Zeus

• Bette Davis
• Gene Raymond
• Frank McHugh

A Pre-Code directed by Robert Florey for Warner Bros., stars Bette Davis as Helen Bauer, a talented illustrator who is at the top of her game. She’s in a relationship with Don (Gene Raymond) but refuses to marry him. Instead they live “in sin”. When keeping up this lifestyle becomes too much, Helen agrees to marry Don and that’s when everything goes haywire. Don’s talent agency takes a nosedive and the two begin to see other people. The story is partly inspired by the real life relationship of writers Edith Fitzgerald and Robert Riskin, who were also in a long-term relationship in which they lived together but remained unmarried (Riskin went on to marry actress Fay Wray). Bette Davis has some great lines in this film questioning the institution of marriage. She finds it dull and fears that it will strip away both their independence and individuality. There are two key scenes early on in the film when Davis and Raymond contemplate their relationship.