One can tell that this is a pre-Code film not only because it uses the word "virgin" but also because it has plenty of adultery and non-marital sex and discusses it in detail. The estimable Ann Harding plays Claire, married to publisher Rogers Woodruff (Frank Morgan), whose mistress Mary Howard (Myrna Loy) is one of his authors. Jimmy (Robert Montgomery) is in love with Mary and uses devious means to get Claire and Mary to meet at Bridget's (Alice Brady) summer house without either of them knowing who the other woman is. Mary and Claire discuss Mary's latest book, which has a plot about a married publisher and his mistress and they discuss how the characters behave. Rogers arrives and all is revealed. Claire relates how Mary is just another woman in Rogers's long list of them and storms out, while Mary and Jimmy have breakfast.
When Ladies Meet is beautifully acted and directed, with elegant art direction by Cedric Gibbons and cinematography by Ray June, The film has a certain level of snappy dialogue (Jimmy says of Mary "I am the dust beneath her feet, not the cream in her coffee") from the original play by Rachel Crothers,but this is clearly an attempt by all concerned to cover up their unhappiness and confusion. Even Bridget is getting older and feeling her own mortality, keeping a young man around to sleep with. And nothing gets resolved: will Claire finally leave Rogers (they have two children) and will Jimmy end up with Mary? Beaumont (who directed silent films and later B movies) effectively uses long shots and a minimum of close-ups and sets to keep the original play's complexities under control and keep the audience involved, emphasizing that there are few easy answers to life's dilemmas.
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