If you're looking for the greatest Tallulah Bankhead performance ever, rent Faithless. She was a great stage legend, but in the years before taped performances, we aren't able to see her in The Little Foxes, in which I'm sure she shined. In this tour-de-force, she plays a high society lady who throws everything away for love.
She's rich, playful, and loves to party (just like her real life persona) and when the handsome, charming Robert Montgomery comes along, she thinks they'll manage nicely on her allowance and his moderate salary. He works in advertising, and his integrity shocks her before their wedding when he declares he has no intention of living off anything other than his weekly wages. Tallulah couldn't stand to be poor, so she breaks up with him.
The first fifteen minutes don't seem like it'll be the greatest movie ever, but keep watching. All the beginning shows is a spoiled, rich girl and an extremely handsome man bickering over excess money. They don't have any real troubles, and enjoy flaunting their privileges in the audience's faces. Keep in mind this movie was made during the Great Depression (and before the Production Code). This is actually quite a racy movie, and you can imagine how much would have been altered just two years later. After a kiss between the happy couple, the camera fades to a clock, showing an hour has passed. Then Tallulah is shown in a negligee and Bob is smoking a cigarette. They joke around that now they have to get married, and when they get in another fight, he says she should be glad society has a different view on premarital sex. "I don't see any shotguns around," he says before he leaves in a huff. See what I mean?
I'm not telling you anything substantial about the plot, or how Tallulah falls from her pedestal. It's much better if you find out for yourself. This is a classic melodrama with unending love at its center. It's a great movie to start off with if you're new to black-and-white classics, or if you haven't seen the two leads before. Faithless has been overshadowed by more famous flicks from 1932, like Grand Hotel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, but it's really enjoyable. If you liked the drama of Back Street, you'll like this one!
She's rich, playful, and loves to party (just like her real life persona) and when the handsome, charming Robert Montgomery comes along, she thinks they'll manage nicely on her allowance and his moderate salary. He works in advertising, and his integrity shocks her before their wedding when he declares he has no intention of living off anything other than his weekly wages. Tallulah couldn't stand to be poor, so she breaks up with him.
The first fifteen minutes don't seem like it'll be the greatest movie ever, but keep watching. All the beginning shows is a spoiled, rich girl and an extremely handsome man bickering over excess money. They don't have any real troubles, and enjoy flaunting their privileges in the audience's faces. Keep in mind this movie was made during the Great Depression (and before the Production Code). This is actually quite a racy movie, and you can imagine how much would have been altered just two years later. After a kiss between the happy couple, the camera fades to a clock, showing an hour has passed. Then Tallulah is shown in a negligee and Bob is smoking a cigarette. They joke around that now they have to get married, and when they get in another fight, he says she should be glad society has a different view on premarital sex. "I don't see any shotguns around," he says before he leaves in a huff. See what I mean?
I'm not telling you anything substantial about the plot, or how Tallulah falls from her pedestal. It's much better if you find out for yourself. This is a classic melodrama with unending love at its center. It's a great movie to start off with if you're new to black-and-white classics, or if you haven't seen the two leads before. Faithless has been overshadowed by more famous flicks from 1932, like Grand Hotel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, but it's really enjoyable. If you liked the drama of Back Street, you'll like this one!