Sin Takes a Holiday

Moviecut—Sin Takes a Holiday

source: Sin Takes a Holiday

Lightweight froth featuring an early role for Basil Rathbone as a playboy who falls for newlywed Constance Bennett after learning that her marriage to businessman Kenneth MacKenna is a sham. Rathbone's ok, but, outside of the Sherlock Holmes movies, it's strange to watch him behaving reasonably honourably. Bennett looks a knockout, even when she's supposed to be dowdy.

Stagey, talky early sound-era movie is a guaranteed sleep aid. Everybody just stands around bloviating. Characters hardly move. The B&W print is flat and unrestored. Same deal with the sound. In short, it's the perfect 4 a.m. TCM movie where you just want to drift back to sleep. If there's a story in there about marriage and divorce I didn't get past all the sermonizing from the stiffs in tuxedos. I can't believe Depression-era audiences willingly paid their 5c to sit in a dark theatrer and be lectured by a bunch of pompous jackwagons. Movies like this would have had me cheering for The End.

You know, prior to the ending I may have given this movie a 4,5 or even a 6 out of 10 in recognition of the 90 years that have passed since it was made. The acting from Constance Bennett is actually pretty phenomenal, Basil Rathbone is good too and the rest of the cast are ok. The story seems to be one of an introverted and unsure of herself girl finding freedom and love with a man who actually sees her for who she really is. But unfortunately that is all thrown away at the end of the film as the man she mooned after at the start of the film only for him to treat her with contempt and use her in the most awful way suddenly notices her because she has good clothes and make-up and what does she do.... Let's him have his way with her! AWFUL! JUST AWFUL!

We all know where this film is going right from the start; at least those of us who are not naive. Constance Bennett is anything but a "plain" secretary, and Basil Rathbone, who began a long history of being a heinous anus in such films as The Adventures of Robin Hood and many others, is perfect for the sleazebag role he plays in this film. Rathbone would eventually escape this typecasting when he assumed the role of Sherlock Holmes much later in his career. In this film, he makes a deal with his secretary, Bennett to pose as his wife to ward off advances from his many female clients. As I mentioned earlier, we all know where this is headed, and. Of course, the trip is more important than the destination. Add a star if you are a soap fan.

Constance Bennett is a hard working girl working the night shift as boss Kenneth MacKenna throws a party in between giving her dictation. He's in the middle of a scandal involving his married mistress and has been named correspondent in her divorce. To clear his name, he proposes to Bennett with the intention of sending her off to Europe for a year until his name is free of scandal and he can divorce her without repercussions. But as always happens in these situations, the young heroine falls in love with the playboy rascal, even though while in Europe, she's seen hobnobbing with MacKenna's friend, Basil Rathbone. Scandal resumes when she returns to the states with Rathbone, and the now divorced mistress (Rita La Roy) threatens scandal of her own if MacKenna doesn't divorce Bennett to marry her even though he admittedly doesn't love her. She even goes as far as to violently break a mirror as if to give this couple more than just seven years of bad luck. This mildly amusing drawing room comedy is glamorously staged, even though the public domain prints are not necessarily the best. Bennett is charming, if slightly too elegant to be playing a working girl, and her Cinderella-like transformation into world traveler shows her to better advantage. Rathbone is far more likable than MacKenna, and their romantic adventures all over Europe are quite amusing. Zasu Pitts is totally wasted as Bennett's roommate, appearing in two brief sequences, pretty much a waste of one of silent movies most memorable leading ladies who became one of talking pictures most memorable character comics. The plot is not to be taken seriously but is mildly amusing and filled with art deco galore even if the theme is quite sexist by today's standards.

Gaylord (Kenneth MacKenna) quickly arranges a marriage of convenience to his secretary, Sylvia (Constance Bennett) to avoid the advances of his socialite friend, Grace (Rita le Roy). Gaylord draws up a 1 year contract with Sylvia so that there is an understanding about how they can both behave and he encourages her to travel to France and do her own thing. However, after spending time in France with Reggie (Basil Rathbone), Sylvia returns to Gaylord to ask what he truly feels.... This is a fun film. No-one is correct - everyone behaves atrociously. The men are ultimately revealed as cads or blind to their actions while the women are calculating and far more deliberate and nasty in their actions. It's interesting to watch to see who Sylvia will end up with........she ain't no angel.....don't be fooled by her apparent innocence. She's just as much of a bitch as Grace as her behaviour demonstrates. We have a confrontation at the end between all the characters involved which is what we have been anticipating and the dialogue is very entertaining. A mention about the character Gaylord. Well..........there's his name first of all...and then there is the fact that he doesn't seem interested in any women.....GAY....or maybe not, eh? I also think that they needed to make Constance Bennett far more plain in the first half of the story so that her transformation into a babe is believable. As it is, she looks good before and after. No change there. An enjoyable film.

Today, I discovered Basil Rathbone. Yes, I know he's been around, I'm familiar with the Sherlock Holmes series...but, today I saw him in a new light thanks to TCM and 24 hours of his films. His elegance, dark beauty and subtle sexuality struck a chord in me today. Sin Takes A Holiday is a delightful film. Categorized as a drama, in the beginning we are led to believe it will be light and airy, however, as we are drawn to the characters, such as Constance Bennett's seemingly light facade and Kenneth MacKenna's and Rathbonne's dawning realizations...the underlying moral dilemma of the situation awakens a timeless knowledge in all of us.

I watched this movie with my wife. She is a rom-com buff. I am not. I found it very interesting that I truly liked this movie while she was lukewarm about it. Sylvia Brenner (Constance Bennett) was in love with her boss, Gaylord Stanton (Kenneth MacKenna), though he didn't know it. Stanton wasn't in love with anyone. The only thing he loved was his freedom of attachment. While all of his friends were married, he was happily dating a married woman which meant he didn't have to tie the knot himself. Dating a married woman should've made him a more despicable character, but for some reason it didn't in this case. When Stanton's paramour, Grace Lawrence (Rita La Roy), stated that she was getting divorced which would free her up to marry Stanton, he was visibly concerned. Should she divorce her husband and name him as the "correspondent" (i.e. The man she was seeing on the side), societal rules dictated that Stanton would have to marry her. He was part of high society after all. To wriggle out of marrying Grace he proposed to his secretary Sylvia. The proposal was more like an indecent proposal. No, he didn't want sex from her, he offered her $5000 for a year's marriage that would only be a marriage on paper. If he was "married," he wouldn't have to marry Grace. He would continue his playboy ways and Sylvia could go on holiday since her new job was being Stanton's "wife." His proposal could've been viewed as offensive, and Sylvia certainly didn't like the idea, but she accepted it anyway either out of wanting to help the man she loved or because it was better than being a secretary. I thought the movie was creative, funny, and compelling. Sylvia would face a real lover's conundrum when she met Reggie Durant (Basil Rathbone) while she was vacationing in Paris. He fell for her and wanted to authentically marry her. Reggie's presence added to the drama--would Sylvia marry him or would Stanton finally reciprocate the love she had for him? It would give the audience something to fret over until the very end. Free on YouTube.