Easy to Love (Warner Bros.) (1934)

urrent Pyb/ (Review ) Gales Of Laughter Hail “Easy To Love’? Opening Racy Marital Complications Full Of Comedy, Played To Hilt By Stellar Performers A SPARKLING, spicy comedy drama of philandering husbands and jealous wives, with plenty of unexpected twists in it that are as new as the twenty first amendment, is the new Warner Bros. production, ‘‘ Easy To Love,’’ which was presented for the first time locally at the Theatre last evening to an en thusiastic audience which hailed it with gales of laughter. With all its comic complications and its startling situations, there’s a wholesome lesson or two in it for the romantically unstable. If the difficulties in which John Townsend finds himself as a result of “playing polo” prove everything, they prove that, though the course of true love never runs smooth, the course of untrue love is many times thornier. Every woman in the audience will enjoy the diabolically clever manner in which Genevieve Tobin, as Carol Townsend, undertakes to make life miserable for her husband and Charlotte, her best friend. No more excruciatingly funny situation has been seen in motion pictures this season than Mrs. Townsend’s visit to Charlotte’s apartment. Knowing that John, the erring husband, is hiding in the bedroom closet, Carol amuses herself by insisting upon inspecting the rooms, and confiding to Charlotte in a loud voice that she and Eric, the other member of the quartet of friends have decided to have a secret love affair and are looking for a place like hers. No sooner has Carol departed, than John, manlike, hurries home to indignantly upbraid his wife for daring to think of having with Eric the same kind of an affair he has been carrying on with Charlotte. Carol, who has kept her sense of humor uppermost but is really heartbroken over her husband’s faithlessness, finally goes to pieces and the Townsend family seems to be headed for the divorce court, when their eighteen-year-old daughter Janet and her fiance decide to take a hand and teach their parents a lesson. It is the young people who finally save the Townsend menage from going to smash, and the manner in which Janet and Paul shock the elder Townsends back into starting married life all over again constitutes one of the most delightful episodes in a _ thoroughly entertaining picture. The casting of “Easy to Love” is a superb piece of work on the part of Warner Bros. Genevieve Tobin is flawless as Carol, and it ranks as one of her finest characterizations. Adolphe Menjou is an ideal John Townsend, and his playing of the bathroom and boudoir scenes with Miss Tobin kept the audience in shrieks of laughter. Miss Astor is charming and subtly irresistible as Charlotte, and Edward Everett Horton is a source of incessant delight in the role of Eric, who has been vainly trying for years to lure Carol into his arms. Patricia Ellis, as the determined young daughter who proceeds to set her parents’ house in order, has one of the most interesting parts that has fallen to this young actress’s lot. Paul Kaye, a newcomer in Warner pictures, makes an extremely favorable debut in front of the camera as Janet’s fiance. “Kasy to Love” has been beautifully produced, and the direction by William Keighley shows a keen sense of tempo and values that keeps the story moving at an exhilarating pace from start to finish. Page Sixteen Opening Day Story Marital Mix-ups Are Basis of New Comedy “Easy To Love,” the Warner Bros. picture which opens at the Ae po tae Tite eee Theatre today, is a revelation in marital mixups dished out in a_ hilarious vein. There is a quadrangular love tangle in which a husband and wife, whom their daughter and her sweetheart believe to be an idealistically happy married couple, are mixed up with affinities in the persons of each other’s best friend. The strange and complicated situations that arise when the wife learns that her husband is maintaining a love nest and he suspects her of having an affair lead to some of the most laughable scenes imaginable. The picture is portrayed by an exceptionally strong all star cast headed by Genevieve Tobin in the role of neglected wife with Adolphe Menjou playing opposite her as the philandering husband. Mary Astor and Edward Everett Horton have the roles of the other woman and the other man, and Patricia Ellis and Paul Kaye are the younger players. Others in the cast include Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, Hobart Cavanaugh, Robert Greig and Harold Waldridge. The picture is based on the _ uproariously funny stage play by Thompson Buchanan which was adapted by David Boehm. Sparkling diaYogue and clever situations with unique twists have been given to the piece by Carl Erickson and Manuel Seff, authors of the screen play. William Keighley directed. Easy To Love Adolphe Menjou and Mary Astor, two of the stars in Warner Bros.’ comedy hit, ‘“‘Easy to Love,” now at the Strand. Mat No. 4—5c. Here’s something new under the sun! Edward Everett Horton, Genevieve Tobin, Mary Astor, and Adolphe Menjou show you a four-sided triangle, (something mathematicians never saw) in their latest Warner Bros. comedy hit, ““Easy to Love,’ > now playing at the Strand. This merry tale of marital mix-ups is guaranteed to keep you laughing. Mat No. 10—15c. On The Stars Mary Astor Relaxes By Wearing Clothes Unlike Garb In Film The art of relaxing and resting is one that is too often neglected by the modern woman, thinks Mary Astor, who plays the role of a vamp in “HKasy To Love,” the Warner Bros. produetion now showing at the........ Theatre. “Resting and relaxing are more than just doing nothing,” said Miss Astor on the set during the production of the picture. “One can be as busy as one pleases, as long as one changes one’s mental and physical habits for the time being. “When I am working in a picture, and have a day or two to myself in the middle of the production, I make a point of wearing clothes as different as possible from those the part calls for. As it’s usually my fate to wear smart clothes of one kind or another, I live in_ slacks, loose-necked sweaters, or an easy corduroy lounging pajama _ suit until it’s time to go back to the studio. “Tt’s refreshing to get out of formal clothes and loaf around in a rough costume that allows you to romp with the dog, play with the baby, or work in the garden, as you please. There’s a feeling of freedom and exhilaration in it that is the best kind of tonic for one’s nerves.” “Easy To Love” is the hilarious comedy of marital mix-ups based on the play by Thompson Buchanan and adapted by David Boehm... It carries an all-star cast which includes besides Miss Astor, Genevieve Tobin, Adolphe Menjou, Edward Everett Horton, Patricia Ellis and Guy Kibbee. William Keighley directed. On The Stars Menjou Brushes Up On Foreign Tongue By Unusual Method Adolphe Menjou is an aecomplished linguist as well as a successful actor. Besides English, which is his native tongue, since he was born in America of a French father and an Irish mother — he speaks fluently French, German, Italian and Spanish. During the production of “Easy To Love,” a Warner Bros. picture, now showing at the .... Theatre, Menjou wished to brush up his conversational facility. in Spanish and adopted an unusual method of doing so. He engaged a Castilian, Senor Blanco, to act in the capacity of dresser and attendant on the set with him. His most important function, however, was to carry on a continuous flow of Spanish conversation whenever the actor was not in front of the cameras, and to correct and coach whenever necessary. him For the duration of the picture, Menjou could be found at any time between scenes, animatedly conversing with Blanco in the latter’s native tongue. “It isn’t the first time I have used such a method for improving my familiarity with a language,” said Menjou, “I have done it on other occasions with both French and German. It is the most effective method I know of, not only for extending one’s vocabulary, but for making one’s accent more accurate.” During the past few years, since the advent of talking pictures, Menjou has made pictures, in the United States or abroad, in all four languages of which he is master. Genevieve Tobin, Mary Astor, Edward Everett Horton, Patricia Ellis, Hugh Herbert, Guy Kibbee, Paul Kaye and Robert Greig are other important members of the all-star cast of “Easy To Love,” which is an uproarious comedy romance on domestic entanglements. William Keighley directed the picture from the screen play by Carl Erickson and Manuel Seff, based on Thompson Buchanan’s play and adapted by David Boehm. On Production Genevieve Giggles At Tickles—Scene Must Be Re-Shot Genevieve Tobin is ticklish. And she can giggle too — like a school girl. It happened on a set for “Easy To Love,” now showing at the Theatre, and in which Menjou plays the part of her philandering husband. Genevieve in negligee, asks him to powder her back, to remind him of its beauty and to call forth favorable comment which she wishes her husband’s inamorata, whom she knows to be just outside the door, to hear, hoping to arouse a_ fiendish jealousy. The scene was progressing nicely until Menjou began to apply the powder puff. Suddenly Genevieve began to wiggle, she coughed and then burst right out giggling. “What’s the manded Director William Keighley, as he ordered “eut,?? “Adolphe’s tickling me,” declared Genevieve. “Stop your Up) Gale Ta spe! commanded Keighley. ‘*Y ou’ ve Adolphe Menjou spoiled a Mat No. 1—Sc. ‘takers “Can I help it if she’s ticklish?” demanded the injured Adolphe. “I only did what the seript called for.” But Genevieve insists there was skulduggery in his legerdemain. The scene is one of the many amusing ones in “Easy To Love,” which is a hilarious take-off on love nests and marital tangles, based on the play by Thompson Buchanan. Mary Astor is the other woman in the ease while others in the cast include Edward Everett Horton, Patricia Ellis, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, Paul Kaye and Hobart Cavanaugh. matter?” de