The Constant Woman (1933)

Simply A Masterpiece

Perfect cast and a good story

As Good As It Gets

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

First of all, the movie I saw was named Hell In A Circus. I don't know why this movie has two names but I do know that neither one makes much sense. The story is definitely not about a woman so I don't see how they thought The Constant Woman was a good title and there's no mention of a circus until the last ten minutes but Hell In A Circus is still a more fitting title. They spend way too much time showing actors on stage and people walking through hallways and almost no time on a plot. We see two different plays end(neither get applause from the audience), a fifteen minute speakeasy scene that was completely pointless, extended periods of silence and lots of plot holes.There is literally no story here. I was impressed that the people spoke like it was made today. I've seen movies ten and twenty years newer than this where the dialog was ridiculously dated. Plus the acting wasn't bad. Three stars.

Remember those classic spoofs about movie making (usually the silent era) where a whole line of productions are being filmed right next to each other, only separated by a tent? You could have a melodrama of a young widow arguing over the rent with the mustache twirling landlord, a romantic scene of lovers interrupted by the husband, or a crazy cream pie fight? Then comes along the inevitable bar right where the director simply yells "action!" and it seems that a dance begins between the crazy action going on. Fists fly, bodies fly through doors, off balcony's, and bottles hit heads. Yet nobody seems hurt when the director yells "cut!"That's what happens here with this low budget pre-code drama starring Conrad Bagel as a high class traveling performer who hits the skids when Hus wife goes on the road, leaving their young son with him and is suddenly killed just after Nagel finds out that she's been unfaithful. Nagel hits the bottle, and in a truly amazing fight sequence, is getting drunk in a saloon where a fight just like I describe erupts. Nagel comes out only with a hangover, but his concerned old friend (Leila Hyams) goes off on him for neglecting his impressionable son.This is one of those B grade dramas from studios on lower Santa Monica Blvd. churned out dozens of titles like this, often not very good. That's not the case here as in spite of technical inferiority's got it right. It's all about Nagel's desperation to make good, and with the help of a good woman, he does just that. But will a romantic future between Nagel and Hyams be possible with the son against the relationship? Predictable? Yes. But boring? Hardly not. This keeps the viewer's interest without resorting to clichés, and if they are there, I was too taken by the film to notice. While there aren't a lot of circus sequences, the final involving a loose tiger and a fire is truly nail biting.

Originally released at 76 minutes on March 13, 1933 as a relatively quality product from poverty row Tiffany Studios, THE CONSTANT WOMAN boasted the services of star Conrad Nagel (March 16, 1897 – February 24, 1970), midway through a film career which would stretch from 1918 to 1959. The film would be re-released (shorn of six minutes from its jam-packed plot and re-titled HELL IN A CIRCUS) in 1938 by Atlantic Pictures.The movie had been adapted (and considerably expanded) from Eugene O'Neill's 1913 one act, one set (the family library) five character revenge play, "Recklessness," in which a father revenges himself on his wife and their chauffeur for their affair which he had discovered. The father's name was changed from Baldwin to Underwood and the whole family, son, circus and second wife plot lines were added, but the core idea of the father's bad reaction to his wife's betrayal and the death of the lovers remained from O'Neill's play (in which he had essentially killed one and driven the other to suicide!).Director Victor Schertzinger (April 8, 1888 – October 6, 1941) packed a lot of films into his brief 53 years, and went from notable work with minor studios to major productions (THE MIKADO with the D'Oyly Carte company and his two "Road" pictures with Hope and Crosby remain popular to this day and the three successful films he made with Mary Martin are being rediscovered). THE CONSTANT WOMAN marked his last "poverty row" film before starting an association with Columbia Pictures. Both as director and composer, having started as a violinist and conductor, Shertzinger shined. His final film, the posthumous THE FLEET'S IN for Paramount, found him doubling as director and composer (four hit songs with lyrics by Johnny Mercer!); back where he had started in films, composing the orchestral accompaniment to 1916's hit CIVILIZATION! Screenwriter Warren Duff would also eventually wind up in the majors, with works like ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES and THE LAST COMMAND, before switching to television starting with the prestige series THE ROGUES in 1965. Co-writer F. Hugh Herbert also had another 25 years of credits in his future (especially after returning from Broadway with his comedy KISS AND TELL in 1945).Small wonder that THE CONSTANT WOMAN stands as one of the better works to come out of a studio not known for major releases!

In a trim and workmanlike 70 minutes, we get barnstorming theatricals, an unfaithful wife, a bastard child, a hotel fire, a circus fire, a speakeasy brawl, and crackling pre-Code dialogue, including this reminiscence from an ex-roustabout: "Why, when I was with the circus, if you had only one black eye they thought you was a pansy!" Victor Schertzinger achieves some resourceful directorial tricks, not always placing the camera where you expect and injecting some expressionistic touches. The cast is game, with Claire Windsor a particular delight as the rotten, selfish wife who gets bumped off in the second reel.It's a Poverty Row epic -- from Tiffany Studios, to be precise -- but it has what they used to call moxie. And the quick pace and unflinching Depression milieu recall Warners-First National at its best.