Indiscreet | Maude Eburne, Barbara Kent | Gloria Swanson in screwball mode     DVDs:     Indiscreet   Indiscreet Maude Eburne, Barbara Kent Alpha Video, 2005 average customer review:based on 2 reviews  for more information click here Silent screen star Gloria Swanson "speaks" in ace director Leo McCarey's sharp and sophisticated pre-code romantic comedy, Indiscreet (also released as Careless Heart).Swanson is Gerry Trent, an affluent dress-shop owner who specializes in designing very smart things for very smart ladies. Sick of her philandering boyfriend, wealthy playboy Jim Woodward (Monroe Owsley), she emancipates herself from his clutches on New Years Eve. Gerry's hiatus from romance is short-lived as she falls for writer Anthony Blake who's just penned the bestseller "Obey Thy Impulse." The lovestruck couple do exactly that and soon find themselves engaged. Seeking retribution from being spurned, Jim secretly court's Gerry's little sister, Joan (Barbara Kent). When Jim and Joan announce their engagement, it comes as a complete and horrifying shock to Gerry and Joan's sweet but simple ex-boyfriend, Buster (Arthur Lake). Knowing Jim to be a complete cad, Gerry and Buster hilariously scheme to break up the match while attempting to keep her sordid past with Jim hidden from Anthony.Co-photographed by Gregg Toland (Orson Welles' genius cinematographer of Citizen Kane), shot on opulent art deco sets and featuring beloved character actress Maude Eburne (The Bat Whispers, RKO's Dr. Christian films) as Gerry's nutty Aunt Kate, Indiscreet is an enchanting light comedy from the early 1930s.  for more information click here "Any Fool Can Write a Book!" First, be sure you AREN'T buying the Madacy edition - it is terrible as mentioned in reviews on that page. I haven't screen the Alpha edition but it sounds similar to the version on the 50 Movie Pack Hollywood Legends boxed set by Treeline which I just viewed. An erratic but generally good print, though some scenes have poor sound and others have clearly edited jumps, most likely from a repaired print that anything else. This 1931 Swanson vehicle was directed by future film legend Leo McCarey but his direction is one of the least inspired things about the movie which often seems stagey especially in the first scenes. The movie also can't make up it's mind what it is, starting out something of a soap melodrama with songs and then turning (more creditibly) into a wacky comedy, an very early screwball. Swanson stars as a successful New York businesswoman who is in a sexual romance with heel Monroe Owsley. She ends their affair when she learns he is seeing other women on the side. Time passes (although that isn't too clear in the film immediately) and Gloria falls in love with novelist Ben Lyon and is about to announce her engagement when her young sister Barbara Kent shows up with her new beau who just happens to be Owsley. Gloria vows to find a way to free her sister from the rogue even if it means putting her own romance in jeopardy. Gloria sings two songs in the film and one of them, "Come to Me", twice. She's gorgeous and is hilarious in the later scenes when she is out to make a bad impression at the Owsley family estate in a scene that foreshadows Irene Dunne's not dissimilar machinations in McCarey's 1937 classic THE AWFUL TRUTH. Best in the supporting cast is the hilarious character actress Maude Eburne as the girl's devoted aunt. One hopes a great print of INDISCREET will surface one day, it's lovely sets are depressing to view in a occasionally scratchy or blurry looking print. In the meantime, Gloria and company do their best to make an uneven screenplay and McCarey's indifferent direction work with the results fairly appealing.  for more information click here Gloria Swanson in screwball mode One of the happiest roles in Gloria Swanson's early talkie career, INDISCREET is directed with flair by Leo McCarey. Swanson plays fashion designer Geraldine 'Gerry' Trent, who gleefully dumps her philandering boyfriend Jim (Monroe Owsley) on New Years Eve. Several months pass before Gerry is introduced to Anthony Blake (Ben Lyon), the author of her favourite new book, "Obey Thy Impulse". Sparks fly and pretty soon Gerry and Anthony are engaged. Complications arise when Gerry's younger sister Joan (Barbara Kent) returns from her European holiday with a fiancee...none other than Jim! Gerry, a "modern girl with an old-fashioned conscience", is faced with confessing her messy prior relationship to Joan, and decides that she must also reveal Jim's true colours. But just how far will she go to protect her sister? This fast-paced romantic comedy displays Gloria Swanson in a new light. So many of her silent and early talkie roles cast her as the dramatic tragedienne, so having her in a light piece like INDISCREET is like a breath of fresh air. She even gets to sing! Keep an eye out for Maude Eburne as the comical Aunt Kate. For a movie from 1931, Alpha has tried to make the dilapidated picture quality more presentable (the picture is very sharp), even tweaking the Main Title sequence so that we can properly read the names of those concerned. That said, there are still many jumps and cuts in picture and sound, and some scenes are barely audible with the worn-out soundtrack. It's a shame because INDISCREET is a joy of a movie. (Single-sided, single-layer disc)  for more information click here recommendations GLORIA SWANSON Now There was  A  STAR search for DVDs indiscreet      toavi.com    web randomly chosen music: Simple Gifts: Christopher Parkening