Though merely a minor effort from Hollywood’s greatest year, the soap In Name Only has a lot going for it, particularly its star power of an unusually high wattage.  This triangle stars Cary Grant (on his way up), Carole Lombard (at her peak), and Kay Francis (on her way down, but not without a fight).  It’s a quality “woman’s picture” that overcomes its more contrived elements through John Cromwell’s smooth direction. 

Beautiful Lombard, a witty and radiant comedienne, here gives what is probably her finest dramatic performance, so natural and effortlessly affecting, positively timeless.  She’s a widowed commercial artist and fashion designer who falls for rich-boy Grant, who is miserably married to viper Francis (she married him for his dough and won’t grant him a divorce).  Grant is charming and loving, but he’s playing a weakling, allowing the two actresses to dominate.  Francis was never a great actress, but she surely was a star, and here she has a high old time as an all-out bitch and phony.  It becomes a battle of the wardrobes for the two actresses (each with her own designer), and I have to declare Lombard the winner.  

Though the film is a drama, thank goodness Lombard and Grant are allowed to have some comic interplay, taking advantage of this golden opportunity and proving that they have chemistry in spades.  The more melodramatic writing can be thin and foolish, leading to Grant in an oxygen tent, but at last we get a decisive and satisfying confrontation between the ladies.  As 30s soaps go, this baby really delivers, reveling in its trio of stars.

Interesting footnote.  Charles Coburn plays Grant’s father.  In 1943, Coburn won an Oscar for The More the Merrier.  When that comedy was remade in 1966 as Walk, Don’t Run, Grant, in his final film, played Coburn’s role.