The Man in Possession

The Man in Possession is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy film starring Robert Montgomery, Charlotte Greenwood and Irene Purcell, and based on the play of the same name by H. M. Harwood. The black sheep of a family finds himself falling in love with the wealthy woman his brother is seeking to marry.

Raymond Dabney (Montgomery) returns to a mixed reaction from his middle-class family in London after serving a sentence at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs for stealing a motorcar. His mother (Beryl Mercer) and the family servant (Maude Eburne) are delighted to see him, but his father (C. Aubrey Smith) and brother Claude (Reginald Owen) are less so. His father is particularly disappointed in him, having sent him to Cambridge. The two men offer him £500 to leave the country and never return; it seems Claude is engaged to a rich widow, and they are anxious to avoid any scandal that might endanger the marriage. Raymond turns it down, however, and departs the same day.

He obtains work as a sheriff's officer, helping a bailiff serve a writ on Crystal Wetherby (Purcell), a woman in serious debt, taking possession of her property. The bailiff instructs him to remain in Crystal's mansion to keep an eye on the seized property until the next day, but also to provide any reasonable assistance to the woman. Crystal and her sole remaining servant, Clara (Greenwood), have him take the place of the departed butler.

Then Crystal mentions the name of her fiancé, none other than Claude Dabney. Claude is bringing his parents to dinner that night to meet her. The situation is awkward for all the Dabneys. Meanwhile, Crystal's admirer, the wealthy and generous (if disreputable) Sir Charles Cartwright (Alan Mowbray), shows up. Crystal has carefully kept the news of her engagement from him. She manages to get the jealous man to leave without him meeting her dinner guests. Before Claude leaves, he informs Crystal that her butler has a crooked past (without revealing they are brothers), but she refuses to discharge him (without revealing he is actually in possession of the premises). To complicate matters even further, that night Raymond seduces a willing Crystal.