This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

BREAK OF HEARTS (RKO Radio, 1935), directed by Philip Moeller, is not a movie dealing with gamblers in a card game, but a title in brief telling its movie patrons what to expect, that of a melodramatic story in the soap-opera mode. Starring the still youthful and radiant Katharine Hepburn in her seventh movie role and first 1935 release, it returns her to contemporary setting in New York City for the first time since her Academy Award winning performance in MORNING GLORY (1933). Rather than having Hepburn in the world of Broadway, offices of producers and theater actors, BREAK OF HEART places her in the love story of concerts and classical music. Aside from casting her opposite Charles Boyer (for the first time in a perfectly fitting role to his screen personality), it also reunites Hepburn with John Beal, her co-star from her previous effort of THE LITTLE MINISTER (1934). This time Beal assumes a secondary best friend character part in the manner that makes one immediately think of James Stewart.From the screenplay by Sarah Y. Mason, Victor Heerman and Anthony Veiller, the story opens in New York's Eastern Theater where Franz Roberti (Charles Boyer), a renowned musical conductor with "an eye for the ladies," places Elsie (Susan Fleming), one of his latest dates, in a taxi bound for home while he takes another to 31 Washington Square to visit with Professor Talma (Jean Hersholt), a music teacher who had guided Roberti to what he has become. While visiting with Talma, Roberti meets Constance Worth (Katharine Hepburn), a struggling young composer living in the apartment below, with whom he becomes well acquainted. Unable to buy a ticket to one of his concerts, Constance enters the theater to watch one of Roberti's rehearsals. After a month of courtship, the two marry and honeymoon throughout Europe. Upon their return to New York, Franz's many hours of concert rehearsals keeps him away from his wife. However, Constance takes pleasure in the company of Roberti's best friend, Johnny Lawrence (John Beal). At her insistence, Johnny takes Constance to dinner at the Ritz where, in the powder room, overhears gossip between two women about her husband. She finds the gossip to be true when finding Franz in the company of the gossiping socialite women, Sylvia DeWitt (Helene Millard) and Didi Lenox-Smith (Jean Howard). More because of his lying than anything else, the marriage leads to separation and individual hardships ahead. Others members of the supporting cast include: Sam Hardy (Mr. Goldmarks); Inez Courtney (Miss Wilson); Ferdinand Gottschalk (Enrico Pazzini, Roberti's Manager); and Lee Kohlmar (Schubert, one of the members of Roberti's concert ensemble). Take notice that one of the girls in the assortment of Franz Robert's picture frames of girlfriends looks like the blonde Lucille Ball.While BREAK OF HEARTS might have been a semi-biography of actual composers or symphony conductors, it's mostly a fictional modern-day story consisting of interludes involving classical music. Composition excerpts presented or heard throughout production (though not necessarily on chronological order) are: "Symphony # 9 in G Minor" by Antonin Dvorak; Robert Schumann's "Traumeroe" from Kinderscenen; "Symphony No. 8 in B Minor" by Franz Schubert; "Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Opus 74" by Pyotir Tchiakovsky; "Tucca and Fugue in D Minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach; "Symphony No. 1 in C Minor" by Johannes Brahams, just to name a few. The contemporary songs worked into the plot are "Happy Go Lucky and Free" briefly sung not so well by Sam Hardy for a customer (played by Eddie Kane) at Goldmarks Music Publishing Company; and background scoring to "The Continental" heard during a New Year's Eve party.Following a series of prior successful and/or disappointing movie assignments for Hepburn, the material provided in BREAK OF HEARTS seemed quite familiar to 1930s movie audiences, considering how top actresses of the day, Greta Garbo or Norma Shearer, as prime examples, had tackled similar themes in their movies that have proved successful at the box-office. Hepburn on the other hand seemed out of character in such a story, especially during a couple of melodramatic moments. In spite of Hepburn and Boyer's fine work together, BREAK OF HEARTS reportedly didn't prove favorable at the box-office. Maybe this on-again, off-again romance story just wasn't Hepburn's forte after all, unless similarly done in the comedic mode opposite such fitting Hepburn leading men types as Cary Grant or Spencer Tracy.Being one of the least known or revived of Hepburn's 1930s RKO Radio productions, as opposed to commercial television dating back to the 1960s and 70s, or revivals at Hepburn film festivals, BREAK OF HEARTS did, however, become available on video cassette in the 1990s, even with occasional showings on cable television's American Movie Classics (prior to 2000) where the audio playback was distorted; and better audio and clearer print from Turner Classic Movies and its DVD release. BREAK OF HEARTS might never be scaled to great motion picture heights, but remains simply an average story for 78 minutes of screen entertainment. (***)

Katharine Hepburn and Charles Boyer star in "Break of Hearts," a 1935 film that, despite not being particularly good, has some relevance to today's tabloid news.Boyer is a Tiger Woods-Jesse James type - he's a conductor who marries a young fledgling composer, is caught cheating on her, and she leaves him. Then he hits the skids.Predictable '30s drama. Both Boyer and Hepburn are ridiculously young and very attractive. Boyer is quite charming and moody as the conductor. Considering their respective careers, this is really just a blip on the radar.

Maybe it's just me, but the idea of Charles Boyer playing opposite Katharine Hepburn in a romance is odd...to say the least. Now I am NOT casting any aspersions on their acting--they were both fine actors. But the combination of the two in a film like this just seems strange. Perhaps at the time it didn't--as Hepburn wasn't yet a huge star and hadn't the reputation she'd have just a few years later. But the reddish-haired lady with a refined New England accent and the suave Frenchman--what an unusual combination The film begins with Boyer playing a very famous orchestra conductor and musician. He's a bit of a womanizer, so it's surprising when he meets a young would-be composer (Hepburn) that he'd fall for her so hard that he'd ask her to marry him. They seem deliriously happy and go off on a wonderful honeymoon in Europe. Things couldn't be better for the pair until he decides on a whim to go to a party with an old lady friend. However, when Katharine seems them together, she assumes he's cheating on her and perhaps he was, so she storms off--and is ready for a divorce. Can the two get past this or is their marriage headed for an untimely end? See the film and find out what happens next.Overall, while the acting is pretty good and a nice looking production, the movie itself is very ordinary...at best. In fact, some parts are a bit embarrassing to watch--it just wasn't written all that well and seemed overdone and unreal--particularly in the second half. A sticky and clichéd soap opera and not a whole lot more. There just wasn't enough interesting material in this film to elevate it anything more than a time-passer. Too bad--with this talent, it should have been a lot better.

At first I wasn't going to bother myself to review this movie which I found very inconsequential. In fact I watched the movie with one eye while concentrating on other things. I am only reviewing it because there is only one other review for the movie. That is a shame because these are two of the most respected actors of their era. The plot as it is nothing unusual. Playboy conductor meets aspiring conductor - they come together - playboy still has wandering eye to which conductress hits the road. Someone they reconcile. Scenes are buffoonish, not dramatic enough nor comedic enough - a rightfully forgotten movie. This needs to be ten lines, why i don't know, some movies aren't worth it so