SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Konterr Brilliant and touching

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Michael_Elliott Friends and Lovers (1931) ** (out of 4) Disappointing pre-code about Captain Roberts (Adolphe Menjou) who falls in love with a woman (Lili Damita) already married to a sadistic man (Erich von Stroheim). The husband blackmails the Captain and he goes away but soon he learns that his best friend (Laurence Olivier) has also dated and loved the woman. The two friend make a vow to both turn their backs on her but soon they run into her at a party and all bets are off. Considering the amazing cast one can't help but call this a major disappointment because even at just 66-minutes the screenplay simply doesn't have enough going for it to make things interesting or believable. I think the biggest problem is that the screenplay is so over-dramatic that at times you can't help but roll your eyes and wonder if the cast knows how silly things are getting. The perfect example of this is when the two men sit wounded from a battle and burn the pictures of the woman they both love. The dialogue during this sequence is just plain bad and seems to be spoken by teenage boys and not distinguished men. Another problem is that the woman isn't a very sympathetic character and yet it really does seem like the screenplay wants us to pity her and feel sorry for everything she's involved in. The stuff dealing with her abusive husband takes a rather odd twist towards the middle of the film but it frees up everything that follows, which again comes off way too dramatic. I won't ruin the final sequence inside a bedroom but it goes a tad bit too far and just comes off rather fake. The performances are also a mixed bag but there's no question that Menjou steals the film as a grieving lover. I thought the actor came across quite distinguished and really made you feel for the character. Another positive aspect to the performance is the fact that we could feel the pain he's in without him having to say a word as Menjou's perfect face really tells all the emotions he's feeling. Damita is also pretty good in her role, although at times I kept asking myself if she was trying to do a Greta Garbo impersonation. von Stroheim is wickedly fun as usual and we even get Frederick Kerr who also appeared in FRANKENSTEIN the same year. It's been said that Olivier's earliest American films were quite embarrassing for the actor and although I wouldn't go that far there's no doubt that he's out of his elements here. The performance is quite stagy and it doesn't help that Olivier goes so over-the-top with some of his facial gestures and body movements. FRIENDS AND LOVERS is quite boring even with its more racy plot elements. It's certainly not every film that featured a married woman going out with various men but the racy elements don't make a movie and in the end this one here just doesn't work.

wes-connors In London, suave British officer Adolphe Menjou (as Geoffrey Roberts) begins an affair with shapely blonde Lili Damita (as Alva), unaware she and sinister husband Erich von Stroheim (as Victor Sangrito) are infidelity-brewing blackmailers. As Mr. Menjou leaves for assignment in India, Ms. Damita reveals she has fallen in love with Menjou, and refuses to milk him for more money.Handsome young lieutenant Lawrence Olivier (as Ned Nichols) joins Menjou in India, and reveals he has likewise fallen in love with a beautiful woman, who turns out to be (you guessed it) Damita. The woman really gets around. Damita takes a shower and gets whipped by von Stroheim. The film ponders, "Is the friendship between two men more important than a woman's love?" If you're interested in the cast, this may be a melodramatically fun film, despite being wholly unconvincing. With his fine "talking pictures" voice, Menjou was extending his debonair leading man career, but he is much too "long in the tooth" for his role herein. Olivier, in his first "Hollywood" film, is conversely way too "wet behind the ears". Damita shows skin and appears stilted.**** Friends and Lovers (10/3/31) Victor Schertzinger ~ Adolphe Menjou, Lawrence Olivier, Lili Damita, Erich von Stroheim

Ben Parker Cardboard sets on the back of the studio lot, a shocking opening scene between Menjou and Damita, terrible dialogue, poor structure, a plot i didn't care to follow and a cliche concept (love triangle). Menjou (from Paths of Glory) is fairly dreary, his camp cliche conversations with Olivier seemed to stretch the movie out interminably, quite a feat for a movie barely an hour long, and the woman is beautiful, but not really an actress. In truth, there is only one element which rescues this movie (and even then only the scenes this particular gentleman is in), and that is, or he is, Erich von Stroheim.Nobody made being evil look as much fun as Stroheim. Von plays the scheming evil husband of Damita who blackmails her lover, Menjou, to do what i can't remember (even though i just watched it - which perhaps says something about the significance of the plot). Von gives this material the seriousness it deserves (not much), which ironically results in his saving the picture. He plays the husband as a broad comedy character, replete with evil laughter. I noticed him almost choking on some of the dialogue its so ridiculous, but there was also some really great fun dialogue in his scenes, which i can't really remember either, except this:Menjou: Blackmail! Stroheim: Blackmail is such an... ugly word...Stroheim (explaining why he's just read a love letter addressed to his wife from another man): I am a romantic. I enjoy reading other people's letters, doesn't everybody?After the first scene when Menjou and Damita are alone together you've totally written the whole movie off as being able to be taken seriously - but when Von Stroheim appears as the malicious husband, which he plays with flair and humour, all of a sudden you feel this wonderfully trashy facade of a film is actually quite fun. And it is - mainly only Von's scenes and those that comedian Hugh Herbert, playing Menjou's servant, are in.Little-known actress Lili Damita plays the woman every man in this picture is fighting over - and for once, i can understand all the fuss! She's absolutely radiant, really sexy. One of the most beautiful people i've ever seen. She has a racy shower scene where the side of her breast can be seen (i'm not kidding) and a scene where she's getting dressed. These are the luxuries afforded by a pre-code film (1930-1934 i think).The down side to movies from this period is the cardboard-sets, talk-instead-of-cinema nature of them. Aside from the wonderful films of Lubitsch and anything Carole Lombard is in (and Riefenstahl's The Blue Light, perhaps), films from this period are quite poor. They've thrown away everything that was good about silent pictures, and haven't yet learned how to incorporate dialogue well, so what we have are filmed and edited stage plays.Watch out for Lawrence Olivier at 24, in his third ever film, who's so slender, high-voiced and camp he's almost feline. This is not a significant film for anyone involved - the only reason it is notable is probably Olivier (if he's your cup of tea), being one of his first movies and probably his first major role.

8katana8 This is a wonderful pre-code pot-boiler with sterling performances from it's lead players, plenty of action and the man "You Love to Hate" Eric von Stroheim, at his most repellent best.Look out for the outstanding shower scene for Lilly Damita, and listen to the sonorous magic of Laurence Olivier's voice, both reason enough to watch this little-known piece.At 64 minutes, the most fun you can have in an hour of black and white.