Early talkies are rather infamous, as we all know. Actors often huddled around a microphone, in some cases stiff and wooden, afraid to move too much lest they mess up the take or the mikes pick up weird sounds. 1930’s The Devil To Pay is a typical early talkie, but it’s also pretty danged funny.
The movie opens in Kenya, with Willie Leyland (Ronald Colman) selling off his dad’s furniture from their home in that country. Willie shouldn’t be broke, but he is, because he’s a bit of a shopaholic and he needs to go back to England. In his favor, though, Willie is very charming and nudges the boring auctioneer aside to sell off the furniture himself to the appreciative crowd, particularly to any lovely ladies who bid. It doesn’t matter if anyone ups the bid; the prettiest bidder always wins.
Back home in England, Willie’s family anxiously awaits Willie coming home. Which he does, by way of the racetrack and the pet store, where he’s bought George, the literal doggie in the window. He also goes to see his girlfriend, singer Mary (Myrna Loy), who’s overjoyed to see him as well. It’s been two years, after all.
As they say, though, the course of true love never runs smooth, and soon after coming home and wheedling his very accomodating dad out of some more cash, Willie meets Dorothy (Loretta Young), daughter of Mr. Hope (David Torrance), who owns a thriving linoleum empire. Willie is smitten right off the bat, not caring too much that Dorothy is engaged to Grand Duke Paul (Paul Cavenaugh), a rather scary fellow who goes around in evening dress and a monocle.
Dorothy doesn’t care too much that she’s engaged, either, and is immediately taken with Willie as well. He drives Mary and his sister, Susan (Florence Britton) home from a horse race, where they have a grand time belting out “Here We Go Gathering Nuts In May.” Paul is incensed, naturally, and looks scornful as only a monocle-clad Russian duke can. It’s not really a spoiler to say Dorothy soon sends him packing.
Of course the chummy triangle of Mary, Dorothy and Willie can’t last, and both Mary and Dorothy want Willie to choose between them. Problem is, though, Willie’s reputation as a swinging spendthrift doesn’t do him any favors, and Dorothy’s dad promises to disinherit Dorothy if she marries Willie. For Willie, though, who’s keen to prove he’s not marrying Dorothy for her money, the idea of disinheritance seems like an invitation. Poor Mary.
While The Devil To Pay seems like a forgotten, neglected pre-Code comedy, it’s surprisingly cute and not as stiff as many early talkies. The movement of the scenes is very fluid and the acting is mostly natural, albeit the characters do cluster in tight about eighty percent of the time, probably because there was a microphone in their midst somewhere. I’m starting to think that anytime a miniature day palm or some such foliage is present in an early talkie, the odds are good there’s a microphone hidden inside.
It’s also a bit of a departure for film fans. If anyone is used to seeing Ronald Coleman as an older, world-weary gentleman, Devil is a complete novelty. He’s young, fresh-faced, and having a blast, as even at that point in his career he was known for playing deep dramatic roles. A comedy was a nice change of pace for Coleman, and he absolutely shines here.
Speaking of shining, the film also features a young Loretta Young, who was seventeen at the time, and Myrna Loy, who was twenty-five and showing the comedy chops she became known for just a few years later with the Thin Man series. Her scenes are all too few in Devil, which is a shame because she’s always delightful, but it was Loretta’s movie.
Now, the movie is not without a few flaws. Amazon Prime’s transfer isn’t in the greatest condition–we can see very obvious lint and dust around the edges of the frame, and the film never stops hissing. Ironically, at the time of release, the movie was praised for its excellent sound.
The other thing is that the movie doesn’t play up Willie’s wild child tendencies as much as it could. Dorothy’s dad might be concerned about Willie’s carousing, but we never see Willie do all that much onscreen. Buying George, spending like there’s no tomorrow, placing bets at the race track and squiring Mary and Dorothy home from the races seem to be the extent of his activities, and in the pre-Code era there certainly would have been a lot of wiggle room. It wouldn’t have taken much to fill out Willie’s character ever so slightly. It also would have been fun to see some more antics with George because he’s so danged cute. Oh well.
Teeny flaws aside, The Devil To Pay is a nice surprise and a fun little quick movie. Sometimes that’s just enough.
Coming up in January (click on the image for more info)…
And with that, I’m off for my holiday break. Look for a new Substack recap on January second, as well as various listicles throughout the month. I don’t know how that got to be a theme, but it did. Oh well, it should still be fun. Hope everyone has a great holiday season, and don’t hesitate to leave comments here on the blog or on Twitter, Bluesky, Taking Up More Room, and so on (Anyone for the Seventh So Bad It’s Good Blogathon? Hint, hint). See you on January second of 2025…
The Devil To Pay is available on DVD from Amazon, and is free to stream for Prime customers.
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