Moment of Movie Wisdom: Honesty is the Best Policy in ‘An Innocent Affair’ (1948)

"An Innocent Affair" lobby card. MovieStillsDB

Commentary

The depiction of marriage in old movies is often complex. During the Golden Era of Hollywood, the Motion Picture Production Code required that the state of matrimony must be upheld at all times. While the difficulties and challenges of marriage could be shown, stories were not allowed to mock, ridicule, or disrespect the basic concept of traditional marriage. By extension, infidelity was not a forbidden topic, but it had to be handled very carefully. To create some dramatic tension without wading into the complicated waters of depicting adultery, many Golden Era filmmakers opted instead for stories about jealousy, misunderstandings, and false suspicions.

Today’s moment of movie wisdom is from “An Innocent Affair” (1948), released in the United Kingdom as “Don’t Trust Your Husband.” The scene in question takes place 70 minutes into this 86-minute film. A wife who is about to leave for Reno (Madeleine Carroll) to divorce her husband (Fred MacMurray) talks to her soon-to-be ex-sister-in-law (Rita Johnson) about the situation. Her friend has remained supportive throughout the situation, but she asks the wife whether she doesn’t want to give her brother another chance. She reminds her that he has repeatedly insisted that the “other woman” means nothing to him and that their relationship was just business. The wife, who admits that she still loves her husband, says that things could never be the same between them, because she wouldn’t trust her husband anymore. She bemoans his attempted deception, saying that if he had only been honest with her, she could have forgiven him anything.

The Story

Paula (Carroll) and Vincent Doane (MacMurray) have been happily married for five years. However, she is growing suspicious of the amount of time her husband has been spending with a potential client for his advertising firm, Mr. Fraser. She has caught him in many little falsehoods during his two weeks working on the case, so she suspects that Mr. Fraser is a woman. It turns out that she is right, but it’s not what she thinks. Margot Fraser (Louise Allbritton) is the head of Mesdames Cosmetic Company, a lucrative account Vince is trying to secure for his firm in hopes of becoming a partner and getting a raise. However, he is reluctant to tell Paula the truth because the beautiful young widow was his fiancée before he married Paula. The woman ended up leaving him for the wealthy old Mr. Fraser. Although he isn’t interested in Margot anymore, she has her sights set on him.

On their fifth wedding anniversary, Paula bemoans her husband’s straying affections. Her sister-in-law, Eve (Johnson), a lonely divorcee who shares their lavish New York apartment, recommends that she try to make Vincent jealous. To do so, she hires an actor to flirt with her at a nightclub that evening. However, the agency tips Vincent off in advance, so he’s expecting the trick. When a man (Buddy Rogers) sits down at the next table, Paula tries to catch his eye, and Vincent invites him over to their table. He introduces himself as Claude Kimball, the Southern manufacturer of Kim Cigarettes. While Paula whispers encouragements for the stranger to be more forward, Vincent acts infuriatingly calm about the situation. Little do they know that a seating mix-up at the restaurant made them mistake the real tobacco tycoon for a hired flirt!

The Scene

As Paula finishes packing for her trip to Reno that afternoon, Eve comes in and greets her warmly. She announces that she’s going over to the railroad office to pick up Paula’s ticket. Paula reminds her not to be late. Making a final effort to save her friend and brother’s marriage, she asks, “Are you sure you want me to pick it up?” Paula hastily replies, “Of course, I’m sure. Why do you ask?” “I just wanted to make sure you’re sure,” Eve replies. Turning to her frankly, Paula says, “Look, Eve. I know what I’m doing. I could never be happy again with Vincent. I’d never trust him.”

Eve gently argues, “But he swore Margot meant nothing to him, that it was strictly business. Why don’t you give him the benefit of the doubt?” Growing more excited, Paula demands, “But how can I give him the benefit of the doubt when, on top of everything else, I discover that Margot Fraser is really Maggie Crippen?” Eve reasons, “But maybe the dope was afraid you’d do exactly what you’re doing!” Paula explains, “The thing I resent is that he thought I’d be stupid enough to believe his lies. That’s what hurts, Eve. If he’d been honest with and told me the truth, I’d have forgiven him anything, no matter what he did.” “Oh, what husband tells the truth?” Eve bemoans.

Its Significance

Suddenly getting an idea, Eve tells Paula she’ll be right back and rushes out of the apartment. She hurries over to Vincent’s apartment and encourages him to confess to an affair with Margot. After their conversation, she believes that the only thing that can make Paula forgive her husband is his open admittance to a sin he didn’t commit. Unfortunately, the idea doesn’t work as planned.

Eve’s plan doesn’t work because, although she said she could have forgiven Vincent anything if he’d been honest, she doesn’t want to hear that he spent a weekend with Margot. She was angry enough when she just suspected him of infidelity. Ultimately, the only thing which restores Vincent to Paula’s good graces is Margot’s honest admission that nothing happened between them.

What Paula said was true. She just wanted the truth, but after she had caught Vincent deceiving her multiple times, she couldn’t believe anything he said anymore. She had to hear his name be cleared by another person, who had nothing to gain by the admission.

"An Innocent Affair" lobby card. MovieStillsDB

Honesty and Trust

This story shows the dangers of telling half-truths “for a good cause.” There certainly are times when it’s tempting to tell “a lie that brings a smile” instead of “a truth that sheds a tear.” However, ultimately, honesty is the best policy, since the truth often comes out at a later time. As Vincent discovers, an innocent situation can seem very tawdry when it’s been purposely misrepresented. If Vincent had told Paula the truth about the situation with Margot in the first place, she wouldn’t have liked it, but she would have known that he was being completely honest and upfront with her about the uncomfortable assignment.

However, this scenario also demonstrates the importance of trust, understanding, and not jumping to conclusions. Vincent is afraid to tell his wife the truth about a business assignment because of how he thinks she will react. From her behavior later in the film, his concern wasn’t unwarranted. Honesty is the best policy, but we need to also be careful to receive the truth with an open mind and trust if we want others to feel comfortable being honest with us.