In Name Only (1939)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Cary Grant plays a man trapped in a loveless marriage and it is an era where the divorce laws in New York are not favourable to him. His wife Kay Francis is icily shrewd, she wants hold of Grant not because she loves him but he has money and she has cultivated a close relationship with his parents who are influential.However Grant is in a tizz when he meets winsome widow Carole Lombard and her daughter. He is charmed by her but there are no long term prospects if his wife does not give her a divorce and Francis's catty friends try to make life difficult for Lombard.This is a minor melodrama very much of its era, nothing much happens apart from Grant getting drunk and catching pneumonia. It is nice to see Francis finally exposing her true intentions not knowing Grant's parents are nearby.

Shrewdly acted soaper. Usually these weepies milk over-emoting but not here. Grant, Lombard and Francis under-play despite strong feelings, thereby highlighting character rather than emotion. That opening scene at the river is delightful, a great hook. The remainder, however, switches to understated drama. Seems Grant's trapped in a loveless marriage that his influential but misled parents embrace. But when he meets the winsome Lombard, he's smitten. He'd like to divorce the icy Francis and marry Lombard, but remains torn until the conniving wife becomes impossible. However, now Lombard's too wary of his complications to follow through, and wants to take a job in faraway Paris. So what will happen, as if you didn't know.Kay Francis as the ice-queen wife is truly unsettling. With an unblinking stare, a majestic bearing, and a regal wardrobe, she's almost scary. In fact, it's sort of hard seeing how Grant could have fallen for her, except for her deadpan good looks. Note that the star-crossed Lombard remains deglamorized throughout much of the movie. So her rivalry with Francis dwells on personality instead of glamour. That's a tribute, I think, to her ego as an actress. However, except for the river opening and bar scene, Grant's celebrated comedic touch is mostly secondary to his romantic quandary. Still, his innate charm shines through. Anyhow, I didn't recognize Helen Vinson, who plays the cruel Suzanne, but I sure do now. And finally, catch little Peggy Ann Garner as the tyke—given more screen time, she could have stolen the show. Except for the car crash, there's no action to speak of. Still, the talk moves along smoothly enough, without dawdling. Fortunately, fans of the three principal players should find plenty to enjoy, which all in all, amounts to a bigger draw than the rather patchy storyline.

After watching this you will have seen why Kay Francis was such a good actress. I know this one is billed with Cary Grant and Carole Lombard but this one was Kay Francis' show.Man does she put on a performance. She's not in it very much but she doesn't need to be. You'll get an idea what a gold digger really is and what they can do with her performance. She's just flat out evil.In this film you'll see what a good supporting cast should look like. I wish they still made these melodramas like this. I'm grateful though that there are plenty to choose from on DVD from this time period.I know this line is old and tired and said all the time but..."they just don't make em like this anymore."

In Name Only was the second film in a row for both director John Cromwell and Carole Lombard. Earlier in 1939 they had collaborated on Made For Each Other which was another romantic melodrama where Lombard co-starred with James Stewart. You'll find a lot of similarities with the plot and the tone of the film is almost identical.Widow Lombard rents a cottage from a wealthy family to spend a summer with her daughter, Peggy Ann Garner. One day while attempting to fish in a stream that had long been fished out, she runs into her landlord who happens to be Cary Grant. Grant's something of a player, but he's trapped in a loveless marriage to Kay Francis who has everyone fooled, including Grant's parents Charles Coburn and Nella Walker. In fact another of Francis's friends, Helen Vinson, makes a play for Grant, but he's only got eyes for Lombard.The problem is that Francis likes being Mrs. Cary Grant and all the perks that lifestyle brings. At some point it's made abundantly clear that she won't let Grant go under any circumstances.In Name Only is dated because at the time divorce laws were a whole lot stricter, especially in New York State where until the Sixties the only grounds for divorce is adultery. It's like Joel McCrea's complaint about his wife in Sullivan's Travels, he's been trying to catch his wife colluding, but she won't collude or is being real discreet about it.Grant and Lombard register well as lovers just as she and Stewart did in Made For Each Other. Francis though really steals the show and the script is done well in that her evil is shown by increments. You really do believe that Coburn and Walker believe she's the injured party right until the very end.In Made For Each Other the plot device bringing everything to a head is the sickness that Stewart and Lombard's little boy is suffering. Here it's Grant who feeling depressed has too much Christmas cheer and ends up with pneumonia. His illness and the gathering together of all the principals brings matters to a close.Grant's performance is similar to what he later did in Penny Serenade and Lombard shows what a fine dramatic actress she is. Interesting that both of them made their primary reputations in comedy. But it's Kay Francis who you will love to hate in In Name Only.