Ex-Lady
| Ex-Lady | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Florey |
| Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Written by | David Boehm |
| Starring |
Bette Davis Gene Raymond Frank McHugh Monroe Owsley |
| Music by | Leo F. Forbstein |
| Cinematography | Tony Gaudio |
| Edited by | Harold McLernon |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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67 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $93,000 |
Ex-Lady is a 1933 American Pre-Code comedy film directed by Robert Florey. The screenplay by David Boehm is based on an unproduced play by Edith Fitzgerald and Robert Riskin. It is a lightweight and modern version of a drawing room comedy. The film was made before the Motion Picture Production Code was in force, and it is risqué: in subject matter (people having affairs without shame), in staging (double beds) and in the fairly revealing negligees that Bette Davis's character wears.
Helen Bauer (Bette Davis) is a glamorous, successful, headstrong, and very liberated New York graphic artist with modern ideas about romance. She is involved with Don Peterson (Gene Raymond) but is not prepared to sacrifice her independence by entering into matrimony. The two agree to wed only to pacify Helen's conventional immigrant father Adolphe (Alphonse Ethier), whose Old World views spur him to condemn their affair. They form a business partnership, but financial problems at their advertising agency put a strain on the marriage and Don begins seeing Peggy Smith (Kay Strozzi), one of his married clients. Convinced it was marriage that disrupted their relationship, Helen suggests they live apart but remain lovers. When Don discovers Helen is dating his business rival, playboy Nick Malvyn (Monroe Owsley), he returns to Peggy, but in reality his heart belongs to his wife. Agreeing their love will help their marriage survive its problems, the two reconcile and settle into domestic bliss.
The plot is unusual for its time in that Helen is not denigrated for her beliefs about marriage and Don is not depicted as being a cad. In addition, although they are sleeping together and unmarried, neither is concerned about the possibility of children, and certain dialog could suggest that they are using birth control.
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Wikipedia