Break of Hearts (1935)

You won't be disappointed!

Just perfect...

Great Film overall

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

OK, here's the plot: Famous conductor and unknown composer fall in love and marry. He cheats on her, she walks out and won't return, he becomes a drunk, she returns and nurses him back to health. And, yes, that's IT! That's all there is, there isn't any more! It's as if the movie makers decided that, with Boyer and Hepburn on hand, no proper script was necessary. But this bare, banal drama is so devoid of interest no stars could save it, hard though they work to make something out of practically nothing.The absence of complexity makes Boyer's behaviour not only inexplicable but repellent. Why, after only a few months, does he cheat on his wife, whom we are told he loves passionately and who loves him? He tells her the other woman means nothing to him, she is the only woman he loves--typical banal, empty rhetoric of the cheating husband. Later, talking to a friend, he complains that his wife is immature and doesn't want to face real life. What does that mean--she wants him to be faithful? This puts the audience in the position of having to think, Oh, THAT's why he has a mistress--he's French! (Or, as we would say today, It's part of their culture.) Hepburn plays on the piano about a minute of a composition that Boyer inspires, but after that her composing is simply dropped, and her only role is the betrayed wife. She is also given a supportive, understanding boyfriend who looks and acts like her kid brother and who is played by an actor of no attractiveness or interest. These elements also make it seem as if the movie makers just couldn't be bothered.I give it a six for the fabulous leads, who, despite the dreary stuff they are saddled with, do their usual irresistible shtick-- Boyer passionate and seductive, and Hepburn is idealistic and luminous. If, as I do, you love watching them do it, this is worth your time, but you just see them doing it in a vacuum.

A love-starved musician who has an unrelenting crush on a temperamental orchestra leader (Charles Boyer), Katharine Hepburn manages to warm her way into his life just by seeming to be at the right place at the right time. They marry but his lavish lifestyle leads him to infidelity. Of course, Hepburn, proving what every woman knows, stands by him as he falls into alcoholic despair, only to save the day when he realizes what she has known all along, that he needs her more than he ever previously cared to admit.This handsome looking romantic drama features the two stars in a predictable story that is filled with some great classical music and believable performances by the two stars. Boyer, obviously, doesn't deserve Hepburn's love, but she perseveres, and the results never make you doubt what will happen. Jean Hersholt gives a wise performance as Hepburn's mentor, providing the heart behind the breakage.

Although at first glance Break of Hearts looks like Katharine Hepburn is doing another version of Eva Lovelace. Her Patricia Dane is a young struggling classical composer whose mentor is that old music master Jean Hersholt. Turns out Hersholt also mentored well know symphony conductor Franz Roberti played by Charles Boyer. When they meet he does his little bit to put them together.Here the resemblance to Eva Lovelace ends. Picture young Eva in Morning Glory betrayed by those around her. Kate discovers Boyer is quite the womanizer so rather than let the grass grow under her feet, she responds to the attentions of violinist John Beal. Things get bitter and rather melodramatic as Boyer falls to pieces.There was no conviction in this part for Hepburn in the way that Terry Randall from Stage Door or Eva Lovelace from Morning Glory were. Probably because unlike those two career minded women which Hepburn surely was in real life, here she admits she's got no talent and is willing to do a My Man number to get the drunken dissolute Boyer back on his feet.Definitely not the Kate we all know.

This love story was actually good. Philip Moeller did not make this movie what it could have been. A better director such as George Cukor (who was familiar with Hepburn) would have made the scenes much more enjoyable. Katharine Hepburn does a good job of the aspiring composer and Charlie Boyer as the Great Franz Roberti, conductor. The two both have too much pride instead of talking things over, which is relatable. It's also surprising how Hepburn and Boyer got away with slamming each other with insults of their promiscuity. All in all, it was a good movie for Hepburn to do in her early career, and fans of her will enjoy it.