Transgression (1931) User Reviews (9)

Sweet but Naughty Kay

[PeterPangloss · 7/10 · 14 January 2006]

This early Kay Francis vehicle is quite an enjoyable potboiler. Kay had not yet developed the sophisticated, edgy style she was so famous for later in her career. She starts out a rather naive young bride who is dumped off in Paris by her older husband while he toots off to India for a year. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out the general direction the plot will take, but Kay makes makes her metamorphosis from sweet young thing to party girl quite believable. The rest of the cast is at least adequate, but it's really Kay's movie all the way.

The plot has some clever, if improbable, twists and the timing coincidences are beyond belief even for Hollywood. Not a great film, but definitely worth a look for pre-Code aficionados and Francis fans.

Kay Francis is good but ...

[Dr. Ed-2 · 7/10 · 24 January 2001]

this movie is a clunker. Francis plays a silly British wife who goes to Paris while her husband goes off to India. She falls under the spell of an unscrupulous Latin Lover (Ricardo Cortez) and ends up involved in his murder and blackmail. Francis looks great (as always) and does a good acting job, starting out as the silly wifey and becoming a more sophisticated (she thinks) woman of the world. Paul Kavanaugh, Doris Lloyd, and Nance O'Neill (as the evil sister-in-law) are good, too. The Paris beauty salon scene where Francis must decide on the shape of her eyebrows (she settles for "plaintive") is a hoot!

Precode Kay in Paris

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 20 September 2008]

Young Kay Francis commits a "Transgression" in this 1931 film also starring Paul Cavanagh and Ricardo Cortez. Kay is Elsie, the wife of a wealthy British businessman. The two share a huge, beautiful home in England. A business trip calls the husband, Robert, away to India for nearly a year, and wives are not allowed. So she will be less isolated, Elsie heads for Paris. There she becomes glamorous, sophisticated and worldly. She meets a rich, handsome Spainiard, Arturo (Cortez) who escorts her around and wants a lot more. He finagles a way to get her alone in his mansion; tragedy occurs.

This is an old-fashioned melodrama; few people could suffer like Kay Francis, even early on. Everything about her was so distinctive - her look, her voice, her clothes - it's hard to take your eyes off of her. Cortez is smooth and caddish as her pursuer; Paul Cavanagh as Elsie's husband is difficult to read. He never lets you know how he's going to react until the situation is upon him - then he might surprise you.

Mildly entertaining, of interest for the early Francis.

A decent ending saves this film in the end

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 10 December 2007]

This is a so-called "Pre-Code" film because it was made before the rigid new Hollywood Production Code was developed and enforced in order to stamp out indecency in movies. Up to about 1934, movies about adultery were quite the rage in the far less than puritanical world than people today might imagine. As a result of this code, films like this probably wouldn't have been made in the post-code era AND it seriously impacted on actress Kay Francis' career--who made a long string of adultery melodramas.

The problem with this film is that although the subject matter is very adult and you'd think there'd be a bit of titillation, there really isn't all that much. Plus, the lady played by Francis and her husband really are dumber than a sack of door knobs! Here are some of the husband's stupid actions as the film began: his sister lives with him and this sister continuously berates his wife--treating her like dirt (a sure way to win her heart) and the man goes away on business in India for a full year!! Talk about a great way to preserve the marriage and ensure fidelity! As for Francis, while she never commits adultery per se, she sure dances and skates around the edges a lot--spending most of this year in Paris with a Latin lover (Austrian-born Ricardo Cortez--who was actually Jewish, not Spanish). Despite never actually having sex with Cortez, when her husband returns, Francis treats her husband coolly and then agrees to go off to Cortez' castle in Spain--while staunchly saying she refuses to have an affair! Well, duh...she seems like a woman who has no idea what she wants and her brain is "blowin' in the wind".

Once there in Spain, she discovers (no big surprise) that the other guests who were supposed to be there are not coming! And in a fleeting moment of passion, she decides to chuck everything and sleep with Cortez. However, after penning a "Dear John" letter to her hubby, a stranger comes in and shoots Cortez dead!! Really, I know this sounds way too incredible to be true, but that IS the plot! And, naturally, Francis wants to get the letter back and rejoin her husband. So she takes a plane back in order to beat the mail. What depth of feeling, eh? Later, back home in England, Francis frantically waits for the letter so she can intercept it but it never arrives. Out of the blue, a blackmailer arrives but Francis FINALLY gets a conscience and refuses to pay and tries to tell her husband the truth. But in a wonderful scene that saves this film, somewhat, he realizes he doesn't need to know the truth--they both made mistakes and should start anew.

Overall, a silly film because the characters are so gosh darn dumb and because the melodrama seems so fake and silly. Without the excellent ending, the movie would have only earned a 3 despite being a rather bold Pre-Code film. However, in a tender and gripping scene, it manages to pull off a 5--putting it in the category of a time-passer.

Poor Kay Francis suffers and suffers in another potboiler...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 18 September 2008]

This is one of those KAY FRANCIS weepies that was so popular with audiences in the '30s (don't ask me why). She suffers because she falls in love with an unethical Spaniard (RICARDO CORTEZ) who falls madly in love with her while her husband is away in India. Her foolish husband didn't want his wife to join him at his post in India because there would be too many hardships for her. The silly guy sends her off to Paris where she falls in love in "the city of love." Attired in gowns that must have seemed luxurious and fashionable in the '30s, Francis has a hard time stirring much sympathy in a poorly written role. The first half-hour of the story is hard to get through but things pick up somewhat once she joins Cortez at his lavish and remote hideaway in Spain--where he is ultimately murdered by a man seeking vengeance for Cortez's dalliance with his daughter.

Kay Francis, in the meantime, has written a confession to her husband that she is in love with Cortez, but must now attempt to retrieve the letter before hubby reads it. The last twenty minutes contain a surprise or two that saves the whole story from sheer banality. The final twist is the only saving grace of a hackneyed storyline.

Summing up: For Kay Francis fans only. Others beware.

Cavanaugh packs, Ricardo unwraps

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 27 April 2017]

Transgression is about a woman played by Kay Francis who nearly pays dear for one and has a lot of anxious moments. But who wouldn't when she gets seduced by Ricardo Cortez. Is it really worth it.

This is a film unlikely in this day and age to get a modern remake. In those early talkie days, all kinds of material was bought by the studios to give dialog to the players who could now talk on screen.

I'm not sure what Paul Cavanaugh was thinking when he goes to some rugged back country of India instead of leaving his wife on their respectable English estate he packs her off to gay Paree. I mean what did he think was going to happen with that frisky woman he married?

Ricardo Cortez is what happens, a charmer, a seducer, and one thoroughgoing rat. After that it's one of those old fashioned melodramas with the proper ending as per those times.

Cortez and Francis do their best. But Transgression is just out of step with these times.

pre-Hayes code look at turbulent marriage

[ksf-2 · 8/10 · 14 December 2007]

Transgression is another look at a turbulent marriage during the slightly-naughty early 1930s in film. From the very beginning, we are given numerous examples of how absent minded and silly Elsie Maury (Kay Francis) is. Her husband Robert (Paul Cavanagh) is off to India without her, so she will go to Paris, which seems to be just asking for trouble in this pre-Hayes-Code flick. Paul Cavanagh had only been in movies a couple years, and would go on to do many early TV appearances and movies, including quite a few horror films. Kay Francis had her start in "Coconuts" with the Marx brothers, and was probably best known as the lead actress in Man Wanted, King of the Underworld, or Confession. While quite beautiful, Francis' sometime stares wide-eyed into the camera, trying to give the impression she is thinking quite hard. The sound quality in Transgression is pretty bad, but it was 1931. Ricardo Cortez (had a couple of leading roles in the 1920's and 1930's) plays Arturo, Elsie's Spanish lover. Also, in the opening scene, Elsie's mother is played by Nance O'Neil, who had played Mercedes in the first full length version of Count of Monte Cristo 1913 (and was a close friend of Lizzie Borden...) Interesting outdoor scenes of Spain, which probably are not authentic. There are surprises, suspense, and plot twisting within the movie that helps to keep it interesting. Starts slow and goofy, gets better as it goes along.

Sinning in sables still isn't satisfying.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 6 April 2018]

Separated from her husband Paul Cavanaugh due to his business ventures out of town, the ravishing Kay Francis heads to France where she falls under the spell of Spanish lothario Ricardo Cortez who has a habit of seducing vulnerable women, getting them to think he wants to marry them, and dropping them afterwards without regret. Completely enraptured by him, Kay sends a letter to her husband to tell him that she's leaving him, but a sudden violent twist of events makes Kay rush home to intercept the letter before its two late. Between Cavanaugh's hateful spinster sister (Nance O'Neil) and a business acquaintance of both Cavanaugh and Cortez, Kay finds herself both bullied and blackmailed, and it will take a lot of explaining from her or understanding from her husband to pull herself out of this situation.

A perfect women's vehicle for the star clothes horse of the 1930's, "Transgression" is a drama that shows how infidelity can't pay, how supposedly sincere men who try to break up marriages strictly for their own physical pleasures will pay for it in the end, and how the loyal, seemingly boring husband will nobly stand by his wife no matter what the cost to his dignity. It is lavishly produced, nicely paced for an early sound film, and filled with some extremely shocking dramatic moments that help along with the film's many implausibilities. This was one of the first films in which Kay's previous mannish haircuts were changed to more feminine hairdo's, and she has nicely transformed her image from vamp to long suffering heroine, even if her sins here are obvious. Cortez is a delightful rogue, getting his come-uppance in a satisfying manner, yet that doesn't quite end Kay's drama with some nice plot spins in the last reel. It's dated, but fun, and a nice way to understand why in the early 1930's, Kay Francis was all the rage, seemingly forgotten for years, but now appreciated for a style that in many ways seemed ahead of its time.

I Want the Truth!

[view_and_review · 2/10 · 23 August 2022]

Kay Francis can't avoid being the tramp. She was an adulterer in "Scandal Sheet," a side chick in "Guilty Hands," and a side side-chick in "Ladies' Man." It's like the producers ask, "Who can we use to play a woman with no self-worth or fidelity?" Then Kay Francis pops her head in and asks who called her name.

Kay played Elsie Maury, a married woman who was left in France by herself while her husband, Robert Maury (Paul Cavanagh), tended to business in India for a year.

Big mistake. Doesn't he know anything? Jack left his girl for three months in "The Easiest Way" and lost her. Frank left his girl for ten days in "Man of the World" and lost her. Horace Fendley left his wife in the hands of Jamie Darricott too regularly in "Ladies' Man" and lost her. Need I go on?

So, Robert leaves his wife in France for a year. In that time she made a bunch of new friends and picked up new habits. One of her friends was Arturo de Borgus (Ricardo Cortez). Arturo was madly in love (or madly in lust) with Elsie and he had to have her. Elsie found herself weakening with every touch. Though she put up a resistance to Arturo's advances, they were mild resistances at best. Outwardly she wanted to appear faithful, inwardly she wanted Arturo to try a little harder to give her the courage she needed to leave her husband.

Already I can see where the movie is going, plus the title is "Transgression."

When Robert arrived in France to pick up his wife and go back to England it was game over for Arturo, but he wasn't willing to quit that easily. He worked up a scheme whereby he could have Elsie come to his place in Spain before she left with her husband. The plan was really basic and the only way it would work is if Elsie had some feelings for him. What wife, after not seeing her husband for a year, would hold off reuniting with him in order to spend a few days with some friends in Spain? A cheating harlot you say?

Exactly.

Robert's first encounter with his wife after a year couldn't have been more awkward. They behaved like two people trying to keep a secret. Their reunion was cold. When Robert tried to heat it up because he'd been without his wife, and presumably any female companionship, for a year, Elsie gave him the cold shoulder. Her actions screamed, "I'm done with you!" Myself, I would've taken such a reception very personally and openly wondered if she had found someone else. Robert, on the other hand, sufficed with her saying that she felt strange with him because it'd been so long. I'm not buying that at all.

Elsie got her husband to consent to let her join him in London after a few days. She claimed that she had friends she wanted to say goodbye to. Again, I would not have been the least bit pleased with that.

"You mean to tell me that after a year apart you much rather spend time with friends instead of me, your husband? You know this is going to cause problems right?"

With hubby's consent Elsie went to Spain. She expected to be there with other friends, but she wound up being alone with Arturo. She feigned disappointment that it was only them two, but after Arturo worked on her he got her to 1.) confess that she was in love with him and 2.) write a letter to her husband requesting a divorce. It was enough to make you sick. And Elsie's dopey look didn't help matters.

I think it was the style of the day. As Elsie spouted out absurd lines about loving Arturo and other nonsense, she looked dopily forward as if she were staring into the distance. It was a dumb look that was exacerbated by the treacherous words spilling out of her mouth.

Her relationship with Arturo didn't even last ten more minutes. A local Spaniard came by Arturo's home and killed him, but not before telling Arturo and Elsie that Arturo got his sixteen-year-old daughter pregnant and that now both his daughter and her child were dead. In an attempt to be oblivious Elsie tried to run away. She rather had been totally ignorant of her new man's past as opposed to hearing about his transgressions. At least that way she could look herself in the mirror in the morning after cold-bloodedly leaving her husband. Her attempts to shield herself from the awful news was just another check mark in the stupid column for Elsie.

With Arturo now dead, Elsie HAD to go back to her husband. She felt foolish, no doubt, and there's nothing more sobering for a woman in love than finding out your lover knocked up a sixteen-year-old and bounced on her.

Now Elsie had to intercept that letter. She raced back to London, back to her husband, and tried to resume a normal marriage while trying to cut off the letter before it got to him. It turned out she didn't need to go through such lengths. No matter how she tried to tell her husband of her transgressions, he wouldn't hear of it. He just wanted to start over with his beloved wife.

Again I found myself on the outside looking in with this type of picture. I'm the guy that, if there's infidelity, I want to see consequences. Dire consequences. I don't mean a person just fretting about and saying how awful they feel and how they could just die for what they've done. Bump that. I want to see real, tangible consequences. It can involve blood, but doesn't have to. Get creative, but let me see her suffer.

My desire to see reciprocity is based upon my own mindset. I can't imagine being OK with my wife stepping out on me, nor can I imagine not wanting to know that she stepped out on me. In this case, Robert didn't want to know, and ignorance is bliss. As for me, that's not a bliss I want any part of. "I want the truth!"

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