I also hadn't seen any of Gloria Swanson's movies apart from "Sunset Boulevard" (but I do mean to now!!!). This was a surprise - a romantic, sophisticated comedy-drama - with songs!!! It was the last film written by De Silva, Brown and Henderson before their partnership dissolved. They wrote some of the most popular songs of the day.
Gloria plays Geri Trent who, as the film opens, is just showing oily Jim Woodward and his golf clubs the door. Monroe Owsley seemed to make a career of playing cads. After a while she meets carefree writer Tony (Ben Lyon) who follows the rule - "obey your impulses". Falling in love with him she confesses that she had an affair with Jim but promises she will never see him again. Meanwhile her sister, Joan, (Barbara Kent) comes home after 2 years in Paris, giving her waiting boyfriend Buster (Arthur Lake) the cold shoulder. She is secretly engaged to Geri's old love.
Gloria sang very well but too much. I agree with the other reviewer, one of the problems was being at the tail end of the early musical cycle, where people were staying away from any film with a song in it. Let alone 3 pretty forgettable songs!!! The songs slowed the film down. It also didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. I have read Edith Wharton's "The Mother's Recompense" and it is a highly dramatic book. This film had drama but it also had some funny sequences - one involving Geri trying to convince Jim's family that insanity runs in her family (to stop him marrying her sister). There is also a scene at the end of the film where Geri is trying to board a boat without a passport.
Arthur Lake seemed to have perfected his "Dagwood" characterization even in this film - he plays Buster. Barbara Kent, who once shared the screen with Greta Garbo in "Flesh and the Devil" plays Joan, Geri's sister.
