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      • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache
      • Elevator to the Gallows ('58)
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      • Incindies (2010)
      • In the Mood For Love (2000)
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      • The Invisible Man (1933)
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      • Let Us Be Gay
      • My Man Godfrey
      • No Man of Her Own (1932)
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Let Us Be Gay

Nutshell Review:  Let Us Be Gay (1930)
Director:  Robert Z. Leonard
Starring:  Norma Shearer, Marie Dressler, Rod La Rocque, Gilbert Emory, Hedda Hopper, Tyrell Davis
Studio:  MGM
Viewing:   DVD Warner Home Entertainment

Plot:  Kitty (Shearer) worships her husband Bob (LaRocque), waiting on his every need. When he is caught in a lie, exposing his infidelity, Kitty packs up the kids and leaves for Paris.  After spending 3 years enjoying the high life in Paris, Kitty returns to America at the request of her rich, older friend Mrs. Boucciaault (Dressler).  Ostensibly invited to break up Boocie’s (Dressler) nieces engagement to a Mr. Brown, Kitty is clearly a party girl, remade into an engaging, enlightened beauty.  When Brown appears & is Kitty’s ex-husband, a fact they both want to hide form the others, Kitty’s plan take a turn.  Flitting between Townley (Emory) & Wallace Granger (Davis), Kitty engages is flirtation at the highest level, leaving Brown in the cold as he tries to strike the match of their love.  Granger, on the other hand, is the whipped dog to Madge Livingston (Hopper), a demanding shrew who constantly tests his love by demanding he execute even the most meaningless tasks for her.  Finally, Townley is the older and more debonair of the 2, but mainly interested in sex.
As Kitty stokes the desire of each of the men, she flits about giggling, frustrating Boocie, who only wants to undo the engagement.  Her efforts to throw Kitty & Brown together only allow for Kitty to rebuff him and Brown to repeatedly profess his love.  After a night of frustration for all the men, they each end up in Kitty’s room at the same time.  Townley is first and comes with the simplest intentions, Brown then enters to profess his love yet again, while the insipid Granger shows up to recite a sappy poem to Kitty.  All are sent away, Brown the most directly because he then proposes marriage to the niece (Sally Eilers).  Since Bootsie has been plotting to undermine the engagement she is none to pleased.
After a good night sleep everyone prepares to leave in the morning, Townly promising to wisk Kitty away on his yacht.  Bootsie, ever the schemer, has Kitty & Brown’s children brought to the house to pull on heart strings.  As they run to their father, his fiancé stands in disbelief, unaware of his marriage to Kitty or the existence of 2 children.  Acknowledging the obvious last ditch effort by Boocie, Kitty lets herself be alone with Brown where they both profess their unending love.

Thoughts:  Unlike several of Shearer’s other on screen marriages (The Divorcee & The Women to name a couple) her marriage in Let Us Be Gay is not a marriage of equals.  She is a dowdy homemaker, dolled up in homemade clothes, waiting hand and foot on her uppity husband.  He is a dog, who has no problem leaving his wife & two kids at home while he sneaks off for a Sunday rendezvous with his mistress.  Shearer is unrecognizable in the early scenes, with no make-up, her hair pulled tight & in clothes Adrian’s nightmares would have been made of, let alone what he would have put on the MGM lot’s leading lady!  Knowing Shearer’s insistence on always “being put together” no matter when or where she would be seen, it’s amazing she allowed herself to be photographed in such a way (maybe that’s why I couldn’t find another picture that Norbert Brodine shot with Shearer, even though he was later nominated for 3 Academy Awards).  She pulls off the homely wife by somehow appearing smaller and rounder than she normally appears on screen, even admitting to the mistress that she’s well aware of Bob’s indiscretion.
Shearer’s transformation in the flash forward is amazing; as if two separate actresses were playing the part.  She is pure elegance and grace, full of confidence as she flits around in her stunning gowns and furs by Adrian. She is playful, funny and flirtatious, clearly entertaining to both men and women, when she wants to be.  She has transformed into a sophisticate party girl and Boocie uses her to her sly advantage.  Speaking of Boocie, Dressler is at her hammy best, over exaggerating her facial expressions and inventing & executing little bits of business to keep the viewer distracted at all times.  She’s a joy to watch and, as always, a presence whenever she’s on the screen.
Finally, let me touch on Rod LaRocque (the PERFECT porn name, by the way), who I feel is the weak link in this movie.  He is more sniveling than convincing and one wonders why Kitty would go back to someone so clearly fixated on himself.  Throughout the picture he does nothing to endear himself to Kitty, instead saying he loves her, but still entangling himself with Diane (Eilers).  His best line may be when he’s explaining to Kitty that the original affair means nothing to him and whines “I’d never do anything to hurt you.”  Famous last words in the philandering husband’s playbook.  Repeatedly he tries to take the high road with Kitty, bounding back & forth between pleading for her love & turning his nose up at her frivolous flirting and carefree attitude.

Category:  Pre-Code
See Also:  The Divorcee, The Cheat, Private Lies
Random Notes & Quotes: 
-Shearer was pregnant with her first child during the filming so a variety of objects, including potted plants, high backed chairs & even a feathery black fan to hide her changing figure.  High angle shots also assisted.  Let Us Be Gay opened 2 weeks after Irving Thalberg Jr was born.   Due to the pregnancy Shearer missed out on the starring role in Paid that went to Joan Crawford.
-Shearer had a cast in one eye that she struggled to hide her whole career, using muscle strengthening tricks, as well as always favoring left profile
-The 1929 play on which Let Us Be Gay was based starred Tallulah Bandhead

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  • Home
  • Top 10 Lists
    • My Top 10 Favorite Movies
    • Top 10 Heist Movies
    • Top 10 Neo-Noir Films
    • The Top 10 Films of the Troubles (1969-1998) >
      • The Troubles Selected Timeline
    • Top 10 Films from 2001
    • Director Top 10's >
      • Top 10 Film Noir Directors
      • Top 10 Coen Brothers Films
      • Top 10 John Ford Films
      • Top 10 Samuel Fuller Films
      • Top 10 Alfred Hitchcock Films
      • Top 10 John Huston Films
      • Top 10 Fritz Lang Films (American)
      • Val Lewton Top 10
      • Top 10 Ernst Lubitsch Films
      • Top 10 Jean-Pierre Melville Films
      • Top 10 Nicholas Ray Films
      • Top 10 Preston Sturges Films
      • Top 10 Robert Siodmak Films
      • Top 10 William Wellman Films
      • Top 10 Billy Wilder Films
    • Actor/Actress Top 10's >
      • Top 10 Joan Blondell Movies
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      • Top 10 Miriam Hopkins Films
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      • Top 10 Norma Shearer Movies
      • Top 10 Barbara Stanwyck Films
    • Top 10 Noir Films (Classic Era)
    • Top 10 Pre-Code Films
    • Top 10 Actresses of the 1930's
  • Reviews
    • Quick Hits: Short Takes on Recent Viewing >
      • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache
      • Elevator to the Gallows ('58)
      • Days of Heaven
      • Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
      • Incindies (2010)
      • In the Mood For Love (2000)
      • Last Picture Show Teaser Intro
      • Le Silence De La Mer ('49)
      • The Princess Bride ('87) Intro
      • Pulp Fiction ('94) Intro
    • The 1910's >
      • The Lubitsch German Silents
    • The 1920's >
      • Wild Orchids ('29)
    • The 1930's >
      • Becky Sharp (1935)
      • Blonde Crazy
      • Bombshell ('33)
      • The Cheat
      • The Conquerors
      • The Crowd Roars
      • The Divorcee
      • Frank Capra & Barbara Stanwyck: The Evolution of a Romance
      • Heroes for Sale
      • The Invisible Man (1933)
      • L'Atalante (1934)
      • Let Us Be Gay
      • My Man Godfrey
      • No Man of Her Own (1932)
      • Platinum Blonde ('31)
      • Reckless ('35)
      • The Sign of the Cross (1932)
      • The Sin of Nora Moran (1932)
      • True Confession ('37)
      • Virtue ('32)
      • The Women
    • The 1940's >
      • Casablanca (1942)
      • The Story of Citizen Kane
      • Criss Cross (1949)
      • Double indemnity
      • Jean Arthur in A Foreign Affair
      • The Killers 1946 & 1964 Comparison
      • The Maltese Falcon Intro
      • Moonrise (1948)
      • My Gal Sal (1942)
      • Nightmare Alley
      • Notorious Intro ('46)
      • Overlooked Christmas Movies of the 1940's
      • Pursued (1947)
      • Remember the Night ('40)
      • The Red Shoes (1948)
      • The Set-Up ('49)
      • The Third Man
    • The 1950's >
      • The Asphalt Jungle Secret Cinema Intro
      • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ('58) Intro
      • The Crimson Kimono (1959)
      • A Face in the Crowd (1957)
      • In a Lonely Place
      • Mogambo ('53)
      • Niagara (1953)
      • The Night of The Hunter ('55)
      • Pushover Noir City
      • Rear Window (1954)
      • Red Dust ('32 vs Mogambo ('53)
      • The Searchers ('56)
      • Singin' in the Rain Introduction
      • Some Like It Hot ('59) >
        • Some Like it Hot Intro (Beyond the Bay)
    • The 1960's >
      • The April Fools (1969)
      • Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
      • Cape Fear ('62)
      • Cool Hand Luke (1967) Intro
      • Dr Strangelove Intro
      • The Hustler ('61) Intro
      • The Misfits ('61)
      • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg/La La Land
    • The 1970's >
      • Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
      • American Graffiti Introduction
      • Chinatown Introduction
      • The Friends of Eddie Coyle ('73)
      • Jaws Intro
    • The 1980's >
      • Blood Simple ('84)
      • A Christmas Story Intro
    • The 1990's >
      • The General (1998)
    • 2000's >
      • Belfast (2021)
      • Hunger (2008)
      • Mank (2020)
      • No Man's Land (2001)
      • Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
      • Wall-E
      • Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
      • The Top 10 Films I watched in 2020
  • Artists
    • Actors/Actresses >
      • Joan Blondell
      • Faye Dunaway: 1967-1976
      • The Noir Villainy of Dan Duryea
      • Clark Gable Bio
      • Jean Harlow Bio
      • Veronica Lake
      • Norma Shearer
    • Directors/Producers/Cinematographers >
      • Founders Series: Alice Guy-Blache
      • John Alton
      • Hitchcock & Cary Grant
      • William Wellman
    • Books >
      • Book Reviews >
        • Book Review: Clark Gable by D. Bret
      • Pre-Code
      • Actor Bios
      • Film Noir
      • Director Bios
      • Studio Head Bios
      • Hollywood History
    • Studio
  • Resources
    • NOTES >
      • American Graffiti Notes
      • Anatomy of a Murder Notes
      • The Asphalt Jungle Outline
      • Breakfast Club Notes
      • Citizen Kane Notes
      • It's A Wonderful Life Notes
      • Singin' in the Rain Notes
    • CMBA Interview/Profile
    • Bay Cinema Society Press
    • Hollywood History >
      • Production Code
      • Film Noir
  • Video Introductions
    • Video Introductions
  • Last Picture Show Notes