Love, Honor and Behave (1938) User Reviews

A dated drama with politically incorrect messages.

[Art-22 · 4/10 · 13 January 1999]

I'm probably in the minority, but this film sends out wrong messages about good sportsmanship and domestic violence. I do believe in winning when playing a game and in standing up for one's rights at all times, but not by cheating and not with physical violence. When Wayne Morris senses the referee was in error when called a ball hit by his opponent "out" in a college tennis game, he purposely throws the next point away, which costs him the game. He's chastised by his father (Thomas Mitchell), who believes in winning at all costs, but praised by his mother (Barbara O'Neill), whose actions Morris is emulating. Earlier in the film, their disagreement in matters such as this ended up in a divorce. Mitchell even says if she had been angry and even struck him when he was caught philandering he would not have left her. The idea that hitting a person to show you care seemed to me to be ludicrous, but it permeates the entire film (and in other movies of the 30's, when spousal abuse was not a catchword). Now Morris is married to Priscilla Lane and is faced with a similar problem.

I did enjoy most of the acting, even though Lane comes on a bit too aggressive for my taste, and very hostile to her mother-in-law. The supporting players, including the child actors, give very competent performances.

Fair Fare for Priscilla Lane!

[JLRMovieReviews · 6/10 · 29 February 2016]

"Love, Honor and Behave" is an early film in the career of actress Priscilla Lane and is one reason why I saw it. It opens with husband and wife, Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O'Neil, who ironically the very next year would be paired as husband and wife again but in a mammoth film together, "Gone with the Wind." Here they are supposedly happily married, but they have different views on how to raise their son – she wanting to coddle and shelter him, emphasizing on being a gracious gentleman and Thomas wanting to make a man of him, being tough and never settling for second best. Also, it is common knowledge that he has flirtations in the past and is currently on another one. The first 25 minutes center on their relationship and estrangement, then the film moves forward in time when the boy is now a young man (Wayne Morris) who sees his childhood-friend Priscilla Lane in a new light and from there they fight, fall in love, marry, fight some more. In fact, this was a lot more serious than I had expected, considering her more lightweight films with Jeffrey Lynn, Ronald Reagan and company. The fights they had and their obstinate will in them were so absolute that you felt they really were done, DONE! He can't keep a job, won't take a job from dad, wants to stand on his own. On the whole, after finishing the film, I liked it, but it did seem a rather lackluster if adequate time-filler for entertainment, uplifted by good actors.

According to this film, the key to a happy marriage....slap your wife around!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 12 July 2021]

"Love, Honor and Behave" is a very flawed B-movie. While enjoyable, it's also a film that only seems to think in extremes! It's a shame, as with a better ending and a but more subtlety, it would have been a lot better.

The story begins with Ted as a child (Dickie Moore). He's stuck between extremes with his parents. His father wants the kid to be a he-man and a tough guy whereas his mother wants him to be passive and 'a good sport'. Well, his parents soon divorce and mother's influence wins out....and as Ted grows (Wayne Morris), the kid is now a wimpy man who won't stand up for himself. This is much worse because he also won't fight for his marriage and you can see that his wife (Priscilla Lane) is disappointed in him and doesn't think he's much of a man. Will Ted continue this or will he learn to be a man?

The film is entertaining...but also disturbing because the ending essentially says that when your wife is being a jerk, slap her around and show her who's boss. Couldn't there be something a little less extreme?! I do think standing up for right and wrong and fighting is good...but the film definitely crosses the line to spousal abuse. Overall, an interesting but seriously flawed story.

By the way, at the end, the couple being having a fist fight and both INSTANTLY have bruises on them...which is utterly ridiculous...and nasty.

What a terrible message this film sends

[jjnxn-1 · 3/10 · 12 June 2012]

I was looking forward to seeing this being a huge Priscilla Lane fan plus the chance to see Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O'Neil together a year before they played Gerald and Ellen O'Hara in Gone With The Wind but this turned out to be an odious little number. Not only is it horribly sexist which was not that uncommon of films of the time but the way it advocates physical abuse as something that not only is acceptable but desirable is appalling. It also presents fair play and decency as something to sneer at. This was one of Priscilla's first films and her inexperience shows. She's stiff and not very believable but perhaps it was her discomfort with the selfish, thoughtless and mean spirited character she's stuck playing.

A prime candidate for one of the worst films of the thirties. Skip it.

Another thumbs down for a dated "romp".

[paultrefzger-1 · 9 May 2006]

It's hard to believe sometimes, in a new century, that movies like this, were made and viewed as acceptable behavior. The message is not only "only the strong survive", it's that the violent and the pushy survive and that what we now accept as correct behavior was looked upon as incorrect.

An example of how ridiculous the premise is made when Wayne Morris, the hero, who was raised by his mother, is criticized for preferring tennis to football, by macho old dad. Dad had even criticized Mom for not "fighting" (literally) for him earier in the movie. Well,Wayne falls for childhood girlfriend Priscilla Lane, whose philosophy is not unlike that of his schmuck father's. Priscilla wants a man who looks good, (as does Wayne Morris) but she wants him to be as physical and morally ambiguous as his father was. Very soon tere are marital problems because hero can't find a decent job (it's the depression and he quit med school to marry her). She still wants to party with a male friend while Morris wants her to stay home discuss a job that would mean their living on a lot less.

The "happy ending" and our "lesson in life" is when she manipulates him into physically fighting the guy who comes to take her out, and physically abuses her for not sticking with him. Both sets of parents watching from outside the front window (and are amazingly amused and satisfied) are told by Priscilla Lane's character to "leave them alone" (She appears tojoy his new-found penchant for domestic violence). The "older folks" present think it's all cute.

It's a movie with good actors but it's message makes it really difficult to watch. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that there are some people who may watch this movie and think of it as merely a screwball comedy, with an appropriate message. I pity them.

Non-politically correct point that really fits

[interestingtidbit · 7/10 · 25 June 2007]

It's refreshingly non-politically correct. It shows both a man and a women eventually choosing adulthood...but in a quirky way that makes modern feminists cringe. But that cringe factor actually makes the point even more important. You see, this has a twist ending.

Yes, the woman gets spanked in the end. That's common in older movies and TV shows - I Love Lucy has several. But remember, not that long ago it was LEGAL to do so, and even thought of as moral and right. But this is different than many movie spankings. In this one, she openly rebukes the people trying to stop it! The wife understands, the husband understands, and we as the viewer are asked to understand. In the view of that culture, it is more adult to be held accountable than it is to be an irresponsible manipulative child.

Acceptance of the spanking was her finally choosing adulthood. It was her crown of glory for allowing it, and his for giving it. The spanking ends up being more feminist than many would like to admit - she CHOOSES as a woman (finally a woman) to accept it. Although every culture manages to think itself right and every other culture barbaric, if you stop and try to see it through her eyes, you might be surprised.

The point of the movie seems to be that adults need to choose to be adults. Not wimpy, not easy to be knocked down in life. But willing to choose to act and accept adulthood. While spanking might not be the modern way to act that out, the main point is a solid one.

Sports, Sex and Violence

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 15 September 2011]

We begin with a flashback to the small Long Island town of "Meadowfield" in 1922, where romantic co-stars Wayne Morris (as Ted Painter) and Pricilla Lane (as Barbara Blake) are youngsters. You should note that parents Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O'Neil (as Dan and Sally Painter) worry about cute son Dickie Moore (Ted, as a child) because he is sportsmanlike and not rough like other boys his age. Also watch for the marital difficulties among the adults, the other set being John Litel and Mona Barrie (as Jim and Lisa Blake). Young Moore and Audrey Leonard (Barbara, as a child) are separated by school and divorce...

In the present, Mr. Morris and Ms. Lane meet each other as attractive young adults. Morris' parents are still concerned about his meekness. His father wants him to play a rough contact sport like football, but Morris plays tennis at Yale; his mother wants "mama's boy" Morris to be a doctor, but he lacks determination and interest. Childhood "sweethearts" Morris and Lane are very much in love, but his mild manner threatens their happiness. Aggressive Dick Foran (as Pete Martin) also desires Lane...

Lane sings a nice version of The Andrews Sisters' colossal introductory hit "Bei Mir Bist du Schoen" (1937), which put the singing sisters on the map. This is a well-structured story, but ends with a scene promoting violence; Lane's arousing "spanking" is fine, but the characters show visible wounds ("black eyes") resulting from an audibly vicious fight, which is celebrated by much of the cast. By the way, watch for Morris to lose the small hairpiece that covers his "bald spot" during the fight.

Equating contact sports and sex play with domestic violence scores no points.

*** Love, Honor and Behave (3/12/38) Stanley Logan ~ Wayne Morris, Pricilla Lane, Dick Foran, Thomas Mitchell

The problem here is no real point of view.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 2 May 2019]

This marital drama is a real mess in many ways, sexist and talky, so smug in its supposed cleverness to the point where the message is simply that adults of all age are messed up. this starts in 1922 where we see the events that lead to the breakup of the marriage of Thomas Mitchell and Barbara O'Neill, playing a modern couple just a year before the release of "Gone with the Wind". Considering how long Gone With the Wind probably took to film, this obviously was made after it. Their son Dickie Moore, raised to be passive by his smothering mother, and growing up to be Wayne Morris, is unprepared for the marriage he ends up being in with the polar opposite (actually bi-polar opposite) Priscilla Lane, whom he knew as a child. All she wants him to do is "man up", and when he does, she is not prepared for the consequences.

The issue beyond the lack of a point of view is simply that the screenplay is absolutely dreadful and never should have passed the front office at Warner Brothers. The inconsistency in characters is overwhelmingly noticeable, and the film doesn't know whether it is trying to be a screwball comedy or marital drama. It also promotes the idea that a little bit of violence in a marriage will make it a happy one, not a good idea then and certainly not a good idea 80 years later. the actors play the characters as written, and it is surprising to see the great Thomas Mitchell being undignified in this. O'Neil, getting married to the boring and straight-laced John Litel, changes gears dramatically in the conclusion and comes out with the worst character transformation. Morris and Lane play a completely mismatched pair. If anything should be gained from watching this misfire, it is don't get married and allow this to happen to you!

Heavy-handed, Unconvincing Drama -- with a "Message" That Gets Muddled

[reprtr · 2/10 · 25 July 2020]

Each of the performers in LOVE, HONOR & BEHAVE did better work -- some very decidedly so -- than what we see here, which is good, because otherwise there would be little reason for us to even know who any of them were. The script must have read better than it plays, otherwise I can't imagine why -- other than owing someone at Warner Bros. a BIG favor -- Thomas Mitchell (who knew his way around scripts as well as the stage) would have agreed to do this disastrous little romantic "dramedy." Others have described the plot, which concerns a young man (Wayne Morris) raised almost from the cradle to believe and act on fair-play and self-sacrifice by his well-meaning mother (Barbara O'Neil), to the point where he becomes a damaged adult, unable to assert himself in even the most basic manner on the essentials of life, including finishing college, competing in sports (tennis), and managing his love-life. He's taken advantage of, intentionally or otherwise, by a coterie of friends and acquaintances, and seems on his way to a life of unrealized potential and virtual penury by his exasperating mix of self-sacrifice and self-centeredness.

The conflict is resolved in an almost slapstick manner by the young marrieds (Morris, Priscilla Lane) that is steeped in just enough physical injury to make it unfunny and unromantic in the extreme. Given that none of the players from Mitchell on down seem to believe any of the lines they're spouting, and that the flat direction gives us nothing to appreciate in the acting or staging up to that point, it's almost a relief when this picture's final credits ("blame" might be more appropriate) unspool. (Even Dick Foran, who was accustomed to playing unsubtle lunkheads -- a role he later aspired to in real life -- looks uncomfortable here). And of course, the fact that it took four credited screenwriters to deliver the script for this 71-minute time-filler should be a warning to the unwary.

If you're looking for a good movie about marital conflict and resolution from this decade, see William Wyler's DODSWORTH. LOVE, HONOR AND BEHAVE is closer to Jiggs and Maggie, and painful to watch, especially given our awareness that everyone involved (including underlying author Stephen Vincent Benet, whose output included "The Devil And Daniel Webster") was capable of so much more than what we see here.

Very early Priscilla Lane film, her first with Wayne Morris

[ccarrolladams · 9/10 · 9 October 2011]

Unfortunately for me most of the 22 movies Priscilla Lane made were out of theaters before I was old enough to see them. At least I was taken to see "Arsenic and Old Lace" when it first came out. That was because I had seen the play on Broadway and my Granny adored Cary Grant. I instantly had a crush on Priscilla Lane. That movie was one of the first I bought on DVD. Once TCM came along I had the chance to see several more Priscilla Lane films. Subsequent research shows that "Love, Honor and Behave" was her second film for Warner Bros. She had been a singer for Fred Waring prior to her movie career along with her slightly older sister Rosemary. Their oldest sister Leota was a Broadway star. Another older sister, Lola, started making movies in 1930. I agree that Priscilla was the best of the Lane Sisters, cute and talented.

I find it fascinating that when Love, Honor and Behave was in production, Priscilla was actually 22 and playing 20-21. In most of her subsequent films she played characters younger than her real age and did so very well. Wayne Morris was a year older than Priscilla and also was just getting decent billing in this film.

Ted Painter Dickie Moore) and Barbara Blake are next door neighbors in 1922 on Long Island when the film opens. Ted's father Dan (Thomas Mitchell a year before his supporting Oscar) is caught kissing Barb's mother Lisa (Mona Barrie) leading to Ted's mom Sally (Barbara O'Neill) divorcing Dan, while Lisa divorces her husband Jim. Jim retains custody of Barbara who is sent to boarding school. Meanwhile Sally does her best to turn Ted into a "sensitive" momma's boy.

In 1936 Yale junior Ted (played by Morris as an adult) deliberately loses a tennis match because he believes that is good sportsmanship. Barbara (played by Lane as an adult) was watching and recognizes his name. They go to a Yale dance where Barbara says as kids they were "married" by another kid and she has the ring to prove it. Ted remarks that because Barbara had worn her mother's best dress Barb had been spanked with a hairbrush, to which adult Barbara hardly blushes.

Ted and Barbara get married legally, still using the old toy ring. Ted, who never wanted to be a physician, drops out of Yale. He goes into the soap business, which fails in 8 months. While Ted was working late he encouraged Barbara to go out with her former boyfriend Pete Martin (Dick Foran) who has inherited wealth and wants good times with Barbara.

Pete takes Barbara to a "kids party" in which they wear childish costumes, with an implication of infantilism. Ted and Sally see Pete kiss Barbara, who wants a physical fight to ensue.

Later the best job Ted can get is digging ditches. That night Barbara wanted to have dinner with Pete. Ted stops her, leading to an actual fist fight with Pete which Ted wins. Priscilla's eyes just sparkle with delight. Outside Sally, Dan, Jim and Lisa arrive to watch as Barbara soundly slaps Ted, on camera. Off camera Ted socks her in her left eye, which bruise shows. She throws a book at Ted, bruising his left eye.

Just below the frame line Ted spanks Barbara. When Lisa tries to stop the spanking, Barbara tells her to mind her own business.

The sound effects imply a very sound spanking and Barbara was whimpering, until she tells her mom to butt out. That spanking is hardly realistic and lasts much longer than typical adult comedy spanking circa 1938. Today none of that is politically correct.

Watch Love, Honor and Behave to see why Priscilla Lane became a star, if only for 22 feature films.

This one misses the mark.

[Randy_D · 8/10 · 1 August 2001]

While this movie's intentions might have been good, the execution of it is where it fails, primarily because of some thankfully outdated notions.

It's a shame, too, that 'Lane, Priscilla' (qv)'s performance gets a bit overshadowed by the content of the film. She is an absolute delight and her performance during the end sequence is both hilarious and beautiful at the same time.

This just goes to prove something that I've learned recently while watching movies from the 1930s and 40s: Priscilla Lane makes any movie that much better.

Interesting Idea, but Awkwardly Handled and Over-Written

[dougdoepke · 13 September 2017]

I expect actor Morris was hired for the lead for commercial purposes. After all, his brawny frame sure doesn't look like a weakling, but then old Hollywood doesn't put nerds in leading roles. His Ted is supposed to be a mama's boy despite the unlikely looks. Upper class Mom (O'Neill) rears him to be forgiving in everything and to always lose gracefully without trying hard to win. I guess it's an extreme form of "noblesse oblige" as practiced by the refined upper crust. Looks like the idea is that since you're already at the societal top, you've got nothing to prove.

Trouble is this overly generous attitude causes problems for Ted as an adult, particularly with his love life where he doesn't try hard to win Barbara (Lane) despite how he feels. What he needs to do in so many words is 'to stand up for what you want'. So the idea, I believe, is a critique of being both overly generous as a personality trait and of the kind of upper class superiority that patronizes others.

I'm not surprised this was a Warner Bros. production since they were the blue-collar studio of the 30's. (In that regard, catch the revealing very last line.) The plot's a worthy one, but is none too plausibly conveyed among the many principals. At the same time, too much of the movie is too crowded with speaking parts and over-written as a result. Plus, Ted's rather violent turn-around sends a dubious message that's unfortunately papered over by a typical Hollywood ending. Lane over-emotes as the lively ingénue but at least provides spark, while Morris smiles affably while mainly standing around, that is, when not throwing a big tennis match. Hard to believe from this that he was a highly decorated WWII pilot before passing away at an early age.

Anyway, the movie handles tricky material rather awkwardly and without generating much audience involvement. Too bad.