Love Affair (1932)

A Disappointing Continuation

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

***SPOILERS*** A young and boyish looking 32 year old Humphrey Bogart doubles as both flight instructor and inventor Jim Leonard a man with an idea-the perfect motor- who's time has yet to come. It's Jim who loses his interest in inventing the ultimate automobile motor when he falls heads over heels in love with "Gold Digger" with a heart of gold Carol Owens,Dorothy Mackaill, whom he took for a ride flying loops & circles and figure 8's at the beginning of the film. So smitten was Jim by the rich and classy Carol that he lost his interest in both flying as well as inventing and spent all his time trying to get her to tie the knot and settle down with him. We soon find out that Carol is not the poor little rich girl that she wants Jim to believe that she is . Carol-who doesn't known it- is in fact poor but not rich at all without even as much as a pot to pi** in with her family financial adviser as well as no so secret secret lover- who's always trying to get into her pants- Bruce Hardy "Harr Harr" Hardy,Hale Hamilton, having lost her family's money in the devastating 1929 stock market crash.There's also Jim's kid sister Linda Lee-obviously a made up name- played by Astrid Allwyn who involved with con artist boyfriend Georgie Keller, Bradley Page, who's using her to get very friendly with Hardy. That's to get him to finance a play with the money-$10,000.00-that he gave Jim at Carol's insistence to start up his motor producing company in far off-from NYC-Detroit. That plan on Jim's part ends as soon as it starts with him paying all his attention on Carol then on his job that like the stock market soon goes bust.***SPOILERS*** All this confusion comes to and end when Jim finds out that both Carol whom he was made to think was rolling in dough is dead broke and that his sweet and innocent as the morning snow little sister Astrid was as big if not a bigger gold digger then even Carol is. And is involved with the sleazy Georgie who's taking her , by promising her the world, for every dime that she has. It's then that Jim put an end to all this by cold cocking Georgie-with a solid straight right- and knocking some sense into his kid sister's head. As for himself he goes back to flying planes this time around with Carol doing the driving or flying. That almost has him drop from the plane that she's flying without a parachute and end up breaking his neck. That's until Jim took control of the aircraft and landed it safely.

In 1932, Humphrey Bogart was a relative unknown--an unproven actor who was starring in one of his first films. And, because he was an unknown, the movie they gave him was clearly a B-movie--a quick film with relatively low expectations. After seeing it, I could see why it would still take Bogart many more years AND another film studio before he became a household name. While the film isn't terrible, it certainly isn't good--making it more of a curiosity than anything else when seen today.Bogart is a pilot who has dreams of building his own aircraft engine company. However, when a vacuous rich playgirl comes his way, his dreams all seem to go on hold. As one of the characters in the film said, the combination of the two is like oil and water--they just don't mix.While Bogart is throwing away his promising career, his sister is going full speed on the Road to Skankville--having met a sleazy guy who convinces her to sleep with rich guys so they can shake them down for tons of cash! Bogey has no idea his sister ISN'T the actress she claims to be and doesn't realize later that the rich woman he loves leaves him for the same guy whose mistress is....Bogart's SISTER!!! All this leads up to a finale that is reasonably enjoyable. However, what follows is one of the dumbest scenes I have watched in a very long time! By now, the rich lady is not going to marry the guy sleeping with Bogey's sister (whew!) but because she's now poor and no good for Bogart, she's about to fly away and kill herself. Bogey finds out, chases the plane on foot, jumps on the plane as it's taking off and crawls up the fuselage to take control of the plane and save her!!! This is so utterly silly and ridiculous, I found myself laughing out loud. Up until then, I might have scored it a 4 or 5--this sunk the movie to a 3 (how one reviewer gave this an 8 is beyond me).The bottom line is that this was a talking and silly film. On top of that, it's all wrong for Bogart, as the action hero at the end and the simpering lover are horrible matches for his persona that was so wonderfully created in the early 40s. Manly and solid better suits the man--one of America's great actors but clearly out of his element here.By the way, those who love Pre-Code films and their very adult sensibilities may want to see this one. Practically everyone in the film believes in and practices pre-marital sex and Bogey curses in the film--things you never would have seen after the toughened and more moralistic Production Code was adopted in 1934.

On Humphrey Bogart's first trip to Hollywood, he got his first leading man role in this B picture Love Affair. The first thing you ought to realize is that this film has absolutely nothing to do with the classic Love Affair later in the decade with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne or the two remakes that followed. It's not half as good any of those films.In fact Bogey is second billed to Dorothy Mackaill as a spoiled heiress who finds out she's been living her extravagant lifestyle courtesy of her late father's best friend and financial adviser Hale Hamilton. It comes as quite a shock to Mackaill. She considers a show business career as a way for an income.Bogart is a test pilot who is also an aeronautical engineer and he's designing an ultimate airplane motor and is looking for investors. Mackaill is willing to do it, besides she likes what she sees in Bogey.Considering the cynical roles that Bogart later made a specialty, it's a bit disconcerting to see him as this highly moral and self righteous character in Love Affair. The part doesn't wear well on him.Love Affair is your average B program second feature, nothing terribly special about it.

Humphrey Bogart in his first starring role looks very young, acts well, but has a pronounced lisp only hinted at later in his career. Still, he's very good and very appealing as the idealistic young inventor of a new airplane motor.Dorothy Mackaill is the real star here, playing a once-rich woman who's torn between her real love for Bogart (he's broke too) and the comfort and security of marrying an older man (Hale Hamilton).Along for the ride are Astrid Allwyn as Bogart's trampy sister, Bradley Page as her would-be producer, Barbara Leonard as the cosmetologist, Jack Kennedy as Gilligan, and Halliwell Hobbes as the faithful (and wise) butler).Both Mackaill (whi had been a star in silent films) and Bogart were trying to gain a toehold in talkies in 1932. Bogart was a slow-rising actor from the Broadway stage; Mackaill was slipping and would soon appear in skid-row production like PICTURE BRIDES. Yet they are both very good here. Mackaill wasn't even 30 when she appeared in this film!