Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

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.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

mukava991 "Lady with a Past" is Constance Bennett as an unlikely bookish wallflower who sails from New York City to Paris where she engineers a fake sex scandal hoping it will make her the talk of the town by the time she returns and thereby attract the attention of young men who find her literary chatter a big bore. She also talks to herself and pretends to be singing out loud when caught in the act.Her co-conspirator in Paris is the golden voiced Ben Lyons whom she picks up at a sidewalk café after he tricks her into paying his food and drink tab. But her heart really belongs to David Manners, a handsome member of her social set who is looking for someone more exciting.If this all seems terribly unexciting, it is. Then why watch? Miss Bennett, of course. They don't make 'em like that any more. In the pre-production publicity it was said that Miss Bennett was being fitted for 17 gowns to wear in the film. I didn't count, but she probably did.

blanche-2 In order to find this film believable, you have to buy the premise that Constance Bennett, one of the most beautiful and glamorous Hollywood stars ever, is unattractive to men. Does her character, Venice Muir (her parents honeymooned in Venice) wear glasses, frumpy clothes, have dull hair? Uh, no, she looks like Constance Bennett, it's just that she's playing an intelligent woman who likes to read. Meanwhile, the woman who may have poisoned her husband gets all the attention at parties.One night, while roaring drunk, a man with whom Venice is in love, Donnie Wainwright (David Manners), proposes and wants her to sail with him to France to be married. The next day, he's sober. So Venice travels alone.In Paris, she meets a man Buy (Ben Lyons) whom she hires as a gigolo to bring her to parties and get her into the right circles so that she can meet someone. He has the idea that if he creates a "past" for her, she will be more exciting to men.This is a nice film, but I didn't believe it for a second. Venice has intelligence, money, glamor, beauty, and guys want to date a woman who might have killed her husband? If it had been another actress, someone like Anna Lee, Sylvia Sidney, good-looking but perhaps not a knockout, it would have been more realistic.For Constance Bennett fans. She is always a joy, and the performances are good, particularly from Ben Lyons.

calvinnme ... that premise being that Constance Bennett as Venice Muir cannot attract a man at all. Constance isn't some plainly dressed and drably made-up wallflower that physically transforms, which is the plot you'd expect. From scene one she is the glamorous looking woman she usually plays, yet we are to believe that because she wants to discuss the books she's read that men would chew through wood to get out of being in the same room with her? With her looks and bearing she should reasonably expect to recite the dictionary and yet be followed by suitors - men simply aren't that deep.David Manners proposes marriage to Venice when drunk, slinks away when sober, and leaves Venice wondering what she'll have to do to change her luck with men. Her solution - hire someone (Ben Lyon) to be her "boyfriend" and tell tales about her lack of virtue and her exciting nature that in turn should attract some actual suitors. These things never work out as planned - I'll let you watch and see what happens.

drednm What a surprising delight this film is. Constance Bennett plays a rich wallflower who just can't get the guys in her set interested. She's also has a crush on boozy and shallow David Manners. One night when he is drunk he asks her to marry him and meet him on a boat to Europe the next morning. Of course he sobers up, and she ends up going alone. In Paris Bennett meets a charming and broke guy (Ben Lyon)whom she hires as her "gigolo" so that he can show her around and meet people. Lyon hits on the idea of making up stories about her "past" so that men will be interested. They get along great and their plan is wildly successful until a surprising event occurs.Bennett is quite good underplaying her sympathetic role. Lyon is terrific as the cynical but honest guy. Manners is also good as the callous boozer. Cast also includes Nella Walker, Albert Conti, Astrid Allwyn, Don Alvarado, Blanche Frederici, Bruce Cabot, and Merna Kennedy.The ending is quite a surprise.