Ronald Colman may never have been better than as the happily married barrister who foolishly embarks on an extramarital affair with a young shopgirl, (Phyllis Barry), in King Vidor's now totally forgotten "Cynara". Made pre-Hays Code this is one of Vidor's best and certainly least known films that treats the subject of adultery with surprising frankness as well as a considerable degree of tenderness. Excellent work, too, from that very fine and underrated actress Kay Francis as the wronged wife and Henry Stephenson as Colman's older friend who is largely responsible for driving Colman into the younger woman's arms. Seek this one out.

There's nothing really remarkable about this film - A normally respectable man has an affair when his wife is away and the worst possible outcome for everyone involved occurs. As always, of course, the devil is in the details.I actually felt rather bad for Jim (Ronald Colman), a respectable barrister with a good marriage whose wife (Kay Francis as Clemency) takes off for Venice for weeks on a lark just because her flighty sister needs to be saved from herself - she's in love with a parachute jumper! She leaves Jim in the clutches of someone much more dangerous than another woman. She leaves him in the company of a lecherous older man (Henry Stephenson as John Tring) who is insistent that he drag everyone down to his level of debauchery and cynicism - a level of debauchery which, at his age, and decades before the invention of that little blue pill, he can only enjoy vicariously through the acts of others. When John and Jim go out for dinner John invites two young girls over to join them - amidst much protest from Jim - and practically pushes one of them (Phyllis Barry as Doris) into Jim's arms. Nothing happens that night, but Doris has her cap set for Jim even knowing he's a married man. Once she finally gets Jim inside her flat weeks later, Doris nags the poor guy to the point that I'm sure he's willing to bed her just to shut her up. Doris would have made a great time share condo saleswoman had she lived in modern times.So the two have their affair with the understanding that it will end when Clemency returns. Doris has Jim's body but she'll never have his heart, so to speak. But then Clemency returns and Jim lives up to the agreement they've had all along and ends the relationship, though not without some pain of separation as he has grown to care for the girl. Doris poisons herself rather than live on without Jim. Now Jim should have seen this coming when Doris went all Ophelia on him when they were on one of their weekends in the country, with her crying about how the trees must be so sad when lovers never return to enjoy them??? The inquest goes hard on Jim, although I'm not sure why there even is one since Doris obviously poisoned herself according to the police and Jim was miles away at the time. Apparently, 80 years ago, it would have made a difference in public opinion - all important for a barrister - if Jim was not Doris' "first". Doris told him that he wasn't as part of her initial sales pitch, but he is just too much of a gentleman to say so in court when asked that very personal question. He is thus presumed to be the deflowerer of an innocent young shop girl and, although not criminally responsible, any hope for a career or even social acceptance is over.So this is where we started and this is where we leave off. Jim has been recounting the entire story to Clemency before he leaves for South Africa to start again where he is not known. Will she go with him or start over without him? And since up to now she has decided to leave Jim what or who - if anything - will change her mind? That much I'll leave for you to find out.Before you think me too hard on Doris let me just say that I am a woman, not a man, so I watched this from the sympathetic eye of a woman who was once a girl, been there, done that. Believe me, even young women can tell when a man is just unhappy versus unhappily married. The people to watch out for are the evil people in this world such as John Tring who want to drag everyone down to their level yet see themselves as civilized, the silly people like Clemency who will leave a treasure on the sidewalk and just assume it will be there when they get back, the even sillier people like Clemency's sister who is doomed to marry the wrong man - it's just a matter of time, and finally those who won't level with themselves like Doris. Put all of these people together and even a basically decent man like Jim is bound to succumb to his human weaknesses.

With all the talk of temptation before his strangely named -- but ultimately forgiving -- wife, Clemency, goes on vacation, it is obvious that dapper lawyer Jim is going to stray.For such a smart and accomplished barrister, he falls for every temptation his eager would-be paramour drops in his path. Still, it is entertaining to watch this story unfurl.Ronald Coleman gives a sensitive performance as the elegant yet uninsightful husband. (Why on earth would he accept a job judging a silly beauty pageant?) The casting of his wife and lover is intriguing -- the women could have been dead ringers for each other.Yet Henry Stephenson, playing the wily friend John Tring, is the most interesting character in this drama. In the end he seems like some kind of puppet master, having orchestrated the ultimate test of the Warlocks' marriage and ultimately overseeing their somewhat unlikely reconciliation."Call no woman respectable until she's dead," this cynic intones.It's highly ironic that the seductive character Doris, played ably by Phyllis Barry, commits suicide near the story's end. The Wikipedia listing for this actress notes that she died of a barbiturates overdose some 20 years after the film's production.PS: Does anyone else wonder where this film got its title? PSS: OK, I read the other reviews, and now I get it...

When Lubitsch ran over schedule on "Trouble in Paradise" Kay Francis was replaced by Bebe Daniels in "42nd Street", a movie that she thought could re-vitalise her career. Kay was understandably angry and to appease their star, Warners lent her to Samuel Goldwyn for his prestigious "Cynara" where all the actors came out winners. I thought Ronald Colman and Kay Francis had good chemistry as the contented couple who encounter the seven year itch.Jim Warlock (Colman) has the evening all planned - dinner at the Ritz, followed by a show with his beautiful wife Clemency (Francis) as it is their 7th wedding anniversary. He gets home to find Clemency leaving for Naples, all part of a scheme to get her flighty sister unentangled from yet another sticky engagement. His fun loving friend takes him out to a low restaurant where they pick up a couple of shop girls. Doris (Phyllis Barry) seems particularly taken with Jim but he doesn't give her a second thought, even tearing up her address as he declares there is only one woman for him - Clemency!! There was much fanfare when Phyllis Barry, an unknown, was chosen for the role of Doris, but, for me, she didn't seem to have any spark, being pretty colourless in the role. It wasn't surprising that within a couple of years her roles consisted of things like "party guest" and "brunette chambermaid" when she wasn't being put into Wheeler and Woolsley comedies.He encounters the intense young Doris again, at a beauty contest he is judging and of course she wins first prize. They begin meeting but Jim's steadfastness and integrity count for nothing when he finds himself at the mercy of the needy Doris. In only one scene in the movie, when Doris and Jim visit a cinema. Watching Charlie Chaplin in "A Dog's Life", Jim really lets his guard down and for a few minutes the viewer can see why he is drawn to the unpretentious Doris. Clemency returns and Jim hastily pens a "Dear John" letter to Doris not realising that it will push her over the brink. His friend dismisses Doris as someone who "didn't play the game fair" but because of his decency about not letting on that she wasn't quite pure when they met, Jim gets caught up in the whole sordid mess.Kay didn't have much to do in this drama of infidelity except look her usual ravishing self. Unfortunately even though by the end of 1932 she was one of the most "worshipped of stars" it proved to be the end of her prestigious years.