Illicit (1931)

Boring

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The Theory, Should Lovers Marry or Not is Endlessly Talked and Talked in this Pre-Coder that Benefits from the First Starring Role for Barbara Stanwyck and She is Up to the Task of Looking Spunky and Frustrated, Randy and Depressed with Alternating Scenes as the Movie Bounces off the Walls with Theories and More Theories Batted Around..."What do Theories have to do with love?" Stanwyck Asks. Exactly.Most of the Pre-Code Fun is in the First Act as the Movie Uncomfortably Moves All Over the Place with Dry Discussions, Wordy Arguments, and Not Much Else. In All of this Soap Opera Seriousness it is Charles Butterworth as a Witty Drunk Steals Every Scene. Ricardo Cortez is a One Note Bore, but Joan Blondell and Natalie Moorehead do Add Some Spice to the Dreariness and Moorehead's Margie Confronting Stanwyck about "Dick" is a Highlight.Overall, Pre-Code Watchers are Likely to be Disappointed After the First Few Scenes. Lovers of Staged Dialog and Glittery Costumes Might Find it More Appealing. Yes, the Virtues of Marriage as the Preferred Lifestyle Managing to Squeeze the Sex Dry is an Edgy Subject and would Vanish in a Few Years from the Screen, but this is a Slog of a Story that Could Have been Summed Up in a One Act Play.

Boring, talky Pre-Coder with Barbara Stanwyck and James Rennie as a young couple happily living in sin. Babs isn't a fan of marriage, you see. Well they're eventually pressured into marrying and things between them go south. Will these two kids make it work? If you have the patience of Job, watch it and find out. Everybody else drink lots of caffeine first. It's a very creaky early talkie that feels more like a stage play. Charles "Cap'n Crunch" Butterworth plays a drunk and Joan Blondell brightens things up whenever she's on screen, which isn't enough. Stanwyck fans might want to check it out for one of her earliest roles.

The naming of this film must have been just to attract Depression era audiences, because there is nothing really illicit about it. However, it is a very modern look at romance and marriage considering it was made in 1931. Barbara Stanwyck plays Anne Vincent, a modern woman who is afraid that her relationship with boyfriend Richard Ives will be changed by marriage. She bases her beliefs on watching her own parents and her friends. In her parents' case she says that she knows they loved each other, but divorced anyways, and she is sure that separation from one another is what killed them. However, social pressures prevail and the two do get married.Anne's fears become realized as Richard seems to only be interested in going out when it involves other people, not just Anne. She sees him out with another woman one night when he is supposed to be working, and she decides what the two need is a trial separation from one another - to become individuals again. Throw Ricardo Cortez into the mix as someone who wants Anne's marriage to not work out, and you have the makings of an above average potboiler from the precode era.This film is mainly interesting because of Stanwyck. Without her abilities this would be a pretty forgettable film. And those fashions! With all of the ermine and feathers, this film has Barbara Stanwyck venturing into Kay Francis territory. Also lending good support is Charles Butterworth as the seldom sober friend to the young couple, and the always wonderful Joan Blondell as Anne's close friend.

This movie creaks with age, but is memorable for being Barbara Stanwyck's first movie as a star. Miss Stanwyck gives an excellent performance, as always, but the supporting cast, particularly Charles Butterworth, steals the show as an amiable drunk whose bark is worse than his bite.