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Our Betters (1933)

Our Betters (1933)

GENRESComedy,Drama,Romance
LANGEnglish
ACTOR
Constance BennettViolet Kemble CooperPhoebe FosterGrant Mitchell
DIRECTOR
George Cukor

SYNOPSICS

Our Betters (1933) is a English movie. George Cukor has directed this movie. Constance Bennett,Violet Kemble Cooper,Phoebe Foster,Grant Mitchell are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1933. Our Betters (1933) is considered one of the best Comedy,Drama,Romance movie in India and around the world.

American heiress Pearl Saunders marries Lord George Grayston but later sees him embracing his lover on their wedding day. She has his title and he has her money; thereafter they are rarely seen together. Pearl is accepted by the British aristocracy and is presented at court, but creates a scandal by wearing black. She encourages her younger sister, Bessie, who idolizes her, to respond to the attentions of Lord Harry Bleane despite Bessie preferring American Fleming Harvey. Pearl gives a weekend party at the Grayston estate inviting close friends, including her lover, Arthur Fenwick; her friend, Duchess Minnie and Minnie's gigolo companion, Pepi D'Costa; as well as Bessie, Lord Bleane and Harvey. Pepi, who had been meeting Pearl on the sly, discretely suggests a rendezvous with her in the new teahouse on the property. Both make some pretext to leave but are seen by Minnie entering the teahouse. Vindictive Minnie pretends to have left her purse in the teahouse and sends Bessie to fetch ...

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Our Betters (1933) Reviews

  • The upper classes via W. Somerset Maughan

    jotix1002005-08-30

    W Somerset Maughan, the influential English writer and playwright, was a man that knew a lot about the upper crust society of England. His delightful play about rich people living privileged lives, serves as the basis of this movie that is not seen often. The film is greatly helped by the direction given by George Cukor, a man who was in his element eliciting excellent performances of his cast. Best of all is Constance Bennett, a luminous presence in the movies of those days that was at the height of her popularity when "Our Betters" was made. Ms. Bennett had a beautiful figure and she could act. In the film she plays Lady Pearl Grayston, an American living in London. The other extraordinary performance is given by Violet Kemble, who as Minnie, the Duchess of Surae, shows quite a range as the silly old woman in love with a young playboy. Ms. Kemble is enormously funny at one point, then, when she discovers her Pepi's infidelity, she is quite crossed with her hostess for taking such a step right in front of her. The others in the cast are quite good. Phoebe Foster, the gorgeous Anita Louise, Gilbert Roland, Alan Mowbray, and in an over the top performance in the last sequence by Tyrell Davis who, as a flighty Ernest, shows up made up and with all the best intentions to make the Duchess learn how to dance the tango. A delightful comedy thanks to Mr. Maughan and Mr. Cukor.

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  • 'I've learned there's one thing the English can't resist---something for free'

    verbumctf2006-08-22

    Some will know of this film from a brief excerpt in 'The Celluloid Closet' (dance instructor fop--quite outrageous). See the whole film, and you'll find that excerpt is only one turn of the screw among many made by manipulative Pearl Lady Graystone (Constance Bennett). Lady Graystone is a beautiful American heiress whose fortune bailed out her titled husband so he can continue... but it's less the storyline than the characters that count here. Pearl starts out determined to be a true, loving wife. After discovering that her husband is betraying her, her life morphs into something outwardly scintillating and inwardly 'cheap and vulgar'. Yet she saves, secrectly and in the brink of time, her younger sister from repeating her mistake. The film is based on a 1917 stage hit by W. Somerset Maugham, where the author dissects with an unflinching scalpel the pretensions of 'our betters'. A few scenes get added in the film (opening sequence, presentation at court). There are moments of memorable acting. This is a little gem of its kind, unjustly neglected. And it may cause the viewer to exclaim at the end 'Our betters!--thank God I'm nowhere so bad' and to think 'am I?'

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  • Pre-Code behavior meets Wildean epigrams

    klg192003-10-22

    No, it's not brilliant, although it has the woman-friendly stamp of director George Cukor all over it. If for nothing else, in fact, watch it for Hattie Carnegie's exquisite gowns, worn to perfection by the exquisite Constance Bennett. But if you give it half a chance, you might find yourself quite caught up in this tale of upper-class English morality, and the success it can bring to an early-disillusioned woman. Like "What Price Hollywood?" this is a collaboration of director Cukor, writer Jane Murfin, and star Constance Bennett, and they all shine. Bennett is especially adept at conveying the brittle facade that her character has constructed to hide the pain of an empty life. The dialogue is as crisp as it gets in the 1930s. Oh, and don't miss that final line. Too fab!

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  • Delightful play

    aberlour362003-05-19

    This is a delightfully bitter and witty play by Maugham, adapted to film almost exactly as it appeared on stage. Kemble as Minnie steals the show. And the last scene, between Minnie and the dance instructor, is simply hilarious. Charles Starrett, later a Western star in "B" movies, is wooden, and poor Gilbert Roland doesn't have a lot to work with in the script. But the others sparkle and shine, telling us what sophisticated light comedy can be at its best. What a shame this has not appeared on VHS.

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  • "As if one remembered an emotion after he no longer felt it.."

    beyondtheforest2009-07-07

    Fascinating, richly-textured morality play by the great Somerset Maugham, acted to perfection by a first-rate cast including Constance Bennett at her absolute peak. George Cukor directed with a master's touch, Max Steiner provided the score, and David O. Selznick's production was polished. Constance Bennett plays the disillusioned American wife of a British aristocrat, who finds out on her wedding day that her husband married her only for her money. She decides to take life on their terms, and becomes a cunning seductress among a large group of wealthy and cynical people. Her scheming, combined with the sharp, cynical dialog worthy of Oscar Wilde, and the general irony of the whole affair, makes for an amusing and intelligent film. The witty one-liners are to be cherished, as are the fabulous gowns, and the glowing beauty of Constance Bennett. The film was also one of the first to feature an openly gay character. It's a great treat to view the film 75 years later. Although society may have changed, human behavior has not.

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