This movie lost me in the opening scene when the main character, Ruth Robbins (Mae Clarke), declared that she wouldn't get married. I knew immediately that if anything happened she was going to get married. Whenever a man or woman declares that they're not going to fall in love or get married it is a sure thing that's exactly what's going to happen (see "Ex-Lady" (1933), "Illicit" (1931), "Loose Ankles" (1930), "Perfect Understanding" (1933), and "Virtue" (1932))
We find out very early on who her beloved will be when she called EMS for her neighbor. Catching the call were Dr. Myron Brown (Lew Ayres) and Clarence Howe (Andy Devine). The two picked up a patient and picked up two future wives as well.
Things went great for Clarence who had his eyes on Ruth's roommate, Betty Merrick (Una Merkel). While they quickly admitted their affinity for one another, Myron and Ruth were playing it coy, pretending that they weren't romantically interested in each other.
Eventually, they stopped beating around the bush and admitted their fondness for each other, but that was a problem. For Dr. Myron it was a problem because he wasn't an established doctor yet and marriage would derail his plans. He'd have to take a lesser paying job to take care of a wife instead of pursuing his goals of building his own practice. As for Ruth, she didn't want to get married because she worked for a divorce lawyer and all she saw were the results of getting married.
When Myron proposed, Ruth declined. This was the end of the two of them as Myron saw it.
Ruth moved on and began dating her boss, Albert Hartman (John Halliday). He didn't want marriage from her, he only wanted her companionship. You knew that was going to last only so long before things progressed to the next step--and they did. He got her an apartment which made her look like a mistress.
The usual path of a lady who is a kept woman out of convenience is that she will relinquish her money and lifestyle for the man she loves. Betty did just that when Myron saw her immoral setup. She relinquished it all and languished in near poverty in isolation so that her conscience could be clean. It wasn't until her appendix serendipitously burst that she was reunited with Myron. When he saw her alone in a rundown apartment he knew that her moral compass was recalibrated and that she was now worth marrying. It was a theme I've seen too many times to count from that era and I don't care to see anymore movies like this.
Free on YouTube.
We find out very early on who her beloved will be when she called EMS for her neighbor. Catching the call were Dr. Myron Brown (Lew Ayres) and Clarence Howe (Andy Devine). The two picked up a patient and picked up two future wives as well.
Things went great for Clarence who had his eyes on Ruth's roommate, Betty Merrick (Una Merkel). While they quickly admitted their affinity for one another, Myron and Ruth were playing it coy, pretending that they weren't romantically interested in each other.
Eventually, they stopped beating around the bush and admitted their fondness for each other, but that was a problem. For Dr. Myron it was a problem because he wasn't an established doctor yet and marriage would derail his plans. He'd have to take a lesser paying job to take care of a wife instead of pursuing his goals of building his own practice. As for Ruth, she didn't want to get married because she worked for a divorce lawyer and all she saw were the results of getting married.
When Myron proposed, Ruth declined. This was the end of the two of them as Myron saw it.
Ruth moved on and began dating her boss, Albert Hartman (John Halliday). He didn't want marriage from her, he only wanted her companionship. You knew that was going to last only so long before things progressed to the next step--and they did. He got her an apartment which made her look like a mistress.
The usual path of a lady who is a kept woman out of convenience is that she will relinquish her money and lifestyle for the man she loves. Betty did just that when Myron saw her immoral setup. She relinquished it all and languished in near poverty in isolation so that her conscience could be clean. It wasn't until her appendix serendipitously burst that she was reunited with Myron. When he saw her alone in a rundown apartment he knew that her moral compass was recalibrated and that she was now worth marrying. It was a theme I've seen too many times to count from that era and I don't care to see anymore movies like this.
Free on YouTube.