''Anybody's Woman'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Dorothy Arzner and written by Zoe Akins and Doris Anderson, as based on the short story "The Better Wife", which had been written by Gouverneur Morris; the movie was formerly known as ''The Better Wife'' prior to changing the title. The film stars Ruth Chatterton, Clive Brook, Paul Lukas, Huntley Gordon, Virginia Hammond, Tom Patricola, and Juliette Compton. The film was released on August 15, 1930, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

Plot

Neil Dunlap, an attorney whose wife has left him for a richer man, goes on a drinking binge and impulsively marries his neighbor Pansy Gray, a burlesque performer he once defended in court. After initially contemplating annulment, the unusual couple decide to try making the marriage work.

Cast

* Ruth Chatterton as Pansy Gray * Clive Brook as Neil Dunlap * Paul Lukas as Gustave Saxon * Huntley Gordon as Grant Crosby * Virginia Hammond as Katherine Malcolm * Tom Patricola as Eddie Calcio * Juliette Compton as Ellen * Cecil Cunningham as Dot * Charles K. Gerrard as Walter Harvey * Harvey Clark as Mr. Tanner *

Sidney Bracey Sidney Bracey (born Sidney Bracy; 18 December 1877 – 5 August 1942) was an Australian-born American actor. Born into an acting family, he began a stage career in Australia, on Broadway and in Britain usually as leading men in musicals and ...

as Butler *Gertrude Sutton as Maid

Reception

'' Variety'' stated "The picture will appeal to some and probably not to others", believing the "social ostracism" angle was overdone. Fred Camper of '' The Chicago Reader'' in 2004 noted the parallels presented in the film about an outsider's attempt to make it in a different world and Arzner's life as one of the few women filmmakers and a lesbian while also calling the directing "only competent." Mordaunt Hall of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called the story "invariably amateurish in its writing and its development."https://www.nytimes.com/1930/08/16/archives/the-screen.html

References

External links

* 1930 films 1930s English-language films American drama films 1930 drama films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by Dorothy Arzner American black-and-white films Films scored by Karl Hajos 1930s American films Films based on works by Gouverneur Morris (novelist) {{1930s-drama-film-stub