In this dumb movie a man married a prostitute just to keep her from going to jail. Only in a movie could such a stupid move be viewed as chivalrous and *ahem* romantic.
I'm sure you're wondering why. I am too, but let me at least partially explain the scenario.
Mary Smith (Evalyn Knapp) was in court as a defendant for prostitution. Of course, back in those days they didn't use the word prostitution, they called it solicitation if they called it anything at all. She came up with a cockemamie story about how she was on the corner waiting for her fiance then a guy offered her money and she took it. The judge was about to sentence her when the knight in shining armor named James 'Jimmy' Martin (Walter Byron) stood up and said that he was the man she was waiting for. The judge called him on his bluff and they were married.
I fully expected Jimmy to wake up the next morning hungover and clueless as to what he did the night before, but that didn't happen. The next morning when Mary asked Jimmy why he married her his answer was to get her out of a jam and they could just as easily be divorced.
Idiot.
In "Slightly Married" Mary was the hooker with a heart of gold, but she could just as easily have been a gold digger who wouldn't accept a divorce without a settlement. In fact, she could've been any kind of unstable person who was just gifted a sucker because of her blond hair and petite figure.
After their sham of a marriage the two actually fell in love. It wasn't even a full twenty-four-hours later that Jimmy and Mary were in each other's arms like real newlyweds. The movie got worse when their relationship was strained by Jimmy's mother. Jimmy's mother and their family lawyer convinced him that Mary only wanted his money. The real kicker is that he had the nerve to be upset with Mary. It was a ludicrous scene.
Even though she wasn't after his money, so what if she was? Yo man, you just married a streetwalker who you didn't know at all and now you want to get mad at her because you think she wants your money. GTFOH.
On top of being plain stupid, Jimmy was a drunk. Too bad Mary couldn't see the danger in that. He got sloppy drunk one night, after they decided to call it quits, and raped her. How do we know that?
1. He went over Mary's house in an abusive mood throwing around the claim that he was still her husband, which is code for "I still get the privileges of a husband." He was pressed up against her refusing to leave her apartment, then fade to black.
2. A few scenes later Jimmy was telling his butler, Hodges (Herbert Evans), how awful of a person he was because a few weeks back he went to Mary's apartment and... and they left out everything he said, which is another way of telling us that he did the unthinkable.
3. Mary had a baby.
Put all three of the aforementioned facts together and you know what happened that night between Jimmy and Mary, and you also know it wasn't consensual.
But this is the '30's and this is Hollywood.
Mary was still over-the-moon in love with Jimmy Martin even after only knowing him for a short while, after his behavior toward her, after his forcing himself on her, and his being a drunk. She even named her unborn child Jimmy. When asked, "What if it's a girl?" she responded, "I never thought of that." And that's all you need to know about Mary. A thinker, she was not. And that's all you need to know about this abysmal movie--intelligent, it was not.
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I'm sure you're wondering why. I am too, but let me at least partially explain the scenario.
Mary Smith (Evalyn Knapp) was in court as a defendant for prostitution. Of course, back in those days they didn't use the word prostitution, they called it solicitation if they called it anything at all. She came up with a cockemamie story about how she was on the corner waiting for her fiance then a guy offered her money and she took it. The judge was about to sentence her when the knight in shining armor named James 'Jimmy' Martin (Walter Byron) stood up and said that he was the man she was waiting for. The judge called him on his bluff and they were married.
I fully expected Jimmy to wake up the next morning hungover and clueless as to what he did the night before, but that didn't happen. The next morning when Mary asked Jimmy why he married her his answer was to get her out of a jam and they could just as easily be divorced.
Idiot.
In "Slightly Married" Mary was the hooker with a heart of gold, but she could just as easily have been a gold digger who wouldn't accept a divorce without a settlement. In fact, she could've been any kind of unstable person who was just gifted a sucker because of her blond hair and petite figure.
After their sham of a marriage the two actually fell in love. It wasn't even a full twenty-four-hours later that Jimmy and Mary were in each other's arms like real newlyweds. The movie got worse when their relationship was strained by Jimmy's mother. Jimmy's mother and their family lawyer convinced him that Mary only wanted his money. The real kicker is that he had the nerve to be upset with Mary. It was a ludicrous scene.
Even though she wasn't after his money, so what if she was? Yo man, you just married a streetwalker who you didn't know at all and now you want to get mad at her because you think she wants your money. GTFOH.
On top of being plain stupid, Jimmy was a drunk. Too bad Mary couldn't see the danger in that. He got sloppy drunk one night, after they decided to call it quits, and raped her. How do we know that?
1. He went over Mary's house in an abusive mood throwing around the claim that he was still her husband, which is code for "I still get the privileges of a husband." He was pressed up against her refusing to leave her apartment, then fade to black.
2. A few scenes later Jimmy was telling his butler, Hodges (Herbert Evans), how awful of a person he was because a few weeks back he went to Mary's apartment and... and they left out everything he said, which is another way of telling us that he did the unthinkable.
3. Mary had a baby.
Put all three of the aforementioned facts together and you know what happened that night between Jimmy and Mary, and you also know it wasn't consensual.
But this is the '30's and this is Hollywood.
Mary was still over-the-moon in love with Jimmy Martin even after only knowing him for a short while, after his behavior toward her, after his forcing himself on her, and his being a drunk. She even named her unborn child Jimmy. When asked, "What if it's a girl?" she responded, "I never thought of that." And that's all you need to know about Mary. A thinker, she was not. And that's all you need to know about this abysmal movie--intelligent, it was not.
Free on YouTube.