Dorothy Arzner's Merrily We Go to Hell 1932

 Merrily We Go to Hell is a comedy, with March and Sylvia Sidney, in which humor barely conceals the desperation of the brittle rich.

--David Thomson

Is there much that is gay or feminist about Merrily We Go to Hell, directed by lesbian Dorothy Arzner?  Of course one can always find a subtext if one looks hard enough; at one point dipsomaniac Frederic March says, "I prefer the company of men, especially if they are bartenders."  Sylvia Sidney decides to marry journalist and playwright March as a rebellion against her wealthy father, even though March when inebriated thinks she is his previous love, Adrianne Allen, whose picture he keeps on his bureau. March goes on the wagon and finishes his play, with Sidney's help and support, but starts drinking again when the lead in the play is given to Ms. Allen.  March asserts his freedom, causing Sidney to assert hers (this is a pre-code film!) and while March carries on with Allen, Sidney carries on with Cary Grant (in his fourth movie) until she finds she is pregnant and leaves March.  When March reads in his own newspaper that Sidney has given birth he rushes back to her in Chicago, where his father-in-law tells him the baby has died.  March forces his way into Sidney's room --she has been crying for him -- and finally tells her he loves her, though it is clear by now he loves liquor more.

This is a downbeat and depressing film about alcoholism during Prohibition, which did not end until 1933.  Arzner's camera (cinematography by David Abel) focuses on the mostly idle rich and their attempts to drown their sorrows during the Depression. Arzner even uses subjective shots to show how blurry the world looks to those who are drunk. Arzner was the only woman director in Hollywood during the early sound era and made 20 films before retiring, for unexplained reasons that probably had to do with the sexism of the studios.   In 1949 Ida Lupino became a director, the only female director in Hollywood during the fifties.  Gradually things are changing and Merrily We Go to Hell was screened on Turner Classic Movies as part of their tribute to women directors.