Kept Husbands *** (1931, Dorothy Mackaill, Joel McCrea, Robert McWade, Florence Roberts, Mary Carr)- Classic Movie Review 12,469)

The pleasing 1931 pre-Code drama film Kept Husbands stars Dorothy Mackaill, whose perky personality does a great deal to enliven this fast paced and often funny marital drama about a working-class man (Joel McCrea) marrying a spoiled rich girl. 

Director Lloyd Bacon’s pleasing 1931 American pre-Code drama film Kept Husbands stars British-born Dorothy Mackaill, whose perky personality does a great deal to enliven this fast paced and often funny marital drama about a bewildered but earnest and determined working-class man (a young Joel McCrea, giving a solid, attractive performance) marrying a spoiled rich girl (Mackaill).

McCrea plays blue collar steelworker Richard Brunton, who has saved two of his fellow workers after an accident at a factory. His grateful and admiring boss, millionaire Arthur Parker (Robert McWade), invites the hero over to say thank you and have dinner with his snobby family, against the wishes of his wife Mrs Henrietta Parker (Florence Roberts), who just wants to get dinner over and get to the opera. Il Trovatore.

Mackaill plays Arthur’s modern and feisty daughter Dot, who is instantly impressed, excited and infatuated with Richard, soon realising that he is also a sports hero, and vows to her father that she will marry the man in four weeks. After they marry, his grassroots working-class ethics keep getting in the way of her self-indulgent, over-comfortable, sybaritic lifestyle.

Kept Husbands is faded of course, but still entertaining and interesting, with something on its mind, and it is especially revealing in its attitudes to gender roles and the clash between the working-class and the rich in the Depression era. The story is enjoyable, the script is witty and amusing, and the film is well acted and quite a pleasure to watch.

The original story is by associate producer Louis Sarecky, adapted for the screen by Forrest Halsey and Alfred Jackson as a drama with comedic touches.

Also in the cast are Robert McWade, Ned Sparks, Clara Kimball Young, Florence Roberts, Freeman Wood, Lita Chevret, and Bryant Washburn.

Joel McCrea and Dorothy Mackaill in a scene from Kept Husbands.

The film entered the public domain in the US in 1959 as the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. It is available to watch free on the Internet Archive.

One tag line for the film is ‘Every Inch a Man – Bought Body and Soul by His Wife’.

The film is the sound film debut of major silent film star Clara Kimball Young, after a six-year gap.

The cast are Dorothy Mackaill as Dot Parker Brunton, Joel McCrea as Dick Brunton, Ned Sparks as Hughie Hanready, Mary Carr as Mrs Brunton, Clara Kimball Young as Mrs Henrietta Post, Robert McWade as Arthur Parker, Bryant Washburn as Charlie Bates, Florence Roberts as Mrs Henrietta Parker, Freeman Wood as Mr Post, Lita Chevret as Gwen.

Kept Husbands runs 76 minutes (75 minutes 48 seconds), is made and released by RKO Radio Pictures, is produced by William LeBaron Louis Sarecky (associate), is shot in black and white by Jack MacKenzie, and is scored by Max Steiner.

Release date: February 22, 1931 (US).

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,469

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