The Animal Kingdom (1932)

A publisher (Leslie Howard) has remained friends with his former mistress (Ann Harding) but when she hears he is engaged to be married to a socialite (Myrna Loy), she realizes she loves him and sends him away. After his marriage, they reconnect and she finds him a changed man due to his wife's influence. Based on the play by Philip Barry (THE PHILADELPHIA STORY) and directed by Edward H. Griffith (though it's rumored that the film was finished by George Cukor). Thematically, this pre-code comedy of manners bears some similarity to Barry's HOLIDAY. It doesn't bother to hide its theatrical roots and it's quite talky but when the dialogue is this good and works well, you don't mind it. Leslie Howard along with William Gargan as his ex-boxer butler and Ilka Chase as Loy's snooty pal recreate their roles from the original Broadway cast. Remade in 1946. With Neil Hamilton and Henry Stephenson.