Bachelor Apartment (1931)

Director:

Lowell Sherman

Writers:

John Howard Lawson (written by)
J. Walter Ruben (adaptation)

Release Date:

15 April 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Infidelity | Courtship | Sister | New York City | Broker

Cast

Lowell Sherman	...	Wayne Carter
Irene Dunne	...	Helene Andrews
Mae Murray	...	Mrs. Agatha Carraway
Ivan Lebedeff	...	Pedro 'Pete' De Maneau
Norman Kerry	...	Lee Graham
Noel Francis	...	Janet
Claudia Dell	...	Lita Andrews
Purnell Pratt	...	Herbert 'Herb' Carraway
Kitty Kelly	...	Miss Clark, First Girl in Ladies Room
Charles Coleman	...	Rollins, Wayne's Butler

Also Known As:

Apartamento de Soltero (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Quotes:

Wayne Carter: I'm tired of the parties and the women. The champagne as flat as the women.

Re-Discover Lowell Sherman!

Lowell Sherman was a star and director of silent films and talkies until his death in 1934. His best-remembered films are probably Way Down East (1920) and What Price Hollywood? (1932). In Bachelor Apartment he stars as a rich New York playboy who seems to have an endless parade of women going through his apartment. At one point he tells is butler (Charles Coleman) that he is "going hunting" and returns with a silly woman (Noel Francis) with whom he dallies until prim Irene Dunne comes hunting for her sister. Funny and risqué, this film deals rather openly about sexuality, teasing, infidelity, and "getting what you want." Sherman and Dunne are terrific as the sparring boss and steno, but Mae Murray bizarrely steals the several scenes she is in. Murray, a silent-film queen of the teens and 20s, made only 3 talkies. At age 40, she's still trying to be the sex goddess and comes off as being unlikely and unlikable. Murray affects a baby lisp and vamps and saunters about. She looks pretty good but she seems very otherworldly.

Claudia Dell is annoying as the dumb sister, Ivan Lebedeff plays a dancer, Norman Kerry (also a silent star) plays a producer, Bess Flowers is the woman who lost her necklace, Lee Phelps is the cop, and Arline Judge is one of the secretaries.

Dunne was always good, and Sherman has a terrific comic roue act that always borders on being quite gay. But watch him closely in this film (which he also directed) and study his comic timing and the pacing of his comebacks. The dialog is snappy and suggestive. Coleman and Francis are also very good indeed.

Lowell Sherman, who also directed Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory) is long forgotten but certainly deserves to be remembered as a wonderful actor and fine director.