The Easiest Way (1931) User Reviews

Rags to riches

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 17 January 2006]

"The Easiest Way" is an example of how Hollywood could deal with thorny subjects before the arrival of the Hays Code. We are presented with a situation in which a young, poor, but attractive young woman, could go up in the world using her natural charms in a realistic way. That was going to change in a few more years, as the Code would not let themes such as this one be dealt with the frankness prior to its arrival.

The film, directed by Jack Conway, is curiosity piece by today's standards. The original work was made for the stage where there was an open mind about risky situations. We are presented with a poor family at the beginning of the story living in a crowded tenement. Laura, the beautiful young girl has no future of getting a rich man that will take her away from the poverty she is living. When a rich man enters her life, she sees the opportunity to escape her humble origins.

The film deals in a realistic way with the subject of the illicit affair between Laura and Bill Brockton. When she falls for young Jack Madison, she believes that she must abandon the man that provides her comfort and easy life, until she finds herself penniless and must face with the fact that she has to go back to Bill, but loses Jack in the process. At the end, we watch her spying outside her married sister's suburban house which is the epitome of happiness.

Constance Bennett makes an interesting Laura, but this is not her best role in the movies. Robert Montgomery is not seen enough in the film. Adolph Menjou makes a great Bill Brockton, the rich man who loves Laura in spite of the fact he knows Laura doesn't care for him. Clark Gable made a good impression as the brother-in-law critical to Laura. Marjorie Rambeau, Anita Page and Hedda Haper appear in minor roles.

Early talkie with some up and coming stars

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 8 February 2006]

Constance Bennett is a woman who gets a sugar daddy in "The Easiest Way," also starring Adolphe Menjou, Robert Montgomery, Anita Page, and Clark Gable. Made in 1931, it's directed by Jack Conway, and it's very well done.

Bennett plays Laura, who lives in a crowded tenement with her large family, which includes her father who manages not to work. She gets an opportunity to model for an advertising agency. While there, she catches the eye of the boss (Menjou) who offers her a life of luxury. She takes it. Her mother shuns her, and her brother-in-law, Clark Gable, has no use for her. While she and Menjou are in Colorado, she meets a reporter, Robert Montgomery, and they fall in love. She promises to be faithful to him while he's in South America for three months. But it's pretty hard to make it on her own.

This is an interesting film. Because the actors were getting used to sound, the rhythm is occasionally off, i.e., there are sometimes awkward pauses between lines. Everyone's acting is good, with the exception of Marjorie Rambeau, who has a very melodramatic role and does the tremulous voice thing in her big monologue. Rambeau, however, had been a Broadway star, where her theatrics were more appropriate, and it took actors time to learn the art of film acting. She was a fantastic actress, and I particularly remember her as Joan Crawford's mother in "Torch Song." Constance Bennett, as usual, was very beautiful. She is excellent in the part of a torn, vulnerable woman. Gable is a tough guy sans mustache. He hadn't yet developed his screen persona, but the gorgeous smile was there. Robert Montgomery is wonderful as a young reporter.

There was a neat shot where the camera travels up a building, zeroes in on a window, and then zooms in. It was dizzying and exciting, and it's the kind of detail that makes "The Easiest Way" a good watch. There are real outdoor scenes, too, no painted backdrops, and opulent sets. If they weren't opulent, they were realistic, for instance, the crummy apartment where Laura's family lives.

There was another ending to this film that the Hays office vetoed. Apparently it was shown in some theaters but is no longer available. I'm a sap, so I liked the ending that's in the movie.

Racy and Downbeat

[Handlinghandel · 7/10 · 19 June 2005]

Constance Bennett stars as a lower class girl who takes the easy way. That is, she becomes a kept women. We see her in beautiful gown, in jewels, in furs. Adolph Menjou is footing the bill.

Then she meets newspaperman Robert Montgomery and wants to give it all up for true love. I won't reveal the ending. But it's not an especially happy one, and three cheers to Hollywood for not selling out.

A few comments on the perfumers: . Robert Montgomery is not someone I can imagine anyone's throwing over even a modest income for.

. Clark Gable has a fairly small role here. He plays, with of course no mustache, Bennett's proper working class and disapproving brother-in-law.

. Bennett is chic as she always is. But she isn't photographed in a faltering manner. Her profile is rather flat. She appears to have an overbite and her false eyelashes seem apparent. Maybe the director of photography and she did not get on well.

. The brilliant Marjorie Rameau turns in the earliest of her fine performances that I have seen. She plays another kept woman. When Bennett is down on her luck and asks for a loan, she sends her packing. But when her daddy dies, she comes to Bennett for money and is given it.

Her performance is in a different realm from that of any of the other players in this movie.

Bennett is a strangely forgotten star of early movies. Rambeau is a sadly underrated actress, whose career spanned several decades.

The easiest way can make loving someone the hardest.

[Poseidon-3 · 1 September 2005]

The shopgirl-turned-clotheshorse concept was a staple of 1920's a 30's films, with Joan Crawford wringing quite a bit of success out of the formula. Here, Bennett gives it a go in a story that was based on a 1909 stage play. She portrays the eldest of five children living with their parents in a squalid, cramped New York tenement. The father resists working while the mother barely manages to wrangle the kids and put supper on the table. Bennett toils behind the tie counter at a department store until one day she gets the opportunity to pose as a model for advertising artists. She doesn't stop with this modest success and proceeds to hook up with the boss (Menjou), who fixes her up with a fancy apartment and all the jewels and furs she can handle. During this, she aids her family as well, though a few of them reject her for the way she earns her keep. On an extended visit to Colorado, she happens upon handsome young writer Montgomery and quickly falls for him. She decides to give up her lavish "kept" lifestyle and return to work while he is away on assignment, knowing he will be back for her to marry him. But can she take that step backwards? Bennett, one of the highest paid and most popular stars of the era presents an appealing and attractive persona (check out that waist!) She knows that what she's doing is "wrong", yet circumstances seem to prevent her from doing otherwise unless she wants to exist in poverty. Menjou is assured and manipulative in his role. Montgomery is quite fresh and likable for the better part of his screen time. Page appears to great advantage as Bennett's far earthier sister who winds up wed to Gable in one of his very earliest roles. He's handsome though his character is a little self-righteous. Rambeau makes an impression as one of Bennett's sidekicks in the modeling biz who also reaches for the top in the mistress game. Virtually all of the cast members give vivid performances. The opening sequences in the rundown apartment are quite fascinating in their snappy dialogue and depiction of the hard times. Today's audiences will be able to see through the predictable plotting, but the film still holds interest. Though the Hays Office is sometimes blamed for tampering with the material, the 1917 silent version had at least as downbeat an ending as this one does. In fact, if the story were to end any other way than it does, there'd be very little point to it all!

Taboo or not Taboo, that is the question.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 7 December 2013]

The Easiest Way is directed by Jack Conway and adapted to screenplay by Edith Ellis from the 1909 play of the same name written by Eugene Walter. It stars Contance Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, Robert Montgomery, Clark Gable and Anita Page.

Obviously tame by today's standards, it's still not hard to see why The Easiest Way ruffled feathers back in the day. Essentially the plot finds Bennett as Laura Murdock, a poor shop girl who grows so tired of sharing a cramped tenement home with her large family, where three to a bed is the norm, she lands herself a rich older man (Menjou) and becomes a kept mistress. This ostracises her greatly and stuck in a loveless relationship, she's in a bad place emotionally. Hope comes in the form of Jack Madison (Montgomery), and the two hit it off right away and fall in love, but can Laura leave behind the wealth for the sake of love? Just what is the easiest way?

And so it is, running at under 75 minutes, pic gets away with what it can by ensuring the taboo nature of the story centre is cunningly evident. Conway and Mescall show some deft ambition with mobile camera work and nice framing shots out in the exteriors. Performances are all credible, with Gable serving early notice of what was to come in his career, and the ending, one of many filmed as the makers searched for tonal closure, works just fine to linger as a bittersweet aftertaste.

Montgomery isn't in it nearly enough given that he is playing one of the key characters, and the big issue of women striding out for their right to challenge society's stone-age ideals is inadequately unfurled. Other than that this is a thoroughly enjoyable piece of of pre-code classic cinema. 7/10

Oh, it's certainly a pre-code picture!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 18 September 2015]

Regardless of the quality of the story, I felt I had to see "The Easiest Way" because it's one of Clark Gable's earliest films. He plays a supporting character, Nick, a guy far less sophisticated and lacking the trademark mustache.

Laura (Constance Bennett) lives in a crowded apartment with her trashy family. They're poor and the father is a genial drunk. Because of this background, it's not at all surprising that when she is given a chance to become her boss' mistress, she jumps at the chance. After all, he's loaded and pampers her like she's never been pampered before! But folks who know her realize what sort of a woman she is, particularly her brother-in-law, Nick. He's wise to the trampy sort of life she leads.

A bit later, when Laura is on vacation out west, she meets a nice- guy reporter, Johnny (Robert Montgomery). He's handsome, sweet and you assume they'll soon marry---and he knows what sort of woman she was. However, this is only about half-way through the film, so you know IF there's going to be a happily ever after, it will have to come after a few plot twists!

This film is a great example of the so-called 'Pre-Code' and its sensibilities. Although most folks today think all the movies made back in the good 'ol days were very prudish, this was NOT the case before mid-1934. In the early 30s, studios made all sorts of very adult films with plots involving prostitutes, abortion, fornication and even, occasionally, nudity and cursing. While the films sometimes didn't always SAY that is what was going on, it was always heavily implied and the adults in the audience know the score. Here in "The Easiest Way", words like 'mistress', 'prostitute' or even that she's sleeping with the suave boss (Adolph Menjou)...but it's clearly happening! On top of that, he no-good dad doesn't mind...he LIKES the money she can send home! Welcome to the pre-code era, folks!

So the important question about all this is whether or not the film is any good. If you're watching it for Gable like I was, don't expect too much from him. His role is very limited and he clearly is just a contract actor in this film. As for the film itself, its quite good. The only negative, and I actually liked this, was that the ending is very vague--so if you're looking for a perfect, formulaic sort of picture, this ain't it!

Edwardian Era Belasco Melodrama

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 11 January 2012]

As sound and dialog came to films the Broadway stage became more and more a source for movie properties even if they had to go back considerable ways for material. The Easiest Way was a play written by James Walter and produced by that eminent showman David Belasco first in 1909. It was most typical of the Edwardian era morality works that Belasco so favored.

It could never be done today, in fact it was barely acceptable in 1931 for its incredibly anti-feminist stand. According to the character played by Marjorie Rambeau men rule, make said rules, and women just have to deal with it. Submit cheerfully to being wives and mothers with some occasional outside work if you can fit it in.

Constance Bennett with her small job in a department store doesn't think this is all that's for her. She help supports her parents J. Farrell MacDonald and Clara Blandick and a couple of small brothers. Sister Anita Page is getting ready to marry honest laundry man Clark Gable who has some most chauvinistic views about women, but also about the value of honesty and hard work.

So when advertising executive Adolphe Menjou suggest to Bennett that they shack up, she's ready to take The Easiest Way and go for a life of luxury. That is until she meets newspaperman Robert Montgomery who's ready to marry her once he gets back from a long assignment in Argentina.

Without going into details Bennett makes a holy hash of her life and those tried and true standards of the time for women serve as a lesson to her and all in the audience. Be good wives and mothers and don't take The Easiest Way to prosperity.

The original play only had six characters and so it was expanded considerably at MGM and updated to Depression times where such lessons were not completely appreciated. Still this cast did manage to put it over.

The Easiest Way was the first film at MGM for Clark Gable who was billed eighth down in the cast. By the end of the decade Gable was acknowledged King of Hollywood before Elvis was known as the King. Nearly all the players billed above him would be below him in cast lists in the future. His appeal on the screen was immediately discernible and in the end of this film, he's given a bit of humanity and shown as not the blue nose stinker you might originally have thought him to be.

The Easiest Way is way old fashioned for today, I doubt too many stock companies do the original play today. Still some will find it a curiosity and Gable is always good to watch.

The Easiest Way Is Always The Hardiest.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 14 July 2013]

Since having had a fun time watching Otto Preminger's daring 1953 movie The Moon Is Blue a while ago,I decided to search around on Amazon UK for any titles that had come out on the Warner Archives DVD label,which would give me a chance to take a look at Robert Montgomery for the first time.

The plot:

Annoyed about hearing her family constantly screaming at each other,Laura Murdock leaves her mum,dad and sisters behind in their tiny house to continue their arguments,whilst she desperately rushes to get to work on time.Quickly saying hello to her longtime crush Jack Madison as she rushes down the street,Murdock reaches her work place, (a perfume counter in the city's leading shopping centre)without a moment to spare.

Feeling relieved to have reached her workplace,Laura is soon left in a state of shock,when a male customer arrives to buy some perfume for his wife,and gives Murdock a card for a model agency,that he says Laura would be a "perfect fit" for.

Despite having always felt that she did not have the traditional looks to be a model,Laura decides to pay the modelling agency a visit,who she finds out are currently holding interviews for new talent.Finding herself surrounded by beautiful women,Murdock begins to have serious doubts that she will be noticed in the slightest when her audition time arrives.Noticing Laura sitting on her own in the corner,a fellow would be model comes up to Murdock and tells Laura that even if she fails at her audition,there are still plenty of ways to make cash from modelling,with the main alt option that this fellow would be model tells Murdock about,being one that involves something called a "sugardaddy"…

View on the film:

Before getting to the movie itself,I have to mention that whilst the print does have some specks of dirt,the DVD edition by Warner Archive's includes a fabulous,crisp soundtrack which allows every line of dialogue to be fully heard.

Despite not filling her adaptation of Eugene Walter's 1909 play and the earlier French film adaptation Quand On est belle with the bouncing dialogue that appears to be ripe for picking in this movie,the screenplay by Edith Ellis instead places the transformation of Murdock's life right at the centre of the film.Keeping a careful balance of showing Laura's desire for money by making strong,underhanded suggestion of Murdock being an escort,Ellis makes sure that Murdock's smile is kept on the edge of her lips,so that it can be wiped away by a wonderfully bitter X- Mas day set harsh swipe.

Breaking the movie out of its stage origins,director Jack Conway uses tracking shots to cleverly show the squeezed,claustrophobic nature of Murdock's family life,which along with fantastic performances from a smooth Clark Gabel in a supporting role,a very good Robert Montgomey as the well meaning,but native Jack Madison and Constance Bennett giving an excellent performance which show the mixed,dark emotions that Murdock is experiencing,which make this film one that is easy to enjoy.

interesting for the actors alone

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 19 September 2022]

Another early talky film that's just full of hollywood giants.... constance bennett, adolph menjou, robert montgomery, clark gable. And directed by jack conway...he won awards for his "viva villa". Laura murdock takes the easy way, as the title says. She leaves a rich playboy (menjou) for honest, hard working newspaper man (montgomery). But when he gets sent off to south america on assignment, laura runs out of money. She goes back to the rich dude to survive. When the reporter finally returns, she wants to scurry back to him. Will he take her back? It's a study of relationships between (pre-code) men and women, during the depression. Based on the play by eugene walter. A whole lot of snap crackle pop in the sound recording, and the picture is so dark. Clearly in need of restoration. The story is mostly good. The acting is mostly good.

Constance Bennett plays a shopgirl who finds an easier way...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 16 January 2006]

Pre-code films are always fun to watch although they do seem primitive by today's standards. But as a measure of what Hollywood was able to do despite film censorship that had to downplay the more censorable aspects of the original story, this is pretty risqué for its time.

Bennett, of course, was the Joan Crawford of her era, always playing a put upon heroine in sob stories that never had too much credibility. Here she pines for Robert Montgomery (singularly lacking in the big romantic star department, even then), while her disapproving brother-in-law (Clark Gable in an early role), frowns on her unorthodox behavior as a kept woman (Adolphe Menjou is the rich sugar daddy).

Enjoyable only as a relic. Bennett does a passable job, no more, her false eyelashes and peroxide blonde hair making her look a little harsh under those kleig lights. But the most natural performance, as well as the most charisma, is clearly Clark Gable's. He comes across as a handsome newcomer who steals a scene by his mere presence. He has the final Christmas scene with Bennett, and it's a touching one.

He would later become the big romantic male star that Robert Montgomery failed to develop into.

She earned HOW MUCH to make this rubbish!

[1930s_Time_Machine · 2/10 · 4 April 2023]

Every preconception about how bad films were in the very early thirties is realized in this: slow stagey acting, theatrical delivery of lines and a complete lack of any engagement whatsoever with the viewer. You might also conclude that A. I. must have existed back then because surely only a computer program could churn out such a dire, cliched and predictable story as this.....apart from the ridiculous ending of course which seems like one of those old TV shows where the audience used to vote on what ending they'd like. Holy mackerel, this sure is a wrong 'un.

There were so many fantastic movies made in 1931 - Rouben Mamoulian, Frank Capra, William Wellman, Mervyn LeRoy were producing some truly amazing, innovative and imaginative pictures but they weren't crippled by the constraints of working at MGM. Director Jack Conway wasn't just handicapped with a lousy story but also couldn't really show any signs of individuality - he had to stick to rules and make to the MGM house style. In 1931 MGM was easily the most successful studio financially - Irving Thalberg knew exactly what the people wanted and that's exactly what MGM gave them. Obviously there were exceptions but ninety years later so much of that bland, corporate fodder which MGM manufactured for mass consumption simply cannot connect with a modern audience with more sophisticated expectations. Although this picture is all about desire, disappointment, hope and despair it doesn't actually have any emotion, it just goes through the motions.

What's utterly mind boggling is that Constance Bennett became the highest paid actress in the world in 1931 for making this - yes, making this! Why? Wistful silent stares into the distance every three minutes might have worked for Lilian Gish in the old silents but this isn't a silent picture. She was OK in WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD made a year after this (by a decent director) but she's absolutely awful in this. After enduring this I'm definitely avoiding anything with her ever again. I just don't get why she was so incredibly popular - it certainly can't have been on her acting skill. I don't see it myself but apparently she was considered a great beauty at the time - but then again so was Jean Harlow and she always reminded me of a bloke in drag. (It's a shame gorgeous Anita Page didn't get a meatier role in this.) The rest of the cast are also just as flat and unconvincing (or maybe just under-directed) as Miss Bennett, Adolphe Menjou is predictably his usual annoying slimy self but he's probably the only person who you actually feel anything about - even if it is just wishing you weren't having to watch him. Even Clarke Gable is just a boring one-dimensional guy who works at the laundry.

Pre-Code Soap Suds

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 1 July 2005]

A beautiful young model finds THE EASIEST WAY to support her needy family is to become a rich man's mistress -- until she falls in love with an energetic reporter.

This little film is strictly soap opera, but it's well presented and makes a pleasant diversion. The production values are good, especially in the opening sequence which reveals the inside of a tenement flat, and causes the viewer to appreciate the trouble MGM expended on even its small pictures.

Beautiful Constance Bennett is very convincing as a woman who frankly admits her moral standing -- until true love complicates everything. Urbane Adolphe Menjou, as the rich businessman who controls Bennett, is slightly more sympathetic than usual in a role he could probably have played in his sleep. And Robert Montgomery gives his patented friendly portrayal as the steadfast fellow who earnestly loves Bennett -- until he is told the truth of her situation.

A fine supporting cast helps the proceedings: tough-talking Marjorie Rambeau as an aging model out to squeeze every penny possible from the male animal; lazy J. Farrell MacDonald & careworn Clara Blandick as Bennett's poor parents; blonde Anita Page as Bennett's lively younger sister; and sturdy Clark Gable, as Page's laundryman boyfriend, who would eventually supplant Montgomery as MGM's favorite heartthrob.

Movie mavens will recognize jovial Dell Henderson and stately Hedda Hopper, both uncredited as Bennett's Colorado hosts.

Constance Bennett was A Pin Up in 1931

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 29 May 2006]

Heard about Joan Bennett, but never viewed any of Constance Bennett's films, and in this 1931 picture she was very young and had great talent. Constance,(Laura Murdock),"Sin Town",'42, played a young gal who lived in a low income flat with her large Irish family and a father who was lazy and drunk most of the time. Laura decided to move out and go on her own when she meets Adolphe Menjou(William Brockton)," I Married a Woman",'58, who played a fat, rich, dirty old man who buys Laura's body and soul. As the picture progresses, Laura has plenty of worldly goods, but deep down is very unhappy and Bill Brockton does not intend to marry Laura, but just gives her promises. One day, Laura meets Robert Montgomery,(Jack Madison),"The Great Gatsby",'55 TV, who is a reporter and falls in love with him. You will also see Clark Gable, "The Misfits",'61, who portrays the role as a laundryman who goes house to house and eventually marries Laura's sister. The "Easiest Way", was performed on the New York City stage and was a rather sexy play for 1931, because Laura was considered a prostitute living with a man unmarried in those days. You will like this ending, but the real ending was a great deal different.

How to steal from a Real American

[torrenceashquabe · 1/10 · 11 January 2022]

I love old movies. What got me annoyed with this movie was the first scene I watched about a half hour into the movie. I saw the main actor steal some meat from an Indigenous woman and then feed the meat to a dog. But I must assume that these old movies treated the Real Americans with disdain. Don't get me wrong, these old movies are enjoyable to watch. But why would someone shoot such despicable scene and put it into the movie? The scene really didn't fit. I must assume the scene was put into the movie to perpetuate the racist view of minorities by the white race. In this case an Indigenous person was robbed and was made to appear as a normal thing to do by a white person. I won't stop watching these classic movies, they're too enjoyable. It was just a product of the times I guess.

A great piece of cinema

[pauldeboef · 24 December 2006]

THE EASIEST WAY is an outstanding film, despite its shortcomings. As so many early talkies it has rather poorly developed episodes, while the film covers a period of about 5 years: At the beginning of the film Laura and her sister Peg still live at home with their parents in New York. Later, Peg got married and she lives with her spouse and child in a house in the country.

The varied & brilliantly photographed scenes make it really entertaining: The camera climbing up the skyscraper and into the photo studio's, the opening scene of the poor New York apartment with the whole family lying in their beds, the scene of Bennett and Montgomery on horseback and sitting by the lake.

It's professionally acted by the entire cast (save Robert Montgomery). Beautiful Constance Bennett makes her character of the dreamy and uncertain girl totally believable : With a restrained, anxious attitude, never totally at ease. (In real life Bennett had a somewhat different character !) And Anita Page as her more earthy sister. Clark Gable has a small but important role, one of his very first - and he looks quite natural. Robert Montgomery was better and believable in 1931's INSPIRATION with Garbo. But here in his role as a journalist he is pretty annoying. Adolphe Menjou comes across as more sympathetic. And Marjorie Rambeau plays her usual role but she is amazing.

The final christmas scene is very unusual and beautiful. It's like a scene in a dream : It uplifts the whole film.

Should be seen in a theater for maximum impact.

minor early talkie with one major future superstar

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 7 April 2024]

Laura Murdock (Constance Bennett) and her family are the working poor. She sleeps in the same bed as her two other lookalike sisters. She rejects a marriage proposal from the boy next door. She tries modeling and moves in with older rich advertising tycoon Will Brockton (Adolphe Menjou). She grows distant from her family and becomes a party girl. She falls for newsman Jack Madison and leaves Brockton. Only it's not so easy.

Clark Gable has a small early talkie role. This is almost his first talkie and he is all Gable all superstar. He sounds like Gable and electrifies his scenes. This is fine as a romance drama. It's probably interesting for being an early talkie with some cinephiles. Mostly, it's important for any Clark Gable completist and fans of the superstar.

Great cast, but feels like a post-Code film

[gbill-74877 · 6/10 · 19 February 2023]

"This life isn't a romance for girls like us. It's a game with the men holding all the trumps. They like to look upon us as some animal they're proud to own."

This is a pre-Code film, but it's a mixed bag relative to moralistic messaging, and that was a little frustrating. Its premise is born out of the Depression, and it being tough for working families to make ends meet. In a common theme from the era, a sudden event promises a change in fortune: the meeting of a rich man. It comes at a cost, however, and "the easiest way" out of one's problems is soon shown to be the hard way.

We initially meet a large family in an early morning scene that was sharp and full of life. Kids of all ages sharing beds are being awakened by their mother and sent on errands or called to get their breakfast. The father announces he is tired of the physical strain of working as a longshoreman and wants to rely on his kids, so he would like his adolescent son to drop out of school so that he can get a job at a construction site catching red-hot rivets thrown by workers in a pail. Yikes. We're not in 2023 here, we're in 1931 - although in light of Iowa and other state legislatures moving forward with loosening child labor laws with little ability to hold businesses accountable in the event of injury or death, hey, perhaps we're also looking at the future here! But I digress. One of his adult daughters (Anita Page) is soon to marry a hard-working blue-collar guy (Clark Gable). The other (Constance Bennett) is a sensible saleswoman, but after being discovered as a modelling prospect, becomes the lover of the top boss (Adolphe Menjou). Her sugar daddy allows her to live a life of luxury and support her family, but the immorality of the relationship (as seen in the eyes of the era) causes her to be ostracized by her mother and brother-in-law, and she's conflicted when she meets someone she truly loves (Robert Montgomery).

It's a fantastic cast with all five of those actors, and these were early roles for Montgomery and Gable, which is a bonus. Director Jack Conway keeps things moving along with great pace as well, and occasionally there are some fine shots, such as the one of Bennett and Montgomery talking at a mountain lake, their backs turned to the camera and the reflection of the trees in the water in the background. We never really see any passion between Bennett and Menjou so it's decidedly tame for a pre-Code film, and that's almost certainly due to censors taking exception to Bennett's life being shown as too alluring before eventually getting to its message and hacking it up at a local level, as Mark Viera describes in Forbidden Hollywood. The film also vacillates melodramatically as it plays out. I liked that part of this showed the position Bennett's character was in, between a rock and a hard place, with her friend saying that the men "held all the trumps," but wish it had taken more of a stand on this hypocrisy.

And that's where most of my discontent came from, the judgment of Bennett's character, while there was absolutely none of this for Menjou's. The most visible form of this comes from Clark Gable's character, who clearly represents the film's moral compass, given the somewhat nauseating forgiveness scene, complete with Christmas trappings, at the end. Even Bennett herself feels she is wrong to be living with a man who is "not the marrying kind," and comes off as more miserable than some of the other strong pre-Code characters and the leading ladies who played them. At least she's not condemned to death so this doesn't feel completely like a post-Code film, but it's close.

The Easiest Way review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 8 May 2020]

Cautionary tale of how prostituting oneself for a life of privilege will backfire on you once you find true love. Constance Bennett is the poor girl who forsakes her blue collar boyfriend when she catches the eye of a wealthy businessman, only to find herself trapped in a loveless relationship when she meets struggling journalist Robert Montgomery. Notable only for an early appearance from a 'tache-less Clark Gable and Bennett's slinky underwear.

Life problems don't always have conclusions, just hope for a better future.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 29 March 2018]

What is really remarkable about this pre-code drama from MGM is that it takes a typical depression era problem and shows the audience that issues are not always resolved, that not all so-called bad girls are really bad, and that survival sometimes means doing things that others will judge you ethically for paths that you had no other choice for chosing. This shows a typical large lower class family, waking up at the start of their day, and arguing over every little thing, from no butter at the breakfast table to who will need to get into the bathroom first. The arguments are silly, but then so is so much family interaction, and this extended sequence (with Clara Blandick and J. Farrell MacDonald as the gruff parents, and Constance Bennett, Anita Page and Jack Hanlon as their children) is so real that it is almost like a camera was planted in some real family's kitchen and followed them around as they went about their day. Bennett goes to work, is noticed by the boss (Adolph Menjou), becomes his "kept woman", then falls in love with the not yet successful Robert Montgomery. Even though Bennett sends her family money after moving out, they pretty much disown her for what they consider immoral behavior.

Meanwhile, sister Page gets married to rough around the edges Clark Gable who sees Bennett outside the house at Christmas time and gives her the third degree for bringing shame to the family. Bennett, attending social events and swank parties, is torn between both true love with Montgomery and financial security with Menjou. Old acquaintance (and veteran kept woman) Marjorie Rambeau gives her hell for considering dumping Menjou for Montgomery. the script gives the audience the chance to see the conflict within Bennett's mind. She respects Menjou but doesn't love him, and loves Montgomery, but is afraid of being poor again. So what is a girl to do? That's where the script leaves the audience the choice to guide her fate after the MGM lion roars the end, and it's an interesting way of presenting this situation. Bennett never seems like a girl from a poor family, with her regal ways and fastidious way of making herself up, but then again, many early talkie female movie stars (like Stanwyck and Crawford) never looked like they came from poverty either. Menjou, although using his power and position to make Bennett his mistress, is not really a cad, and that gives him some sympathy. Montgomery's character, however, is not really developed. At the bottom of the billing, Clark Gable first got notice with his small part (three scenes), and it is obvious that he was being geared for stardom. The future Auntie Em (Clara Blandick) is no-nonsense and tough as the mother, and J. Farrell MacDonald shines in a scene after Bennett has been rejected by her mother where he comes to her for financial help (presumably for a visit to the bootlegger). Small elements like this makes this rise above the many similar women's dramas of the pre-code depression early talkie era, and that makes this a must.

An interesting perspective on the past

[kburditt · 8/10 · 17 January 2006]

Precode movies are always interesting because the plot lines were so cutting edge for their era and often still are for now. While the idea of a kept woman may seem quaint by today's morality, the deeper argument of men controlling a woman's life is still relevant today. A woman could/can use her beauty to gain quick and easy access to wealth. But when the beauty fades so may the access to wealth. Men controlled the jobs a woman could get, her access to society, and even her access to her own family. I was disappointed that the kept woman was so lazy about her circumstances. It took the older kept woman to wake her up to the reality of her situation. On the other hand there is the sister - who gets ahead the 'right' way. She starts out a tenement brat - and ends up a neat happy homemaker with an adorable kid & a good husband. It took time and hard work but she made the comfortable life eventually. There are other things that are worth looking at in this film - Advertising - once upon a time all print advertising was created by artists, with live models. Pencil & paint and cramping muscles. Poverty - Hot crowded tenements with thin, malnourished undereducated people. No privacy, no quiet, no prospects, no reason to play by the rules. Social Security - Once upon a time the old and tired were on their own. If they washed up at 65 with no money - and too tired and broke down to keep working - there was no safety net - just a cheap boarding house that locked you out when you missed the rent.

When the prospects are dismal - who can blame a kid for taking the easy way out.

Emotional Maturity of a Teenager

[view_and_review · 4/10 · 18 August 2022]

The easiest way isn't always the best way. Laura Murdock (Constance Bennett) found that out the hard way.

Laura was a "tenement girl." She was a young lady who wasn't from money. She lived in a two bedroom apartment with her entire family. She worked at a department store for a little scratch and had to use it to help out the household.

This was one element of the movie I liked. There were so many high-society movies in the 30's it was refreshing to see regular folks. That's not to say no wealthy people were featured in this movie, because the co-star, Adolphe Menjou, was just that.

Laura was given a way out of her situation when the wealthy owner/president/CEO of an ad agency named William Brockton (Adolphe Menjou) took interest in her. Once she started dating him she was flush with cash and gifts which gave her the ability to send money home. Her father ate it up while her mother and her sister's husband despised her for it. She wasn't married to the man, she was a high priced adornment.

That seemed to change when she met Jack Madison (Robert Montgomery), an upstart reporter. The two met in Colorado and fell in love. After ten days together they were madly in love and practically betrothed. Jack wanted Laura to ditch Brockton and give back all of his gifts. Furthermore, he wanted Laura to stay true to him while he went to South America for a few months on assignment and Laura agreed.

This is where the movies of that era get me--the rapidity in which two people fall in love and change their entire lives for someone. They spent ten days together and Jack expected Laura to wait three months for him. I know love is an emotional thing that can't be quantified, but do the math.

Know someone for ten days. Expect her to wait for you for three months. It doesn't even equate.

Honestly, what does she know about Jack? What could she possibly know about Jack in all of ten days? Not much. All she knew was that she loved him and I'd even question that. The characters of that era had the emotional maturity of teenagers. They fell in love too quickly and, worse still, based all of their knowledge and assumptions of a person on the fact they loved them.

So, while Jack was presumably working hard in South America being a newspaperman Laura was back home in New York starving. She couldn't go back home because her mother was so mortified by her and she couldn't stay with her sister Peg (Anita Page) because her husband (Clark Gable) didn't want that element around. So Laura hocked any and everything to survive since she left Brockton.

When she hit rock bottom she went back to Brockton. She hadn't heard from Jack in weeks and she was on the verge of being homeless. Sure, she could've gotten two or three jobs to make ends meet, but she took "the easiest way."

She asked Brockton for a loan that she swore she'd pay back. Brockton said that he would not give her a loan but that he'd take her back. This is where her love for Jack was supposed to give her the strength needed to resist Brockton and stay faithful, even if it meant being a homeless beggar.

That didn't happen. Laura was hungry, Brockton had food.

When Jack finally breezed back into town he was ready to pick up where he and Laura left off. You could imagine his mood when he saw that Laura was back to being taken care of by her sugar daddy. It bears repeating: the emotional maturity of a teenager.

You knew this woman for ten days. Ten whole days. And you expected her to patiently wait for you in squalor until you came back from your excursion? What could you have possibly known about her after ten days and how could you possibly expect her to wait for you for three months? It's not like you were sending regular checks to take care of her while you were gone. What did you expect her to do to survive?

Jack felt like he was played for a sucker and they broke up. Despondent, Laura left Brockton again. In the end she was finally accepted in her sister's home. It wasn't quite happily ever after, but it ended with hope for Laura that one day Jack would come back and tear up the town looking for her. In other words, it ended on a pipe dream.

Free on YouTube.

Remarkable Film--Except for the Ending

[drednm · 30 June 2005]

Wonderful story ruined by Hays Office has fabulous Constance Bennett escaping her New York slum upbringing by becoming a model and mistress to Adolphe Menjou. All is well until she runs into reporter Robert Montgomery in Colorado Springs (the Wild West in 1931). He's off to South America and asks Bennett to be good and wait for him. Well that lasts about a month. She runs out of money and goes back to Menjou. Better than it sounds until the hack ending. Solid performances by the stars, especially Bennett, and ably supported by Anita Page, Marjorie Rambeau, Clark Gable (his first MGM film), J. Farrell MacDonald, Clara Blandick, Jack Hanlon (as the sullen brother), and Hedda Hopper. The opening tenement scene is just wonderful. Gable is dynamic is his first big part. Rambeau is always terrific. Page is quite good in a supporting role. Menjou is slimy, but Constance Bennett is front and center and mesmerizing. She was a major star of her time--too bad she's mostly forgotten now.

the easiest way

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 3 October 2022]

1931, the year this movie was made, may say "pre code" but the overall tone of the film is as heavily moralistic as any picture shot from 1934 to 1960. The message clearly states that if you're a gal who has a fling with her rich boss that involves sex before marriage (especially, as here, enjoyable sex) then you must pay by suffering diverse punishments, chief among them poverty and familial ostracism. I guess we should be thankful that Constance Bennett's sensual, gold digging model is not made to bump herself off or be physically abused, the fate of late 30s, 40s and 50s ambitious career women in films who slept around, but Bennett's Hester Prynne turn in this prudish work is a long, long way from the cheerful amoralists Blondell and Babs were playing at the same time period. Give it a C.

PS...Gable, in only his second film, is good but I'm glad he shifted from pillar of middle class mores, as here, to amiable rogue.

What's a poor working girl to do?

[kidboots · 8/10 · 2 November 2010]

Hard to believe, Constance Bennett, now only know to old film fans, was once, for a little while, not only the most popular actress in America but billed as the highest paid actress in the world!!! Constance was considered the epitome of chic, not quite as aristocratic as Norma Shearer or Ann Harding, but finding her own type as the poor shop girl, wooed by riches into a degrading lifestyle, but by the end of the movie finding strength to stand up for the decent things in life. In other words the "sin movie", which peaked in popularity in the early thirties. Having an abrasively honest personality didn't help her popularity and the depression weary public began to tire of her public extravagance (apparently in 1931 she spent $250,000 on a new wardrobe while most of the country battled the depression.) Nowadays "The Easiest Way" is remembered for being Clark Gable's first MGM feature but, in 1931, it was then one of the many popular Constance Bennett movies being rushed into the cinemas.

Laura Murdock (Constance Bennett) longs to escape the poverty of tenement life. Her father is off work indefinitely, her mother (Clara Blandick) is a drudge and her sister Peg (Anita Page) is all set to marry self righteous Nick (Clark Gable) who operates a family laundry business, but Laura wants more. She works at the tie counter at the local department store but is whisked into the world of modeling and advertising by a talent scout. Enter the movie's villain - advertising executive, Will Brockton (Adolphe Menjou) who takes Laura under his wing. Laura takes to luxury like a duck to water but the only family member who is on her side is her free loading father (J. Farrell MacDonald), who is always coming to her for handouts!! Nick is not happy and tells her exactly what he thinks of her, the new dress she has given to Peg and the fancy car she rides around in.

Posing as Brockton's secretary, Laura goes to the mountains and meets reporter Jack Madison (Robert Mongomery). They fall in love and while Jack knows all about her relationship with Brockton, he makes her promise to stop seeing him and return all his gifts. Jack goes to South America and Laura falls upon hard times - she is locked out of her apartment because she can't pay the rent and her mother dies because she has not been able to give her father the money for an operation. She goes to Brockton for a loan but ends up going back to him. Of course Jack comes back and Effie St. Clair (a just fantastic performance by Marjorie Rambeau) tells her to grab her happiness while she can. She was an elderly mistress who has been left destitute when her "sugar daddy" dies. Laura tries to - by lying about her circumstances but Jack sees through it and the film ends on Christmas Eve with Laura being taken in by Peg and a penitent Nick, and hoping that Jack will forgive her in the near future.

It was hard to feel a lot of sympathy for Laura. There was not a lot of emotion in Constance Bennett's performance. I was expecting a showdown at the end but she was happy to try to sneak out with Jack and avoid a confrontation with Brockton, who with a few subtle clues ("you'll find my handerchiefs in the top draw") was able to fill Jack in. Whatever happened to Anita Page? She may have portrayed Clark Gable's first on screen love interest but it was pretty thankless, being very much a supporting part and not very glamorous. Considering she was so memorable in "Our Blushing Brides" only the year before - what happened??

Highly Recommended.

Constance Bennett sins and suffers

[hotangen · 5/10 · 26 January 2015]

Bennett's screen image was that of a sophisticated girl who knew how to take care of herself and get what she wanted. Her fans (wrote Griffith & Mayer) believed she would get out of traps that would hold them fast. Surprisingly then, in this film she's passive, unambitious and defeated at the ripe old age of 20 something. Makes me wonder what her benefactor, Menjou, saw in her that kept him interested for several years.

The beginning scene in the tenement apartment is terrific, the crowded setting warm and cozy as the family members get ready to start the day. The entire cast is perfect. Gable is very watchable and it's easy to see he would soon be a star. Montgomery is charming and believable when he tells Bennett he knows about her and Menjou but he loves her and wants to marry her as long as there is no more dilly dallying with Menjou. Rambeau is especially good in the scene where she refuses to loan Bennett $100 (a lot of money in 1931), telling her to get off her high horse and do what Rambeau does to support herself. And the generous but not-the-marrying-kind Menjou is likable and his suits are beautifully cut and fitted.

And Anita Page is excellent. A commenter asks what happened to Page's career. In 1930 Page was a star. In 1931 she was a supporting player. In 1933 her MGM contract was not renewed and she retired. Studio politics is what happened to the star who was second in popularity to Garbo.

So there was another ending filmed but not used. My guess is that a despairing Bennett jumped onto the RR tracks, ala Anna Karenina, or teamed up with Rambeau as a I-hate-men gold digger.