.