Merrily We Go To Hell (1932)

A wealthy heiress (Sylvia Sidney) falls in love with a newspaperman (Fredric March) who has ambitions to be a playwright. Unfortunately, he's a full blown alcoholic. With Dorothy Arzner at the helm and with March and Sidney in the lead roles (and Cary Grant in a minor role), one would expect this pre-code offering to be much more fun than it turns out to be. The main problem is that March is annoying and abusive and not good enough for her yet she inexplicably clings to him. March has no charm in his sober scenes and he's irritating in his drunk scenes. She just comes across as a doormat. Indeed, this looks like a dry run for March's much superior Norman Maine performance in the 1937 A STAR IS BORN although this one is saddled with a sappy ending. With Kent Taylor, Adrianne Allen (as the other woman), Skeets Gallagher and Esther Howard.