The Devil to Pay!

source: The Devil to Pay!

Moviecut—The Devil to Pay!

Light and airy early comedy with Colman laying it on thick in his quasi-philosophical turn as the prodigal son. It's all very British and very there you know, with touches of sentiment to complement the humor. Only after it was over did I realize some of the characters - especially the pampered females - actually got on my nerves.

Today's movies go at 78 rpm. Movies from the mid-1930s through the 1950s go at 45 rpm. Movies from the beginning of talkies to the early-to-mid 1930s sometimes seem to go at 33&1/3 rpms. That's the way I sometimes think of cinema over the years. So if you're going to enjoy this film, you have to slow your pace down quite a bit, forget about much background music, and just savor that wonderful voice and the mannerisms of Ronald Colman. There are two primary reasons for watching this film. First, if you're a Ronald Colman fan; and I am. This was Colman's fourth talking picture. He's a pleasure to watch and listen to. A truly unique actor. The other primary reason for watching this film is Loretta Young, the main love interest. She had made quite a few films before this one, but many of them have been lost forever. The plot involves Colman as an upper-class happy failure who has been living in Africa, but returns home to England and a father that is angry over his son's lifestyle...and yet loves his son and supports him. Colman first goes to visit his old love -- Myrna Loy, an actress. Loy and her friend (Young) to the the Derby with Colman, and Colman and Young begin falling in love. Young breaks her engagement to a Russian Grand Duke because she loves Colman. Colman eventually proposes, but disappoints Young when he sees Loy one more time...to say goodbye. Colman and Young separate. Will love conquer all, or will Colman move on to New Zealand? Back in these days, America's film industry often seemed obsessed with the lives of the wealthy. I find it a boring obsession. Here, however, it's a fairly interesting story, despite the sometimes very slow pace...and the over-talkativeness. I have many of Colman's talkies in my collection, but I won't be adding this one. However, I am glad to have seen it. I'm just waiting for the "Light That Failed" to come out on DVD!

How can you miss with a cast like Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, and Myrna Loy? The answer is you can't miss. Although Young is a bit cloying in the early part of the film, she is radiant to watch, and a worthy target of the neer do well, Colman. Loy is perfect as the wise-cracking girlfriend who is doomed to second place in the Colman stakes. Colman was perfect for these roles, and would repeat them several times over the course of his career,. Oddly enough, he was at his best in dramatic roles, such as Lost Horizon. Young would go on to date Clark Gable instead of Colman. Loy would gain fame with William Powell in the popular Thin Man series of films. Add a star if you are a soap lover.

The title notwithstanding, this is a cute little romantic comedy from 1930, and features a lot of star power in Ronald Colman, Myrna Loy, and a very young Loretta Young. Colman is the devil-may-care son of a rich old man who has squandered various opportunities, and is returning home from his most recent in British East Africa. He's so charming and smooth, and you can't help but like the lightness with which he approaches life. He's got a girlfriend in theater star Myrna Loy, but soon falls for the engaged daughter of a friend of the family, Loretta Young. It's interesting to consider the ages of these actors: Young, fresh-faced and just 17(!), Loy, 25, and Colman, 39, but somehow he pulls it off. Young is a bit too girlish in the early scenes in the film, but settles in eventually, and is also quite endearing. Watch it for the two of them.

Aaah, early romance movies where marriage proposals and oaths of undying love are made after only a day. Who am I kidding, Hollywood told those tales well into the 90's; just watch "Titanic." Rose was pining for Jack seventy years later. In "The Devil to Pay!" Willie Hale (Ronald Colman), a flighty rich playboy living off of his father, unintentionally sweeps Dorothy (Loretta Young), a rich young lady engaged to a stuffy duke, off her feet. He showed her a simple good time and she was so thrilled she fell in love. I've already gone on record in other reviews stating how the characters in these romances aren't in love with the actual person but, rather, the idea of the person. They can't possibly be in love with the individual when they know so terribly little about him/her. I now want to also express how the characters in these movies clearly confused a good time with love. "Oh, he makes me laugh" and "we had such a marvelous time" are usually the kind of statements you hear before "I love him." Dorothy was guilty of this very thing. But I seem to remember another 1930 movie in which a high society girl was engaged to an incredibly stuffy duke yet fell in love with a regular guy who showed her a simple good time. It was called "Fast and Loose." I also seem to remember a movie in which two people fell in love after a few days and even though one of them didn't truly know the other he/she was convinced that the other was perfect marriage material. That happened in too many movies to list. In "The Devil to Pay" Willie and Dorothy fall in love after a couple of days. Dorothy is tame and respectable while Willie is a fun-loving guy who throws caution to the wind. Dorothy knows almost nothing about him, but she's convinced that he's the perfect guy to marry. My solution for such rushed betrothals is simple. Wait. Willie wants to marry Dorothy in the worst way and I can only suspect that it's because she's the latest and greatest thing in his life. Why do I suspect that? Look at his life. He's a rolling stone and he already had a sweetheart in Liverpool named Mary (Myrna Loy). When he whisked back into town at the beginning of the movie he couldn't wait to be with Mary. Once he had a fun rendezvous with Dorothy he was ready and willing to drop Mary like an anvil. I suspect he'll do the same thing to Dorothy regardless of his new marital status. Having said all that, I simply don't enjoy these stuffy romances between society people. Their romantic interludes look so staged and the way they talk with one another is so formal and proper it looks like rehearsed flattery. This was one of the better romances and it was still a chore to watch. In my next review look for my list of things only rich fools in love say. Sneak peak, "I don't mind being poor as long as I can be with him." Free with Amazon Prime.

"The Devil to Pay" is an early sound comedy romance that has some very terse and sharp dialog from its male lead, Willie Hale, played by Ronald Colman. Opposite him are two young actresses who would go on to film stardom. Both Loretta Young (as Dorothy) and Myrna Loy (as Mary) had been in the silent films a few years before this. Still, this is a very young Ms. Young. She was only 17 when this movie was made, and she had already had the female leads in eight sound films and been in more than a dozen silent films. Myrna Loy was 25 and had been in more than 50 films since her start at age 20 in 1925. Her star was on a slower ascent in Hollywood. Not one of any of the earlier films of these two stars were memorable, or even very good compared to the films they would be in and the roles they would play in the decades ahead. This is by far, the best film for both of the ladies to that time in their careers. But, the main character of the film, around whom the whole plot revolves, is the more well-known actor at the time, Ronald Colman. His career too began in the silent films. He was 26 when he made his first film in 1917, and he was a popular star by 1930. He had 30 films to his credit, some of which were silent classics. Colman was 22 years older than Young when this film was made - his 39 to her 17. But, besides being a standout talent already in her teens, Loretta Young was a girl who looked much more mature and older than her age - but just the right number of years. While this is a good comedy, it has a feel of being somewhat disjointed. There are no apparent holes in the plot, but there's no stream that holds together the earliest scene of Willie Hale's (Colman) disposition of his property and goods in South Africa, and then his appearance back home after an absence of two years. Colman gives a nonchalant treatment to his character that is a trademark in his comedies. But, in this case, his wistfulness with his father, Lord Leland (played by Frederick Kerr) is so pronounced that it's hard to take him at all seriously. So, did he fear his father's reaction and treatment, or was that just nonsense? The story has a nice ending - a type that should be familiar to fans of old black and white movies. There isn't any great acting in here, but Colman's presence is commanding in his scenes. That's most often because one is waiting for and expecting the next bit of comedy or witticism to come from him. Indeed, without the comedy in the dialog, this film wouldn't be much worth watching. Fans of Colman, Young and Loy should enjoy this film, and others who like the older movies may be entertained by it. But modern audiences would probably struggle to sit through this film. Here are some favorite lines. Willie Hale, to his father, Lord Leland, "Oh, come now. How could anything I do disgrace you?... Anything disgraceful that I may do merely gains for you an unfair sympathy from a sycophantic world." Lord Leland, "Now...now you're blaming me for bringing you into the world!" Willie Hale, "Heh, heh, I should be extremely mortified for your sake if I had to blame anyone else." Willie Hale, "Have you had a moment's boredom since I've been in the wrong? No! Your only trouble is, you have the father complex - 'Here's my son and he hasn't done any of the things I should like him to do and for that reason I should kick him out.'" Mary, "I'd shoot anyone who tried to take you from me, Willie." Willie, "Are you a good shot?" Lord Leland, "Well, then, what do you want to go to New Zealand for?" Willie Hale, "Because, if I ever want to go to Australia, I'll be near."

Good movie good funny Africa coming soon on Warner Archive Blu-ray release January 2021

In Ronald Colman's Oscar winning performance in A Double Life, he plays an actor who gets way too deep into his characters. It's pointed out that when he's in a comedy he's just the life of the party and when in a drama like Othello, we find out he becomes way too much like the character he's playing. Watching The Devil To Pay I thought this must have been the comedy they were talking about. If Colman ever had a star vehicle in his career, that depended strictly on his British charm to carry the film, this was it. He plays the second son of a titled lord who is as irresponsible as they come. He goes bust in Kenya colony and has to auction his possessions to come back to the United Kingdom when we first meet him. He spends his last few dollars on a dog, touches dear old dad for some more money and charms it out of him, hooks up with old girl friend Myrna Loy and then dumps her when he meets Loretta Young. And Young he takes from the dullard she's planning to marry, Paul Cavanaugh. When you come right down to it, Colman's a real cad in The Devil To Pay. But he's such a charming cad, he's positively irresistible. I think only Leslie Howard of all the other actors could have been capable enough of bringing off this part, maybe. Though The Devil To Pay is strictly a star vehicle for Colman, it does have the added attraction of a couple of other movie legends, Young and Loy in their salad days. And I really did enjoy Frederick Kerr as Colman's Lord Blimp of a father. For fans of Ronald Colman, The Devil To Pay is not to be missed.