When sound pictures arrived in the late 1920s-early 30s audiences were so fascinated by the spectacle of actors talking that any number of stage plays were simply photographed more or less as they had played in front of live audiences. No better example than this talky, very silly French-style farce based on a comedy credited to the Hungarian producer A.H. Woods famous on Broadway for importing risqué European fare to New York. As stagey as the RKO film is, it gives us a wonderful opportunity to see one of the great farceurs, Edward Everett Horton, at his best in a dual role a few years before becoming second banana in numerous Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies. Here, he is matched for once by the performance of the delightful Canadian actress Maude Eburne as the mother-in-law, probably the best role she ever had in a long Hollywood career of much smaller parts.
Review of Lonely Wives
