Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Sin Takes a Holiday (1930)

IMDb plot summary: A plain secretary works for a womanizing divorce lawyer who only dates married women. To avoid having to deal with the matrimonial pursuits of any of his potential romances, he offers her financial support if she marries him in name only.
Directed by Paul L. Stein. Starring Constance Bennett, Kenneth MacKenna, and Basil Rathbone.

Sin Takes a Holiday is about a receptionist in love with her boss, who is trying to avoid marrying a socialite. To get out of it, he proposes to his receptionist, with the understanding that he'll provide for her and let her live off on her own wherever she wants. Her friends are jealous of her opportunity for independence, but she's not convinced she wants to be in a sham marriage. This really, this worked for me for the most part. I found the story and especially the lead character really engaging. I found myself disappointed with the ending, which I won't spoil, but it seems like a little bit of a cheesy cop out for the kind of story that I hoped that they were setting up to tell. Constance Bennett, though, as the main character is really delightful and really relatable and charming. It's impossible not to root for her. It's very much a wish fulfillment kind of story, which is thoroughly enjoyable.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Sin Takes a Holiday > The Invention of Lying
Sin Takes a Holiday < Safe
Sin Takes a Holiday < The Impossible
Sin Takes a Holiday > Paris, Texas
Sin Takes a Holiday > The Chorus
Sin Takes a Holiday > I Saw the Devil
Sin Takes a Holiday > A Scanner Darkly
Sin Takes a Holiday > Juno and the Paycock
Sin Takes a Holiday > Killers of the Flower Moon
Sin Takes a Holiday < All That Jazz
Sin Takes a Holiday < Don't Look Up
Sin Takes a Holiday < May December
Final spot: #1476, or 62%.

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