Strictly Dishonorable (1931)

• Director
  • John M. Stahl
• Writers
  • Preston Sturges(stage play)
  • Gladys Lehman(screen play)
• Stars
  • Paul Lukas
  • Sidney Fox
  • Lewis Stone

  Preston Sturges' hit Broadway play Strictly Dishonorable was adapted for the movies in 1931 with virtually all its sexual innuendo intact. In New York City, a young American girl (Sidney Fox) tires of her abusive live-in boy friend. She falls for a roguish Italian singer (Paul Lukas) with a bad reputation, whose interest in her is purely carnal. Burned by her past relationships, the girl determinedly "holds out;" she will capitulate only on her terms, which include a matrimonial commitment. Impressed by the girl's iron will, the singer agrees to marriage, telling himself he is saving her reputation. Cheerfully uninhibited in the best pre-code manner, Strictly Dishonorable was laundered and musicalized for its 1951 remake, which starred Ezio Pinza and Janet Leigh.