Easy to Love

Mary Astor, Genevieve Tobin and Adolphe Menjou 

William Keighley's Easy to Love, released in early 1934, is a slim but enjoyable bedroom comedy made for Warner Brothers. Derived from Thompson Buchanan's mildly successful play As Good as New, Easy to Love is boiled down to essentials, running just over an hour. There is no attempt to open up the play, even a shot of Adolphe Menjou gazing at the moon is filmed on a soundstage. Keighley, who was just one of many talents brought west from Broadway after the advent of the talkies, is a pretty good match for the material in what was his first film as sole director. He does not have the sauciness or the visual invention of a Lubitsch, but he has the timing and rapport with actors of an old pro. Easy to Love is the umpteenth iteration of the continental boudoir farce. Thank the Lord it was made Pre-Code. Keighley's refinement meshes better with the material than some later films he was assigned by Warner Brothers like Each Dawn I Die

Lobby card for the black and white Easy to Love

The film stars Genevieve Tobin, usually a supporting player in this era, as a rich wife with a straying husband. Hubby is played by Menjou who fits the role perfectly. He is dallying with his wife's best friend (Mary Astor) who is stringing along Edward Everett Horton. In turn, Horton is besotted with Tobin. Of course, after Tobin pretends to be making time with Horton, she provokes Menjou' jealousy which leads to the inevitable conclusion that upholds wedded bliss and the double standard. The ensemble playing of the romantic quartet

is exemplary and there are nice supporting turns by Guy Kibbee and Hugh Herbert. Orry-Kelly's outfits are a plus. I don't like Ms. Tobin's outfit in the top photo, but swooned over Ms. Astor in a halter top. I did not care for the subplot of Tobin's daughter and her beau, but Easy to Love is enjoyable fluff that is easy to like. Easy to Love and One Hour With You are the best showcases for Ms. Tobin's talents. She married Keighley in 1938 and, soon after quit show biz.