IMDb RATING
6.1/10
1.2K
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A young couple lives together out of wedlock, but they find that they're ahead of their time.A young couple lives together out of wedlock, but they find that they're ahead of their time.A young couple lives together out of wedlock, but they find that they're ahead of their time.
Hazel Howell
- Girl at the Bridal Shower
- (uncredited)
Lucille Ward
- Susan - Anne's Maid
- (uncredited)
Barbara Weeks
- Girl at the Bridal Shower
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOn the phone, Dick and Anne tease Duckie that they can't agree on which vacuum cleaner to buy, a Peerless or a General Electric. The joke here appears to be that Peerless was an old maker of hand-pump vacuums, never electric ones.
- Goofs(at around 5 mins) As Dick and Anne are walking out of the kitchen, a moving shadow of the boom microphone is visible on the wall to the left.
- Quotes
Richard 'Dick' Ives II: Dad, what would you do with a girl like that?
Richard Ives Sr.: I'd grab her any way she'd have me.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Sex, Censorship and the Silver Screen: The Temptations of Eve (1996)
- SoundtracksMaybe It's Love
(1930) (uncredited)
Music by George W. Meyer
Lyrics by Sidney D. Mitchell and Archie Gottler
Whistled by James Rennie
Hummed and sung by Barbara Stanwyck
Featured review
The plot of "Illicit" is similar to the plot of an early Bette Davis film called "Ex-Lady" made two years after this one. They should be similar - Edith Fitzgerald wrote both of them. "Ex-Lady" was based on an unproduced play, and "Illicit" actually was a play. Both concern women who don't want to get married and men who do. Anne (Stanwyck)(like Davis) is an unconventional free spirit afraid that marriage will destroy the romance she has with Dick (James Rennie). However, word gets around that the two have been weekending in Connecticut, and Dick's father (Claude Gillingwater) convinces her to agree to marry Dick. Thanks to an old girlfriend of Dick's and an old beau of Anne's, trouble brews in paradise once the rings are exchanged.
This is an early sound film, so the rhythm is off, and some of the sound has an echo. However, a few pauses that are a little too long don't really impede the fine acting. Stanwyck is wonderful and gives indication of the wonderful star she will become. She's funny, vivacious, and likable. Charles Butterworth plays a drunken friend very convincingly, and Claude Gillingwater is dignified yet warm as Dick's father. Rennie makes an attractive lover turned husband for Stanwyck. Joan Blondell has a small role as a friend.
The film is interesting because it's early Stanwyck, but also because of the independent woman angle which soon will fade from view with the ushering in of the code. Once the '40s hit, the independent woman became an uptight career woman wearing a tailored suit, her hair up, and sporting a stern attitude. Young, carefree non-virgins became a thing of the past. But these precode films are what helped mold the strong images of Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Barbara Stanwyck and are worth watching.
This is an early sound film, so the rhythm is off, and some of the sound has an echo. However, a few pauses that are a little too long don't really impede the fine acting. Stanwyck is wonderful and gives indication of the wonderful star she will become. She's funny, vivacious, and likable. Charles Butterworth plays a drunken friend very convincingly, and Claude Gillingwater is dignified yet warm as Dick's father. Rennie makes an attractive lover turned husband for Stanwyck. Joan Blondell has a small role as a friend.
The film is interesting because it's early Stanwyck, but also because of the independent woman angle which soon will fade from view with the ushering in of the code. Once the '40s hit, the independent woman became an uptight career woman wearing a tailored suit, her hair up, and sporting a stern attitude. Young, carefree non-virgins became a thing of the past. But these precode films are what helped mold the strong images of Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Barbara Stanwyck and are worth watching.
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $249,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 19 minutes
- Color
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