THE LADY REFUSES (1931)

Hungry, unemployed and desperate, June is wandering the foggy night streets of London, attempting to start a business as a streetwalker—a cop says she must be new to be out on such a night. As the police close in on her, she stumbles to the door of a fancy townhouse where Sir Gerald, seeing her plight and feeling sorry for her, takes her in, telling the police that she is his niece. Sir Gerald is a bit down as his playboy son Russell has once again dashed Gerald's plans for a nice dinner together in order to go out on the town with his latest gold digging paramour Berthine—who has a jealous admirer/pimp (I was never sure how their relationship was supposed to work) named Nikolai. Gerald shares his disappointment with June who tries to give him advice by telling him that there are two times when no one should try to advise a man: when he's drinking too much and when he's in love with the wrong kind of woman. But Gerald doesn't listen: he hires June to get Russell out of Berthine's arms, and figures getting him off alcohol will be a side effect. June proves good at her work; their very first night together, he's drunk, she takes him to her apartment (which Sir Gerald has provided) and he wakes up confused but under her good influence. Over time, Russell stops partying, quits seeing Berthine, and gets serious about his architectural work. But June has fallen in love—not with Russell but with Sir Gerald. When this comes out, so does the information that June has been doing Sir Gerald's bidding. Gerald fears he's lost his son and, to help them make up, she goes into full Cockney hooker mode to make Russell think that she's no good. Just when you thought the melodramatics couldn't be dialed up anymore, Berthine is found dead and Russell is blamed, though we're sure the culprit is that nasty piece of work, Nikolai. The ending is interesting if not totally satisfying.

This pre-code melodrama, which starts out almost as a drawing room comedy, is interesting rather than compelling. One problem is a total lack of characterization. I feel like fifteen minutes of backstory is missing. And partly due to this, we have to take a lot of the plot points on faith. For example, it's not clear why Sir Gerald trusts June to start with. There is zero chemistry between the nearly 60-year-old Gerald and the 20-something June, and why she falls for him is a total mystery, unless the attraction is misguided gratitude. I was never sure if June and Russell were sleeping together (it doesn’t seem like it) but then we're not given any reason to buy Russell's transformation, which happens far too quickly. I never knew exactly what the relationship between Berthine and Nikolai was. And so on. It's a B-movie from RKO, which means production values are good, but the acting is scattershot, and I’m willing to blame the problematic script for some of this. I've never been a fan of Betty Compson (June) and this movie doesn't change my mind. She lacks an inner spark that would help make her character rounder, though she does pull off the closing hooker persona well. David Farrow is handsome and, I don't know, 'fluffy' as Russell. I'm not sure what I mean by that, but he is the most charismatic performer here. Gilbert Emery (Sir Gerald) is about average in a fairly non-demanding role. Ivan Lebedeff barely has to act at all as Nikolai, just look severe and dangerous. Margaret Livingston is OK as Berthine. My favorite lines: Gerald's butler thinks cocktails are too modern to serve: "They even put ice in them in America." Gerald: "I don't think we'll go that far." Pictured are Livingston and Darrow. [TCM]