Consolation Marriage (1931)

A shopkeeper (Irene Dunne) loses the man she loves (Lester Vail) when he marries a rich woman instead. A reporter (Pat O'Brien) is jilted when the woman (Myrna Loy) he loves marries another man. When the two meet, a friendship and camaraderie develops between the two of them and since they get along so well, they decide to enter a marriage of convenience with no strings. But later, when both their first loves re-enter their lives, decisions must be made. Directed by Paul Sloane (THE WOMAN ACCUSED). This pre-code movie is a mundane melodrama whose sappy outcome is never in doubt. Irene Dunne is in weepie mode as she suffers and suffers between abandoning her baby for the man she loves and the pain of being abandoned again by her current husband. I've never cared for Dunne's weepie performances like PENNY SERENADE, LOVE AFFAIR and here. I much prefer her in screwball comedies. The cat eyed and shimmering Myrna Loy is so much more attractive, who wouldn't dump the teary eyed "laughter through the tears" Dunne for Loy? With John Halliday and Gertrude Howard (the most likable character in the film).