There are at least 8 main characters, a few of which have very little bearing on the (thin) story.

Add the first question. Under the brilliant surface I suspect all kinds of ugly secrets. I did like Gilbert Roland who's playing a gigolo. The rest of the cast is generally okay, but the film just doesn't have the visual wit to match Bennett's performance or the wickedly poisonous dialogue. Comedy, Certificate: Passed Cukor was already a great director by this point (his very next film was the excellent Dinner at Eight), and he does as much as he can to keep the camera gliding around the conversations, and the actors moving about busily; there's also plenty of thoroughly classy sex talk of the sort that makes pre-'34 cinema such an…. Movie Info Soon after being wed, American heiress Lady Pearl Grayston (Constance Bennett) realizes her husband has married her for her money and is keeping a mistress. Find movie and film cast and crew information for Our Betters (1933) - George Cukor on AllMovie Vindictive Minnie pretends to have left her purse in the teahouse and sends Bessie to fetch ... From Mad Method Actor to Humankind Advocate: One of the Greatest Film Actors of the 20th Century. The movie itself is a pretty standard pre-code sass-fest, but it was especially striking how little “action” there is - this is really just people standing around talking, with most of the big moments happening offscreen.

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With Constance Bennett, Violet Kemble Cooper, Phoebe Foster, Grant Mitchell. The title is meant to be ironic, by the way, if you couldn't already guess. 3 or more of them could have been cut easily, and it would have done nothing to the story. A young American girl visits Paris accompanied by her fiancee and her wealthy uncle. A former prostitute, determined to reform upon leaving prison, falls in love with a cotton barge owner and must choose between him and her banker lover.


Genuinely boring film about adultery by American rich girls within British aristocracy punctuated by a pretty stellar scene where their gay best friend makes everything okay. Sources include IMDb, Wikipedia, pre-code.com and the…, The Celluloid Closet is a 1996 American documentary film directed and written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. It's peak pre code, the story of a woman who has flippant affairs and gaudy parties after finding out on her wedding night her husband is a philanderer who married who only for her money.

Fairly shortly thereafter, the film turns into the usual early-'30s stage-to-screen traps: endless scenes of people speaking in much too mannered a fashion, while the plot scratches its way forward.

Rare film doesn’t want to be restored. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. I had fun watching this, but it had some fairly significant problems. There’s something about these people that makes me feel terribly uncomfortable. Pride: A Chronological History of Queer Interest & LGBTQ+ Cinema, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) October 2020 Schedule, Out Of The Closets And Into The Cinemas! two ladies of title kissing one another.

Sure, it's entertaining to watch Bennett be sassy, but the story itself is very flimsy. Constance Bennett and the other guests share a few…, “Oh, what an exquisite spectacle - two ladies of title kissing one another!”. For anyone who wants to experience the notorious "sissy" character, Ernest the dance teacher, fast forward to literally the final scene. What to Watch if You Miss the "Game of Thrones" Cast. Rare film doesn’t want to be restored. It's rather clever that gay director George Cukor saves the best for last; Ernest minces in, limp-wristed and heavily made-up, and tangos with one of the society ladies. Newsflash: These upper-class twits are not our betters! Although the British upper class may be thought our betters in society, but they are certainly not our betters, and perhaps our equals, in morality. 1933 Lots of drawing room conversation, too many characters and a good amount of snappy Constance Bennett dialogue but not enough to save it from becoming a slog. A scathing satire of deceit and manipulation among the British elite that by all rights should be more fun than it is. This list is for scripts or source material written or co-written by women. The career of a waitress takes off when she meets an amiable drunken Hollywood director. A barely cohesive narrative of dreary conversations and dialogue that just hasn't aged well. Film data from TMDb.

Report this film. Taking place predominately in a single room it never takes any chances, gives off stage play vibes in a bad way. Our Betters is an adaptation of a drawing room play by W. Somerset Maugham, and boy does it retain its staginess. Constance Bennett calls someone a pompous owl, but otherwise the film’s not very good. The man made a lot of hits but this ain't one of them. Week 35: A film that features the trope of a "sissy". She has his title and he has her money; thereafter they are rarely seen together. Idk.

Weird as shit. I would watch a spin off about Ernest in a heartbeat. Pearl gives a weekend party at the Grayston estate inviting close friends, including her lover, Arthur Fenwick; her friend, Duchess Minnie and Minnie's gigolo companion, Pepi D'Costa; as well as Bessie, Lord Bleane and Harvey. 1933 The exposition is absolutely thrilling, a concise montage that quickly lays out an entire lifetime of hope curdling into wounded self-regard, all done through leading visuals and Constance Bennett's magnificent facial expressions. Made by fans in Auckland, New Zealand. Also, while this movie doesn't drag, there really isn't any actual plot. George Cukor's theatrical background is very apparent, and while I'll give this the edge over Dinner at Eight from the same year, it's still mostly a filmed play. Although the British upper class may be thought our betters in society, but they are certainly not our betters, and perhaps our equals, in morality. From Coraline to ParaNorman check out some of our favorite family-friendly movie picks to watch this Halloween. It's scene after scene of the upper class conversing through stuffy dialogue in various rooms, their immorality and hypocrisies exposed as Bennett portrays a wealthy socialite notorious for sleeping around whilst her husband does the same. While watching Our Betters, a George Cukor-directed adaptation of a W. Somerset Maugham play, I felt like I was observing an alien race from above, with many of its members acting in ways—whether heartlessly bitchy, unbelievably self-delusional or otherwise—that seemed utterly foreign to my own experience of what I'd consider normal human behavior. Mercifully, Tyrell Davis storms onto the scene for the last five minutes as an outrageously queer character and injects some much needed adrenaline. Although the British upper class may be thought our betters in society, but they are certainly not our betters, and perhaps our equals, in morality. There's a little pre-code zestiness and some entertaining characters with the usual Hollywood stereotypes but everything is either implicit, mildly suggestive or just off-screen altogether. Not necessarily bad, but certainly weird. He's a long way from the visual/performative harmony of The Philadelphia Story.
She decides to take life on their terms, and becomes a cunning seductress among a large group of wealthy and cynical people. Our Betters Sometimes you’re like “oh, the Hayes Code just set in stone what Hollywood was already doing” and then you watch a movie like this and you’re like “no, people have always been horny liars and other people have always wanted to make movies about that.”. Our Betters is an adaptation of a drawing room play by W. Somerset Maugham, and boy does it retain its staginess.

This was weird. Pre-code has become this net of sharp wire that falls on my mind idk why this description... just that it’s this Slightly glinting phrase that feels lacerating bc it’s sharper or something. She has his title and he has her money; thereafter they are rarely seen together. TMDb

Pepi, who had been meeting Pearl on the sly, discretely suggests a rendezvous with her in the new teahouse on the property. Lighting Constance Bennett a challenge somehow. It’s an LGBTQ+ world and these are my other LGBTQ+ lists on Letterboxd: ➡️Minor Interest Films: In the Closet: A…. A fun gay romp (in every sense of the word).