No One Man ** (1932, Carole Lombard, Ricardo Cortez, Paul Lukas) – Classic Movie Review 13,779

‘Modern Marriage Is Not Made in Heaven’ Paramount Pictures’ slick 1932 pre-Code romantic drama film No One Man stars Carole Lombard, Ricardo Cortez and Paul Lukas.

‘Modern Marriage Is Not Made in Heaven’

Director Lloyd Corrigan’s slick 1932 Paramount Pictures American black and white pre-Code romantic drama film No One Man stars Carole Lombard, Ricardo Cortez and Paul Lukas.

It is written by Sidney Buchman (scenario), Agnes Brand Leahy (scenario) and Percy Heath (adaptation), based on a best-selling novel by Rupert Hughes. ‘Gay parties and gayer girls’ are on the menu.

Carole Lombard stars as wealthy heiress Penelope ‘Nep’ Newbold, a ‘wilful, headstrong beauty’ who falls for her Viennese physician, Dr Karl Bemis (Paul Lukas) but marries Bill Hanaway (Ricardo Cortez), who has an affair with another woman.

[Spoiler alert] Nep and Karl get together again after Bill dies of a heart attack.

This minor, forgotten Carole Lombard movie has problems with its story and its characters. Making the story involving and the characters sympathetic proves a tricky task, and the dialogue doesn’t raise enough laughs. But it is slickly enough done, and worth seeing for Lombard, always a pleasure to watch, and the amusing performances some of the venerable character actors, especially George Barbier and Virginia Hammond as her parents, Juliette Compton as Sue Folsom, and Irving Bacon as the marriage licence clerk. It runs a brisk 73 minutes.

It must have seemed daring and sophisticated at the time, in line with racy pre-Code sensibilities. Maybe they didn’t quite hit the mark or perhaps it just hasn’t aged particularly well.

Cast: Carole Lombard as Penelope Newbold, Ricardo Cortez as Bill Hanaway, Paul Lukas as Dr Karl Bemis, Juliette Compton as Sue Folsom, George Barbier as Alfred Newbold, Virginia Hammond as Mrs Matilda Newbold, and Arthur Pierson as Stanley McIlvaine.

The opening credits appear on the panels of a beach umbrella.

It was shot at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Release date: January 30, 1932.

Carole Lombard’s 40 Sound Feature Films

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,779

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