So much average

Sadly Over-hyped

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Man, this thing is old. Old in years, yes, but a film can be old and still fresh and relevant. This is old in that it's melodramatic and irrelevant, and dated."Consolation Marriage" is from 1931 and stars Irene Dunne, Pat O'Brien, Myrna Loy, John Halliday, and Lester Vail. Dunne is Mary Brown Porter, who loses her childhood sweetheart, Aubrey (Lester Vail) to a rich woman. Mary tends to be a fairly understanding woman. Or else she's masochistic.She meets Steve Porter (O'Brien), another jiltee, and they decide to get married, even though they aren't in love. There's an understanding that Steve is still in love with the girl of his dreams, Elaine (Myrna Loy), but they keep breaking up. Mary again goes along with this arrangement.When I saw that Myrna Loy was supposed to be playing the other woman, I thought it was a mistake when I saw her. She did not look remotely like herself. Later I realized it was indeed Loy, who made a dazzling blond, beautifully gowned and coiffed.Steve and Mary get a dog and have a baby, but Steve slips away often to be involved with Elaine. Then Mary gets her big chance with Jeff (John Halliday). Will she take it? And will Steve ever leave her for Elaine?It's the rare woman who has the other woman over to her house and helps her dress. This is a movie about class distinction, a big topic in the old days, so it has a certain formality found in the theater and film before the Depression brought in the working man playwrights. I always liked Pat O'Brien, but I've never quite understood why he was used as a leading man in these romantic movies. Comedy, certainly. But unlike the other character actors who became leads - Bogart, Robinson, Cagney, etc. - O'Brien was not as successful. Irene Dunne is lovely in a difficult role, that of a woman being walked all over, putting up with it, and keeping her dignity.John Halliday refers to himself as an "old man," and I thought to myself, "I'll bet he's 40" - you know how differently age was perceived in those days. Turned out he was 50.This is one of Dunne's first films, and if you're a huge fan, you may want to see it. I don't recommend it. At around 90 minutes, it seems like it's four hours long.

If there's a single thing that might have saved this film, it probably would have been music. But this is one of those early films where music was seen as only needed during the opening and closing credits. So, in between, there's an awfully lot of "dead air". "Dead air" while the main characters silently emote, and "dead air" between scenes. It makes the movie seem very, very long, although it's actually only 81 minutes long.The premise of the film is actually interesting. A man (Pat O'Brien) and a woman (Irene Dunne) each break up with the loves of their lives (for the man, it's Myrna Loy). They then have a chance meeting in a bar/restaurant. They don't exactly fall in love...it's more a relationship of convenience...better to be together than alone. They marry, with the understanding that if their true loves return, they're each free to make their own decision. A child is born. And then, at the same time, the old lovers do return. Dunne leaves her baby and heads off with her lover (Lester Vail). But within hours, realizes she loves not only her baby, but also Pat O'Brien. She returns home to find that O'Brien is going to meet Loy, but instead she suggests bringing her to the house. Which O'Brien does, and that leads to a very awkward scene where Dunne attempts to keep a stiff upper lip and be very modern about what is happening...but ultimately breaks down in tears.Strikes against each character. Vail and Loy for horning in on a marriage...doubly so for Loy because she is such a cold woman here. Strikes against Dunne for being willing to give up her baby and husband...at least for a while. Strikes against O'Brien for bringing the other woman to his home to meet his wife.The actors play their roles relatively well, it's just that it's difficult to really like any of the characters very much. Each of the characters is remarkably callous at various times, and there's no clear good or bad guys (and gals) here. I did enjoy supporting actor John Halliday The movie is worth wading through if you like really old movies, though you won't want to wade through it more than once, and I doubt you'll want this clunker on your DVD shelf.

Shopkeeper Irene Dunne (as Mary Brown) is in love with pianist Lester Vail (as Aubrey). Sports writer Pat O'Brien (as Steve Porter) expects to marry his high school "Juliet" Myrna Loy (as Elaine). Alas, Ms. Dunne and Mr. O'Brien lose their lovers to more well-heeled partners. Then, Dunne and O'Brien meet, get drunk, and bond in friendship as a cut-rate "Bonnie and Clyde" during a wild evening. Thinking any reconciliation with their true loves is impossible, Dunne and O'Brien decide to get married. Their "Consolation Marriage" is agreed to be an "open" one, but a child keeps O'Brien home and sober more often. Then, the marriages of Mr. Vail and Ms. Loy end - and, they want Dunne and O'Brien back... Predictable and unattractive, with some emphasis on the latter.**** Consolation Marriage (10/13/31) Paul Sloane ~ Irene Dunne, Pat O'Brien, John Halliday, Myrna Loy

This mawkish stilted chick flic from the 30s is concrete proof that they made them as bad back then as they do today (for a lot more money and with a longer shooting schedule). On the face of it Consolation Marriage is about a pair of progressive adults burned by love in the past who enter into an open marriage to protect themselves but find it hard to extricate themselves from it when both ex-beaus come a calling again.Consolation Marriage might have had a chance to resonate with its controversial theme if its bohemian protagonists didn't project such middle class personas. Irene Dunne's Mary makes a sorry attempt at being care free especially when she's deciding to jettison her 18 month old. Pat O'Brien in the meantime comes across cold and unemotional as if listening to confessions. A blond Myrna Loy looks alluring enough but not when she's reduced to fluttering her eyes and mouthing sappy lines like "Oh darling look at this glorious night, it was made for us" to a champion of the Catholic guilt complex. Director John Sloane does little to inspire his actors who morosely deliver their lines in two shot filled with pregnant pauses and embarrassed looks. Sloane manages to zap the energy out of nearly every shot while his clumsy cuts from scene to scene plays havoc with time and place. If there is any consolation to Consolation Marriage it is that Ms. Dunne at times rises above the material and Pat's anemic passion to project an effective and ideal portrait of a modern woman in turmoil. Thing is she does it just as well in better pictures.