In Name Only

A great cast - Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, Kay Francis - is on hand for this superior soapy drama, immaculately performed in immaculate gowns, as unhappily married Grant falls for widow Lombard and tries to free himself from the clutches of his social-climbing wife, Francis. There's a fine moment when Grant's parents Nella Walker and Charles Coburn are allowed an insight into Francis's true character, leaving little doubt as to the outcome of the plot. Of the extraordinary crop of films made in Hollywood in 1939, this conventional melodrama is often overlooked, but, despite rather slow-moving direction from John Cromwell, it's well worth a viewing.