The Guardsman (1931)

Directed by

Sidney Franklin

Genre

comedy film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 22m

Rated

NR

Rating

5.2 of 10 from 13 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A married stage actor and actress star in a film adaptation of a play about an actor who disguises himself to test his wife's fidelity. The story unfolds with theatrical flair and verbal sparring between the two leads.

theatricalplayfulromanticwittylightheartedcleverclassicwhimsical

What happens

The Guardsman is a 1931 American pre-Code film based on the play Testőr by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young and ZaSu Pitts. It opens with a stage re-enactment of the final scene of Maxwell Anderson's Elizabeth the Queen, with Fontanne as Elizabeth and Lunt as the Earl of Essex, but otherwise has nothing to do with that play. The film was adapted by Ernest Vajda (screenplay) and Claudine West (continuity) and was directed by Sidney Franklin. Lunt and Fontanne were husband and wife and a celebrated stage acting team. This film was based upon the roles they had played on Broadway in 1924 and it was their only starring film role together. They were nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Leading Role, respectively. Nonetheless, the film was not a popular success at the box office, and the two stars returned to working on Broadway. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Meet the Wife (1931)
• His Wife's Lover (1931)
• Are You There? (1931)
• Marriage Rows (1931)
• Uneasy Virtue (1931)
• Party Husband (1931)
• Indiscreet (1931)
• Captain Applejack (1931)