Synopsis
She Could Not Help Being a Love Thief!
A bored society woman invites scandal and heartache when she falls in love with her low-born chauffeur.
1930 Directed by William C. de Mille
A bored society woman invites scandal and heartache when she falls in love with her low-born chauffeur.
Damn. This one had much more bite than I expected. Dulce (Kay Francis), a name which couldn’t be any more fitting for Francis, and Katherine (Kay Johnson) are cousins. Dulce is vibrant and fine-looking, at the height of her youth with more money than she can spend, but she's married to a man who’s old enough to be her grandfather. Katherine is more homely, somewhat naïve, but resolute in her determination to follow her heart even at the cost of jeopardizing her relationship with her father and his finances.
Katherine confesses her love and she furthers the stakes by saying she’s not only in love with him, she’s going to marry him, to which her father and Dulce obviously protest.…
“Let’s not say ‘thick,’ darling. Let’s say dumb.”
A chatty, early “all talking picture” with one foot firmly in the dramatic novel by Kathleen Norris—and Kay Francis with one long leg still in second-billed leading lady roles. It took a minute, but this one slowly got its hooks in me.
Cassy (Kay Johnson) is the slightly frumpier of two well-off cousins. Dulce Morado (Francis) the elegant gold digger, married young, and married well, but she makes it clear from the first scene that the much older Tony is not the love of her life. So she (at first) lives vicariously through the wedding of Cassy and Dan (Charles Bickford), the burly chauffer. For marrying below her station, Cassy is cut…
Fine enough early-30s marital drama with solid performances all around and some great gowns for Kay Francis.
I love Kay Johnson and I am getting really sick of her being cheated on! It was great that she played a Mom in this because she was so sweet with the child actor.
I love a scheming, manipulative Kay Francis... she can be so subtle, never tipping her hand, never chewing the scenery. The material was no great shakes and there's not too much else to speak for this film, other than a brief glimpse of a very, very young Ray Milland.
Cementing the foundational tropes for HOUSEWIFE (1934), PASSION FLOWER features a slippery love triangle between blue collar chauffer Dan (Wallace), his wife Cassy (Johnson), and her hedonistic cousin, Dulce (Francis). Plot and character wise, it's what one would expect from an early talkie feature: short, trim, and to the point. The story itself isn't interesting nor important, but rather the dynamics at play.
I found Johnson's acting to be understated -- perhaps because she was playing to her role as the demure housewife, or because she was overshadowed by a zealous performance from Kay Francis. Dulce is sultry, manipulative, and sensual, the complete foil to her cousin. She adds the much-needed zest that makes the film watchable.
Supporting cast is great, including regular staple Lewis Stone as Dulce's older husband, Tony, and Zasu Pitts as the eccentric yet charming housekeeper. Nothing out of the ordinary, but certainly a far cry from being a bad movie.
Dulce Morado: I thought I was gone that time.
Dan Wallace: Yes. I suppose your whole life splashed before you.
Dulce Morado: Nope. When my foot slipped, I said, I'm going to be killed, thank heavens I have sufficient underclothes on.
I watched this for Kay Francis. She played the "other" woman in a love triangle with new-to-me Kay Johnson and Charles Bickford. The weak link was Bickford. His stilted acting didn't appeal to me. Providing support was the wonderful Zasu Pitts as a cynical housekeeper and little Dickie Moore, who was A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E as young Tommy. Ray Milland appeared uncredited as a young, dapper party guest.
Kay Francis is a real vixen here! Trying to break up the loving couple of Charles Bickford & Kay Johnson, and she's not ashamed about it. I felt it was a well acted early sound drama. The story might not be of the most original, but the performances are solid enough to make it worth wild.
Softly bizarre due to an almost complete lack of tone. Right, not merely inconsistent tone, but a pervading, uncentered commitment to no-thing-ness. Kay Francis has fun (else, we have fun for her), dressed in some great (and some truly outrageous) Adrian outfits, changing motivations with each scene. This is one of those films where you imagine the crew standing off-screen, and this little silly set within a cavernous studio space, and you can hear people laughing at just how clunky this script is (the denouement is especially nothing, leading to one of the funniest sudden The End cards of the era).
Oh, don't get me wrong, I had a grand time. I'm a fan of both Kays, and seeing them…