Our Betters (1933)

Sadly Over-hyped

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

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

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Constance Bennett plays Pearl, an heiress bride who, on her wedding day immediately after the ceremony, overhears her new husband tell his lover that he married Pearl only for her money as he and his lover are penniless. However, he does have a British title, and Constance goes to live in Britain with him, with their lavish lifestyle at first financed by her money. When that runs out, she has a lover who supplies her with cash.I generally watch these old films to escape the cynicism of today's world, and this film fails in that respect. The entire cast behaves in a despicable and inhuman manner like something out of ancient Rome, with the exception of Pearl's young sister Bessie, who is a wide-eyed innocent about to make the same mistake as Pearl did when she married her faithless husband. We all figure that Pearl behaving like a manipulative pleasure-addicted ice queen is rooted in her husband's betrayal, but nothing is said about motivation at all until the end of the film. George Cukor generally did a great job in these "women's films", especially if Katharine Hepburn was starring. But then Kate was such an excellent actress that she could get her motivation across without the use of explicit dialogue. Constance Bennett usually could do so too, so why things don't pan out here theatrically I have no idea.As an aside, it is interesting that Gilbert Roland and Constance Bennett play lovers in this and one other film from 1933 - "After Tonight" - yet don't marry until eight years later. I wonder if there's a story there?

The pre-code Hollywood film "Our Betters" deals with an idle set of upper-crust society types who while away their time with teas, card games, and gossip. While sipping hot cha, they chat about their sexual dalliances, discarded spouses, and kept lovers. Based on a play by Somerset Maugham, the well-written dialog is often ripe and bitchy, and a fine cast, headed by Constance Bennett, makes the lighter-than-air fluff more entertaining than it should be.If that were the sum total of "Our Betters," then the film would be a harmless entertainment, viewed with amusement, and forgotten faster than a buttered scone. However, a character that is referenced early in the film appears on screen in the final scene and transforms the film into prime evidence of the vile gay stereotyping that Hollywood pursued before all gay portrayals on screen were prohibited by the production code.A dance instructor named Ernest, played by Tyrell Davis, arrives at Bennett's country manor in time to delay the departure of the duchess, deliciously portrayed by Violet Kemble Cooper. Ernest is not only dressed like a dandified pouffe, but he has thickly rouged lips that form a rosebud beneath his tiny clipped mustache. His broad effeminate mannerisms would embarrass a drag queen, and perceptive viewers can smell the lavender perfume that reeks from the screen. If Bogart rolled his eyes after a whiff of gardenia off Peter Lorre, he would pass out cold if Ernest minced into his office. Like Stepin Fetchit to African-Americans, Ernest is patently offensive to gays. He is the stereotyped concept of a bigoted society; he is a badly drawn cartoon image created by a studio system that profited from the talents of gays, but vilified their public images.However, as offensive as Ernest's characterization is, the film should be preserved and shown to illustrate the advances that on-screen portrayals of minorities have made. While the earlier drawing room scenes are light and forgettable, Ernest is an indelible image that should not be forgotten or repeated.

"Our Betters" is about social climbing and what it takes to get into all the best parties - and be received" at the royal court, and be "accepted" by high-society. George Cukor did a great job of directing Sometset Maugham's play; this playwright didn't flinch at doing outrageous stories with outrageous characters. Those high-class, Brits who look down their noses at normal slobs, like we Americans are, are truly no angels ! Money and a "title" will get you lots of places.........Constantce Bennet and Anita Louise, two early-film beauties, in gorgeous gowns are a camp, but...........it takes the final scene, as everyone agrees, to make the movie a scream. I roared when I saw it. It involves a horny ole (titled) biddy being instructed in the tango by a painted queen with bitchy tones in his voice and flamboyant characteristics. TCM was doing a thing called "Screened Out", that is, gay scenes and characters the "code office" would not allow to be released to the general public. If they only had known! The "general public" knoew more about these "gays" then the office did.TCM had a gay man as co-host - I suppose he's the one who chose the several movies which had over-the-top sissies in them. If they had looked more closely for an outrageously gay actor, they'd have found the fabulous Ray (Rae) Bourbon, who could have put all the "pretending" actors they cast in their rightful places. "Rae" was a big drag-star who appeared many times with Mae West - a female drag-queen if ever there were one.....all over the world.The gay host told the truth that many gay men cringed when this character appeared, but did not mention that an actor's career usually went to the pits if they dared play anything NEAR being gay - I laughed myself silly, and gave myself a pat on the back to realize that I had helped all those over-the-top "butch" gays out of the closet. Go to a gay bar and watch all those "machos" play at being men. Watch this movie and laugh yourself to tears. We need more modern Movies like "Our Betters"......."closet" doesn't mean a thing to us........

Must confess I scored it a Ten to raise the average. By all rights this one should rate an average of 8-9.The bad prints and dated stage business cannot diminish the ethereal beauty of Constance Bennett and Anita Louise, the biting satire of Somerset Maugham, and an over-the-top pas de deux finalé between a lecherous duchess and a "dancing queen" that embellishes one of the most comically smashing dénouements in film history.