User Reviews

When even the legendary character actor H.B. Warner seems to just be going through the motions of getting a film done, you know that the film you are watching is not going to be memorable. A silly credit in the opening insists that this was "inspired by 'Madam Bovary'", which is like saying that "Dracula's Daughter" was inspired by the life of Elisabeth Bathory. Close, but no cigar. Warner's young son (Lyle Talbot) has announced that he is going to marry the late gardener's daughter (Joyce Compton), an impetuous young lady with the maturity of a teenager. This is upsetting to Warner and old family friend Kathlyn Williams who had hoped that Williams' daughter (Lila Lee) would be the one to get Talbot down the aisle, and compare Compton to a kitten bringing home fleas to infest the family.

This little bit of laughable dialog has Williams vowing never to step foot in Talbot's home as long as the girl from the other side of the tracks is there, and for Lee to become hospitable and do her best to welcome Compton into society. But rogue Ivan Lebedeff sets his sights on the frivolous Compton, and uses the opportunity of running into Compton and Warner socially to invite them (as well as Lee) over for a few cocktails. This sets the rumor mill of high society flowing as Compton becomes quickly bored and Talbot just gets more boring.

With every actor speaking their lines pretty much as if they were reading them off of cue cards in the drawing room sequences, it only comes to life when Compton and Lee have something juicy to do involving the plot. Talbot gives a lifeless performance, and Warner seems bored with the whole thing. Lebedeff plays his part as a libertine vampire and is laughably over the top. In spite of some good looking sets and costumes (that are actually pretty racy), the pace is slow, the script cliched, and the direction pallid. In spite of that, there are the rare good moments, and the film actually gets off to a nice start where Compton has to deal with the sudden death of her father and Talbot realizes that her kittenish character needs protection. Big mistake.

Madame Bovary reset in a New York suburb. As the son of a prominent doctor elopes with a young young girl from the wrong side of the tracks and eyes to getting higher, the stage is set for tragedy as the girl begins a series of affairs. Slow deliberate film is okay, but rather over wrought in emotion and talky in the execution. One need only watch the scene early on when the doctor comes home after being called in for the death of his daughter in laws father and he informs the people at the house about his son and the girl. Its laughably mannered with cigarettes lit in the most ridiculous and over done of ways. I was giggling pretty much the whole way through the film from that point on. Watching the film I kept wondering if any one noticed how silly it all was. Apparently not. Watchable, but not recommended, I'd take a pass if given the choice.

This one was never screened in New York, but it did open in Los Angeles on August 24, 1932. Billed as an update on Gustave Flaubert's first novel, Madame Bovary (1857), it would not have warmed the author's heart at all. It took the painstaking Flaubert four years to write. The movie, on the other hand, was probably filmed in four days. Nevertheless, it does boast good production values – by the humble standards of Poverty Row – and Joyce Compton does deliver a great performance as Bovary/Bailey and, what's even more important, she looks just right for the part. And as for acting, only the lovely Lila Lee runs her close. Director Albert Ray is best known today for the movie he directed immediately after this one, namely The Thirteenth Guest starring Ginger Rogers, although some fans prefer Ray's later film with Ginger, A Shriek in the Night (1933). Anyway, Unholy Love is worth seeing, if only for spirited Compton and the lovely Lila Lee. As the villain, Ivan Lebedeff also scores. On the other hand, Lyle Talbot and H.B. Warner play their parts as if they had both just walked on to the set. They're both competent, but hardly inspiring, let alone charismatic like Compton and Lee. Thus one is available on a very good Alpha DVD.

M.H. Hoffman was once head of Tiffany but now, in 1932, he was head of Allied Pictures and turned his attention to his great love - the classics. He had already re-imagined "Vanity Fair" as an up to date New York story with Myrna Loy as a very alluring Becky Sharpe, now he turned his attention to "Madame Bovary" switching locales from provincial France to up-market New York with "subtle" (I'm joking!!) Joyce Compton as Flaubert's tragic heroine. The cast is full of stellar names who gave poverty row movies a lot of their polish and professionalism. Apart from Compton there's beautiful Lila Lee, dignified H.B. Warner, dependable Lyle Talbot (misspelt Lylse on the credits - how hard would it be to spell Lyle??), not to mention Kathlyn Williams, Beryl Mercer and Jason Robards Snr.

Kindly Dr. Gregory (H.B. Warner) is called to his dying gardener's bedside only to find his son comforting the distraught daughter Sheila (Comptom). Gerry (Talbot) has married her and now the father has to break the news to the old, loyal girlfriend Jane. Wow, Lila Lee looks absolutely beautiful in this film - she utters Flaubert's immortal line (just joking!!)- "Gerry has bought home another stray kitten" to which Gregory replies "Yes and we're all going to get fleas"!! It seems initially that Sheila's only crime is that she is not "to the manor born" and feels lost and alone among the penthouse set who do everything they can to cut her dead!! In fact it is Jane who goes out of her way (along with Gregory - Gerry seems to have disappeared from the picture) to make her feel at home.

But Sheila is a "bad lot" according to house keeper (Mercer) and hides her loose ways behind a flirty, innocent Southern charm - she has started an affair with an oily bounder (Ivan LeBedeff) who sees her as a summer diversion but the viewers are supposed to believe that he is the love of her life. It is up to H.B. Warner to add a bit of quiet dignity as he tries to grapple with his son's wanton wife. I didn't really recognise it as "Madame Bovary" but the leading role was tailor made for Miss Compton's screen personality.