Merrily We Go To Hell

1932, US, directed by Dorothy Arzner

Arzner was one of the very few women directors of the studio era, a true pioneer (though female directors still remain far too rare in the modern Hollywood era), and while this is in many was a fairly typical studio-produced pre-Code film, with lashings of alcohol and adultery, I had the strong sense that the picture was more concerned with the "home front" and the consequences of bad (male) behaviour than was the norm for the period, which adds an interesting layer to the generic elements. Also, Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney are in very fine form, and their opening encounter is a peach; screwball before it had acquired the name.