Love Before Breakfast

Carole Lombard Director: Walter Lang Walter Lang

Overview

Love Before Breakfast was the scintillating title Universal chose over Spinster Dinner, the Faith Baldwin novel upon which this airy comedy is based. Carole Lombard is a Park Avenue beauty squired by Preston S. Foster and Cesar Romero. Since neither gentleman is a prize catch, Lombard is fey and fickle throughout the film. That's all there is to Love Before Breakfast, which might have been completely forgotten had it not been for a famous 1930s-era painting in which a detailed poster for the film is the focus of attention. There's one iconoclastic alteration in the painting: Carole Lombard has been given a black eye.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/07/2014
UPC:	0025192235900
Original Release:	1936
Source:	Universal
Presentation:	[B&W]
Time:	1:10:00
Sales rank:	50,143

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Carole Lombard	Kay Colby
Preston S. Foster	Scott Miller
Janet Beecher	Mrs. Colby
Cesar Romero	Bill Wadsworth
Betty Lawford	Contessa Janie Campanella
Douglas Blackley	College Boy
Donald Briggs	Stuart Farnum
Bert Roach	Fat Man
André Beranger	Charles
Richard Carle	Brinkerhoff
Ed Barton	Jerry/Cabby
Diana Gibson	Clerk
Joyce Compton	Southern Girl
E.E. Clive	Captain
Forrester Harvey	Steward
Mia Ichioka	Yuki
John Rogers	Dickson
Jay Eaton	Actor
Bob Thom	Chauffeur
Robert Thom	Chauffeur
Sammee Tong	Steward
Ralph Malone	Actor
Howard Christie	[uncredited]
Earl Eby	Entertainer
William Arnold	Waiter
Ralph Brooks	College boy
Nick De Ruiz	Chef
Lester Dorr	Attendant
Edward Earle	Quartermaster
Pat Flaherty	Bouncer
Nan Grey	Telephone Girl
John King	Friend
Alphonse Martell	Waiter
Bert Moorhouse	Clerk
Charles Tannen	Clerk
Theodore Von Eltz	Clerk
David Worth	College Boy
Dennis O'Keefe	College Boy
David Tyrell	Actor

Technical Credits

Herbert Fields

Gertrude Purcell

Walter Lang	Director
Travis Banton	Costumes/Costume Designer
James Carroll	Sound/Sound Designer
Albert S. D'Agostino	Art Director
Herbert Fields	Screenwriter
Edmund Grainger	Producer
Phil Karlstein	Asst. Director
Jack P. Pierce	Makeup
Gertrude Purcell	Screenwriter
Ted Tetzlaff	Cinematographer
Franz Waxman	Score Composer,Musical Direction/Supervision
Maurice E. Wright	Editor

Editorial Reviews

Star power is what Love Before Breakfast is all about, and the star in question is Carole Lombard. She takes a very shaky vehicle and sails it with great authority, never letting it sink or capsize, even when the going gets very rough -- and for the last half, it's pretty rough indeed, especially at the end. The blame for Love's problems, of course, is with the script. It's a typical romantic comedy, essentially of the screwball type but made before screwball comedy had really been created. It has some decent dialogue, and a few very decent scenes, but too much of the screenplay wobbles from moment to moment. It's also built on a shaky foundation. Its premise -- that a rich man can basically stalk a woman who doesn't want him and use his power and influence to manipulate events in her life and the livers of others to get what he wants -- is very difficult to pull off, and the director and writers are nowhere near up to the task. It doesn't help matters that leading man Preston Foster is also not up to the task. The role requires a William Powell or a Robert Montgomery, and Foster is neither of these men. This pretty much leaves everything up to Lombard, and she fortunately is up to the task. It's not one of her great performances -- the material doesn't allow for that -- but it demonstrates how the right actor in the right part can exert such command that she saves an entire picture by herself.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler