Stubs - Sin Takes a Holiday

Sin Takes a Holiday (1930) Starring: Constance Bennett, Kenneth MacKenna, Basil Rathbone. Directed by Paul L. Stein. Screenplay by Horace Jackson. Produced by E. B. Derr. Runtime: 75 minutes Black and White. USA. Drama.

Constance Bennett was a star in Hollywood best known for her fashionable wardrobe and her ability to wear it stylishly. Apparently, Depression-era audiences would flock to see her wearing fashions and living in a world that only existed on the screen. Viewers of Sin Takes a Holiday would not be disappointed.

While the film was released by RKO, it had its start at Pathé Studios prior to RKO’s acquisition of that studio. Based on a story by Robert Milton and Dorothy Cairns, and with a script by Horace Jackson, the film went into production in early September 1930 and was released on November 10^th that same year. According to reports, Bennett served as a technical adviser on the film, much of which takes place in Paris, where the actress supposedly spent four months a year. However, production took place in Culver City, California and with recent landmarks like the Eastern Columbia Building in downtown Los Angeles being used to represent a New York City office building.

End of the day doesn't mean the end of the work day for Sylvia Brenner (Constance Bennett).

Sylvia Brenner (Constance Bennett) is a secretary working for a womanizing divorce attorney, Gaylord Stanton (Kenneth MacKenna). After normal work hours, she goes to his house, where Gaylord is just starting his day. She is in love with her boss, though it is an unrequited love. She is made to wait while Gaylord entertains his friends, Richards (Louis John Bartels) and Sheridan (John Roche), who, like him, only date married women, as long as they are not their own wives. Another friend, Reggie Durant (Basil Rathbone), prides himself on never being attached to any woman.

 

Sylvia works while her boss Gaylord Stanton (Kenneth MacKenna) and his friends
Richards (Louis John Bartels) and Sheridan (John Roche) talk about women.

Things get sticky for Gaylord when the married woman he’s seeing, Grace Lawrence (Rita La Roy), files for divorce from her husband, not only naming Gaylord as corespondent, but also expecting him to marry her when it’s finalized. This won’t do, of course, and Gaylord hatches the idea of marrying Sylvia, who is considered plain and has no prospects to ever get married. He would pay her $5000 upfront and she could live anywhere she likes, just not with him. The idea would be that in one year they’d divorce, but it would be enough time to avoid marrying Grace.

Annie (Zasu Pitts) is Sylvia's roommate.

After leaving Gaylord’s house, she goes back to the small apartment she shares with her friend Annie (Zasu Pitts). The idea sound pretty good to Annie, so Sylvia reconsiders.

Lobby card shows Sylvia and Gaylord being married by minister (Richard Carle).

The next day, she goes into work and accepts the offer. He’s in a hurry and arranges to marry her that night. After the sham wedding, Sylvia is sent off to Paris by Gaylord to get her out of the way so he can continue his nightly debauchery.

Gaylord decides to send Sylvia to Paris right after they're married.

Sylvia is out of her element on the boat, but Reggie, who is also heading to Paris, is on the boat. He sees her in a different light and falls in love with her. She is charmed by his sophistication and European ways. He sets her up in a nice hotel, but she can’t afford it, so he gives her his villa in Paris to stay in.

Sylvia goes all out with fashion and makeup, buying clothes and throwing parties. Reggie is always there and finally asks her to divorce Gaylord so they can marry.

She seems tempted to accept the offer and returns home, needing to see Gaylord one last time.

Everyone is stunned by Sylvia's transformation upon her return to NYC.

Upon her return, Annie, who has taken her place, is amazed by her transformation. Gaylord is also taken with her. Grace is just about to move into his apartment, so he asks Sylvia to stay there instead. There is going to be a party and she invites Reggie to attend as well.

Gaylord tries to keep Grace Lawrence (Rita La Roy) from getting any ideas.

Gaylord springs his wife on Grace, who had no idea he had been married. Perhaps jealous of Reggie’s interest in her, Gaylord puts on his own full court press. Sensing what’s happening, Reggie bows out gracefully, and Sylvia and Gaylord realize that they are in love.

Gaylord and Sylvia realize they're in love.

Depending on whom you listen to, the film was either a box-office success, helping to solidify Bennett’s status, (Frank Miller on TCM.com) or it lost money, $40,000, on its first release (Wikipedia quoting Rick Jewell). Since I TA’d for Dr. Jewell, I would take his numbers over Mr. Miller’s.

Reviews were the same way. Either critics loved it, as in Film Digest deemed the picture “first-class entertainment” and praised the “snappy dialogue,” perfect cast, well-paced direction, and “ingenious” camera work. Variety also stated that Sin Takes a Holiday was “one of the few real bull’s-eyes” put forth by Hollywood.

Or, as Miller writes on TCM about the film, ”critics were lukewarm about Sin Takes a Holiday, giving most of their praise to Rathbone as the lady's man with a conscience.”

Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times makes mention of the director. “Paul Stein has directed this film admirably. In the scenes in France, he indulges his fancy for brilliant photographic dissolves. The champagne being rolled around in an ice bucket gradually becomes a roulette table in Monte Carlo, and then the roulette table fades into skaters turning on the ice at St. Moritz. There are several other imaginative glimpses, which do a great deal to make this picture a good entertainment.”

Unfortunately, the camera movement and photographic special effects aren’t enough to save the film from my perspective. I have some real issues with the film’s premise. Just because someone wants to marry you, Gaylord, doesn’t mean you have to marry someone else to stop them. No can mean no, even way back in 1930. Okay, marrying someone else might be a way to do it, too, but just on the surface it seems like plan D or E rather than plan A.

I also have to admit I’m a little disappointed with Sylvia at the end of the film. While she doesn’t have to love Reggie, she seems to lack enough self-respect not to give herself to Gaylord, a man who used her. Like so many films from the 1930s, the ending seems a little rushed. You think she might want him to prove his love rather than give in to him because of a kiss. Maybe Gaylord’s changed, but his track record would give me pause if I were her. Reggie, who had taken time to get to know her and help transform her would, to me, have been the better choice. I know I am not the intended audience, but I’m always surprised that they would be so willing to accept either the premise or the conclusion so readily.

It's hard to imagine Constance Bennett ever being considered plain. Even before her transformation in Paris, you still get the idea that she carries herself well, no matter what she’s wearing. Bennett, the older sister of Joan Bennett, was best remembered for leading roles in What Price Hollywood? (1932), Bed of Roses (1933), Topper (1937), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in Greta Garbo's last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941). While she worked less frequently in the 1940s, she did have a major supporting role in The Unsuspected (1947).

A Broadway actor before making films, Kenneth MacKenna plays Gaylord Stanton. Born Leo Mielziner Jr., MacKenna would move to California after the coming of sound and a contract with Fox Film Corporation in 1929. He plays the womanizing lawyer very naturally. He would continue to work in films and on Broadway. In addition to acting, he would direct six films for Fox between 1931 and 1934. In the mid-1930s, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hired him as a story editor in New York. Later, back in Hollywood, he was made department head. He returned to acting in the late 1950s, both on stage and in film.

Basil Rathbone plays Reggie Durant.

Perhaps best known for his portrayal of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes in fourteen films, Basil Rathbone would also appear as Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield (1935), Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Here, he plays Reggie Durant, a confirmed bachelor who falls in love with Sylvia, but steps aside when he realizes she doesn’t love him. He is the romantic lead in the film, even though he doesn’t get the girl in the end.

Rita La Roy may not be a name you’re familiar with, even though she would appear in 50 films, most made between 1929 and 1939. She would make four films in the 1940s before opening a school for models in Hollywood. She is best remembered for the film Blond Venus (1932), which starred Marlene Dietrich. There really isn’t much for her to do in this film. A sort of thankless role as the other woman nobody wants.

Despite the racy title, there really isn’t so much sin in the movie as one might think. It seems fairly common in pre-code films for marriage to be taken rather lightly; it seems like divorce was something just discovered. And while infidelity is a sin, there is really nothing more graphic than kissing, which technically isn’t adultery. But as was pointed out, the title would put people in seats.

That said, I feel slightly disappointed with the film and probably wouldn’t recommend it, though I would be interested in seeing another Constance Bennett film from this time period to see if they’re better than this one. The title Sin Takes a Holiday might get you to watch, but it might not keep you glued to the screen.