recommended

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Having ordered Disc 1 of The Carole Lombard Collection from Netflix, I just watched the first of two films on it-Man of the World. She plays the young niece of a rich uncle in Paris who's trying to avoid a scandal. William Powell is a former reporter who actually is the blackmailer but doesn't let anyone know about that. That changes when he meets Ms. Lombard and her fiancée. I'll stop there and just say that while some dialogue exchanges are interesting, the pacing was lethargic to the point of me recognizing when the backgrounds were film projections whenever things threaten to get dull. I guess the fact that this was an early talkie had something to do with that. Still, it was interesting enough so on that note, Man of the World is worth a look if you're interested in this sort of thing.

... and yet I give it a mediocre rating, not a poor one. That's because who would expect an early 30's film starring William Powell, Carole Lombard, and Guy Kibbee with strong support by Wynne Gibson to be anything less than excellent? I know I wouldn't. The film is tortuously slow after starting out with a couple of promising scenes. The film opens with drunken American Harry Taylor (Guy Kibbee) accosting Michael Trevor (William Powell) on the streets of Paris thinking he was somebody else - he is. It turns out Trevor is an alias for an expatriate who was a stand-up journalist in America but had to take it on the lam after he got left holding the bag for something that is never clearly explained. At any rate, in the film Michael later explains that after he paid wrongfully for someone else's misdeed he decided he would start making others pay. Thus he starts a blackmailing racket in Paris without anybody truly knowing who he is but his two partners - Fred and Irene (Wynne Gibson). He has one rule though - he never victimizes women. He ends up blackmailing Harry Taylor for some fling with a blonde, but makes it look like he's doing him a favor by being a go-between for the unscrupulous scandal sheet operator that will print the news and Harry. This ends all of the clever scenes in the movie. Carole Lombard plays Harry's niece, Mary, who instantly falls for Michael, and the feeling is mutual. Michael wants to make a clean breast of his past to Mary, leave the crooked life behind him and marry the girl.The monkey wrench in the works? Wynne Gibson as Irene - she's Michael's ex and she's none too happy about it. She spends the rest of the movie being a shameless clinging back-stabbing harpy to the point where you want to chase her off with a mallet and let the two lovers have a happy ending.The acting and production values are the reason I give this one even five stars. William Powell's acting is the centerpiece of this film and he splendidly conveys - without that much dialogue - the persona of a man of the world with the weight of the world on his shoulders. However, the pace is awful, the conclusion will leave a bad taste in your mouth, and normally I would blame the director for such great performers putting my feet to sleep at times, but director Robert Wallace had and would direct some pretty good early talkies that didn't crawl along like this one at all, so I guess the cause of the mediocre result will always be a mystery.Recommended only to see Powell and Lombard together in the film that started their relationship and ultimately brought about their marriage.

This was the film when William Powell and Carole Lombard, through working together, fell in love and married in the same year. At this stage in her career, Lombard was still somewhat embryonic, having not yet developed into her proper persona, though she was an attractive and winsome ingénue. Powell, on the other hand, who was already 39, had fully matured, whereas Lombard was only 23. The story and screenplay were both by Herman Mankiewicz (1897-1953), brother of the director Joe Mankiewicz, uncle of Tom (whom I knew), and related to numerous others in the film business. It is rather sad tale of a basically good man who has become such a 'man of the world' that he cannot be true to himself and thus cannot find the happiness he craves. The story is set in Paris, at the peak of the period of its American tourist and bohemian invasion. Although not filmed on location, there are some convincing cafes and a very funny scene where a genuine Frenchwoman and her large number of children, gabbling in impeccable patois, squeeze Powell and Lombard off a park bench. So the script had such excellent touches. The quality of the film was very good, considering how recently sound had come in, and no one seems too obviously to be speaking into a microphone concealed in a vase of flowers. William Powell really is superb in this film, and it is his showpiece, and it must have helped boost his career a lot. The marriage of Powell and Lombard would only last two years, but it seems to have done them both a world of good, and they remained friends. The film had two directors, Richard Wallace, who was two years younger than Powell and is best known for the John Garfield film THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943), and an uncredited Edward Goodman, who only directed two films, both in 1931. I presume it was Wallace who finished the Goodman picture, rather than the other way around, but that is just a guess. I have no idea what was behind it all and why Goodman disappeared from the business that year, as he did not die until 1962. One of the mysteries we will probably never solve! Guy Kibbee plays a rich American tourist, father to Lombard, and does so with his usual geniality and large girth. Wynne Gibson plays the hard-bitten Irene, who has been Powell's partner in fleecing rich Americans in Paris for some time and does not want to let him go. She says: 'I know it is all over between us,' but clearly in her mind it is not. She appeared in 50 titles before retiring in 1956. She specialised in played hard-boiled women. Will Powell, who has found true love, be able to reform? Can it work in the society of that day? The film is well worth watching and finding out for yourself.

This film stars William Powell and Carole Lombard--who were briefly married shortly after this film was made. Powell plays a very sophisticated and clever thief who blackmails Americans who visit Paris. Supposedly Americans run wild in France and give Powell and his partners a lot of material. The film begins with Powell "helping" a gullible, rich American (Guy Kibbee)--saying he knows of a man who publishes a scandal sheet who is going to blackmail Kibbee. Powell "generously" agrees to arrange to pay off the blackmailer--who is Powell himself. Then, after fleecing Kibbee, he sets his sights on his niece (Lombard). The problem is that over time, Powell finds he's fallen for the lady and cannot bring himself to hurt her. When he tells her the truth, his life is turned upside down.While the plot is hard to believe, because Powell was such a wonderful actor it's easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy the movie. As for Lombard, she's just fine but isn't given as much of a part. While a good actress, the role could have been played by practically any young leading lady of the day.As far as the ending goes, this will no doubt alienate many viewers. While you'd assume there'd be some wonderfully magical happy ending, this film dares to go with realism--and in the end, everyone loses. An odd choice but at least it avoids the clichéd conclusion. I liked it but realize it's still a rather minor film--one that is very watchable but not much more.