This Man Is Mine (1934)

Sorry, this movie sucks

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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

Based on a play, "This Man is Mine" is a 1934 film directed by John Cromwell and starring Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy, Constance Cummings, Kay Johnson, and Sidney Blackmer.Dunne plays Tony Dunlap, who for 4-1/2 years has been married to Jim, and they have a little boy. They are very happy. Then they learn that femme fatale Fran Harper is back in town. Fran left Jim at the altar, so she's a sore subject. Tony makes no attempt to keep her husband and Fran separated, and Fran, a beautiful glamor girl, immediately makes a play for her ex-beau. Within five minutes, he's making out with her and ready to divorce his wife and leave his child. Pretty ridiculous. Tony agrees to give him a divorce in six months, if that's what he still wants. Of course she knows in six months he'll want no such thing, but for some reason she wants to keep him around.It goes on from there. This is a weak play with two not very believable characters, the obvious Fran and Jim, although I suppose it could be argued that as obvious as Fran is, you couldn't expect a dummy like Jim to see it.Dunne does a great job as a smart woman who's in love and takes the clever road. She could be applauded if she weren't married to someone who doesn't deserve her.Cummings, a wonderful actress, looks gorgeous and plays her part to the flirtatious hilt. Though she never liked Hollywood and eventually returned to both the theater and her native England, she was always a pleasure to watch. In the late '70s, she did a play, Wings, on Broadway and on tour about a stroke victim and had great success. She worked until 1986, when she was about 80, and died when she was 90. A shame she didn't make more movies.Despite poorly fleshed-out characters and an unrealistic scenario, "This Man is Mine" is enjoyable for Dunne and Cummings, and also Sidney Blackmer in a decent role, years before he played Roman Castavet in Rosemary's Baby.

This is a pot boiler from the thirties but is worth seeing because of Irene Dunne. She had the most impeccable comedic timing of any actress. Nominated for best actress five times she never won an Oscar, a real injustice. The Academy never honored her with a lifetime achievement award either. The script is witty and somewhat daring for its time. There is implied adulterous sex. I enjoyed seeing Charles Starrett in a supporting role. He later became famous in B westerns as the Durango Kid. Sidney Blackmer was also featured and he is best remembered as Roman Castevets the warlock in Rosemary's Baby. Take a bite of this confection; it is short sweet and to the point.

This film was described as a comedy on the cable station listing, and with a cast that includes those great screwball stars Irene Dunne and Ralph Bellamy (see "The Awful Truth"), I expected a light and zany marital farce. Far from it. Despite the nonstop string of quips, clever insults, and arch comments, this film is at its core a rather cynical and serious take on the institution of marriage. Given that it was directed by John Cromwell, I guess I should have anticipated that there'd be something more substantial lurking under the glossy comic veneer.Things start straying from the formula-comedy path in the very first scene. When hubby Ralph talks to his doting wife Irene, the expected marital banter soon devolves into a rather distasteful display of selfish rudeness on his part. There's not the slightest glimpse of any qualities that would make his wife so devoted to him. His subsequent behavior with old flame Constance Cummings stamps him indelibly as a cad and a fool. Still, I expected him to come to his senses after one night's infidelity and do something noble to win back Irene. But he kept on behaving like such a louse that I found myself rooting for her not to take him back.... even though I knew this was not likely to happen in a Hollywood film from this era, especially when the couple in question had a child.Another noteworthy departure from the standard-issue Hollywood formula is the affair between bad-girl Constance Cummings' character and the character portrayed by Sidney Blackmer. It's made quite explicit that she had picked him up under disreputable circumstances and that they have some sort of kinky relationship going on. Blackmer manages to show us a man who is suave, creepy, and admirable in one package.(He may behave amorally, but at least he's honest about it.)Meanwhile, I was surprised and delighted to hear two strong, intelligent, independent-minded female characters (Irene Dunne's and Kay Johnson's) expressing some rather enlightened ideas about marriage and womanhood. No doubt this had something to do with the fact that both the screenplay and the play upon which it was based were written by women. As the film progressed, I began to hope for something truly revolutionary: that Irene would dump her unworthy husband even if he decided to return to her. If I'm not mistaken, she looks like she's not completely surrendering to him in the final clinch that closes the film. The ending is not the definitive feminist statement I was hoping for, but it's just ambiguous enough to leave the door open for that sort of interpretation if you're inclined to see it that way. It's a great illustration of how "Pre-Code" signifies much more than overt sexuality and "immoral" behavior; had "This Man Is Mine" been made just one year later, there's no doubt Irene would have pulled the noble self-sacrifice routine to win back her boorish husband, if only for the sake of their child.This is an original, deftly-written film that keeps you guessing throughout. I appreciated the attention given to creating interesting, complex characters—even the minor ones have distinctive personalities and quirks. And hooray to the scriptwriter, director, and Ralph Bellamy for not trying to show in the end that his character is a great guy underneath it all! Performances by just about the entire cast are nuanced and compelling, with the three leading ladies meriting special praise.Those who view this film as a lesser version of "The Women" are I think missing the point.... there's a lot more going on here than the bitchy (albeit well-written) catfights. Give it another look and see if you agree.

There are three terrific women's roles in this nifty little comedy/drama that stars Irene Dunne as a loving wife whose husband (Ralph Bellamy) gets involved with an old girlfriend (Constance Cummings). There's nothing new in the plot here, but the dialog is sharp, funny (catty), and fast paced. Dunne is super and gets to show off her comic and musical talents as well as her dramatic chops. Cummings is wonderful as the bitch girlfriend who uses men like Kleenex. Bellamy is solid in a rare starring role as the dumb-cluck husband. Kay Johnson (the star of early DeMille talkies) has a great role as the droll neighbor. Sidney Blackmer is terrific as a smarmy boyfriend Cummings is stringing along. Charles Starrett (usually seen in Westerns), Vivian Tobin, and Louis Mason are good in support. But what really lifts This Man Is Mine a cut above other women's pictures of the day is the stingingly funny dialog among the three female stars. It's a total joy to watch Dunne, Cummings, and Johnson snap and claw at each other in a vein similar to The Women and First Lady (an underrated Kay Francis comedy). I still think Irene Dunne may have been the most versatile actress of the 1930s, and gorgeous Constance Cummings should have been a much bigger star. This film is not to be missed!