“Housewife” is a 1934 film starring George Brent, Ann Dvorak, and a young Bette Davis. To be accurate, all three of the lead actors are young here, but Bette is noticeably more youthful than in her later, more famous roles. Movies from the early 1930s have a distinct style, and they offer fascinating insight into this unique period of American history.
Movies from the 1930s can be divided into two definite categories: those made before the formation of the Production Code Administration (PCA) and those made after. Those made before the PCA enforced the Motion Picture Production Code during film production are called “Pre-Code.” Those made after don’t have as definite a title. Some people call them “post-Code,” but that implies after the Code, not during. I prefer to call these movies “Code films” or “Breen Era films,” since the Code was only properly enforced during the twenty years when Joseph I. Breen was in charge of the PCA (1934–1954).
The Pre-Code Era is generally classified as 1930–1934, from the beginning of talking pictures to the beginning of the Code. Films released during 1934 can be confusing, however, since there was some overlapping of pre-Code and Code films. The PCA was founded in July 1934, and every film released in the United States had to receive an official Seal of Approval from the organization—which came with a fee—before being distributed. The idea behind the Code was that the PCA would help studios make movies to be decent in the first place by working with them throughout production, thus avoiding post-production cuts from the PCA or censorship around the country and world. However, in the first months after the PCA’s formation, that wasn’t possible, since all the studios had dozens of movies which were finished or far into production. The PCA could only edit these finished films with cuts and perhaps the suggestion of some additions to make them as close to the Code’s standards as possible. “Housewife” is such a film.
A Cautionary Moral Tale
This is the story of William Reynolds (Brent), the office manager for an advertising firm. He has a wife and a young son, Buddy (Ronnie Cosby). His wife, Nan (Dvorak), is a devoted mother, a shrewd housekeeper, and Bill’s biggest champion. It drives her mad that her brother, George (Hobart Cavanaugh), gets a new job with better pay while Bill is afraid to leave his menial position. To bolster the Duprey Cosmetics account, Bill’s employer, Sam Blake (Robert Barrat), hires a female copywriter from New York, Patricia Berkeley (Davis), who turns out to be a former admirer of Bill’s from high school. Nan encourages Bill to suggest an idea about Duprey Cosmetics to Blake, who will barely even listen to the suggestion. Furious, Bill finally decides to quit his job and start his own advertising firm.After six months of being in business for himself, Bill has only one client, and the family savings are running low. When he hears that Paul Duprey (John Halliday) is in town, Nan talks him into chasing Duprey down and signing him to his advertising firm, first getting him drunk enough to go through with the idea. Duprey’s only condition is that Patricia must be hired to write his copy. With this huge account, Reynold’s agency booms.
Before long, the Reynolds own a mansion, have servants, expensive clothes, and send Buddy to a prestigious military academy. It comes at a price, however, since Bill is always working. As he is spending less time with his wife and son, he is spending more time with Pat, who is very interested in her married employer. Soon, they are having an affair, which they aren’t even discreet enough to hide from Nan and Mr. Duprey. Paul can’t understand Bill’s wandering eye, since he greatly admires Mrs. Reynolds. Nan plans to ignore the situation until Bill comes to his senses, but she fears that she is losing her beloved husband to success and a designing woman.
Pre-Code or Code
“Housewife” was released on Aug. 11, 1934, with PCA Seal No. 57. This seems like a high number, but PCA Seals of Approval piled up faster than you might think. In fact, the PCA issued Seals so rapidly that, by the time of Joseph Breen’s retirement in October 1954, over 17,000 had been released. Mind you, these weren’t all for feature films, since they also included shorts, cartoons, documentaries, foreign films released in the U.S., and earlier films which were submitted for re-release. After just 57 Seals of Approval, the self-regulators, as the staff of the PCA liked to be called, hadn’t even gotten their feet wet.Basically, “Housewife” is a decent picture. Its general worldview conforms with the Code’s morality. A man has an extramarital affair, but he realizes the error of his ways and goes back to his wife, ending their divorce proceedings before it’s too late. This scenario occurs in many later Code films. However, if this movie had been produced with the PCA’s guidance, some things would have been different about the affair’s depiction. Primarily, a Code film probably would have left the extent of the affair to the viewer’s imagination. Unlike many pre-Code films, “Housewife” doesn’t show any explicit scenes; Bill and Pat don’t even kiss on the lips. However, we see them having dinner at her apartment, late at night, when he says he is working. They are constantly holding hands, whispering, and spooning at very unprofessional moments. If they’re doing that much right in front of Nan, what must they be doing when they are alone?
Besides this, there are minor details in this film which fit the earlier style of Pre-Code films more than the standards of later Code films. Bill gets very drunk before going to talk to Paul Duprey, and Nan is drinking with him, although she seems to be feigning intoxication. There was much more alcohol and drunkenness in Pre-Code films, despite the fact that most Pre-Code films were released before Prohibition was repealed on December 5, 1933. Thus, the heavy drinking was not only intemperate and morally questionable but illegal. Although this was no longer the case by the time “Housewife” was released, it’s a similar idea. Although most of the costumes are decent, Nan wears one dress with a bizarrely revealing slit over the chest. Finally, Pat neither shows repentance nor receives punishment for her immoral behavior. She tries to break up a marriage but gets off scot-free.
Celebrating the American Housewife
This movie deserves its Seal of Approval because it focuses on a female character who is a wonderful example of American womanhood. Nan is a typical housewife during the Great Depression, but she has many extraordinary qualities. She works hard around the house, and she saves money fastidiously by following a careful budget. She’s a devoted mother and a loving wife. Although she isn’t a businesswoman like Pat, she is one of the smartest characters in the film. Her ideas, plans, and determination transform Bill from a browbeaten office manager to the head of a huge marketing agency. Even when the going gets tough, she never stops believing in her husband. This role is played with tenderness and determination by Ann Dvorak.Patricia Berkeley presents a sharp contrast to Nan. Played by Bette Davis when she was still in her blonde cutie pie phase, Pat is the exact opposite of the housewife, the modern woman. She has a job, she smokes frequently, she lives at an expensive hotel, and she doesn’t subscribe to traditional morality. She tries to sell Bill on the idea that his having “friends” besides his wife is very modern, shaming him into thinking that he’s just being “old-fashioned” when he is pestered by twinges of conscience. At the center of this love triangle, Bill is perhaps the least complex of the three main characters. He doesn’t appreciate Nan’s help as much as he should. He goes from being grumpy because he hates his job to concerned that his business is failing to annoyed when Nan questions his behavior as a successful businessman. George Brent gives a good performance as this morally ambiguous character.
If you’d like to see an example of a very early Code film, I suggest “Housewife.” It may not be up to the usual moral standards we expect from the Code, but it’s a charming precursor of the wonderful things to come during the Breen Era.
