Each of the performers in LOVE, HONOR & BEHAVE did better work -- some very decidedly so -- than what we see here, which is good, because otherwise there would be little reason for us to even know who any of them were. The script must have read better than it plays, otherwise I can't imagine why -- other than owing someone at Warner Bros. a BIG favor -- Thomas Mitchell (who knew his way around scripts as well as the stage) would have agreed to do this disastrous little romantic "dramedy." Others have described the plot, which concerns a young man (Wayne Morris) raised almost from the cradle to believe and act on fair-play and self-sacrifice by his well-meaning mother (Barbara O'Neil), to the point where he becomes a damaged adult, unable to assert himself in even the most basic manner on the essentials of life, including finishing college, competing in sports (tennis), and managing his love-life. He's taken advantage of, intentionally or otherwise, by a coterie of friends and acquaintances, and seems on his way to a life of unrealized potential and virtual penury by his exasperating mix of self-sacrifice and self-centeredness.
The conflict is resolved in an almost slapstick manner by the young marrieds (Morris, Priscilla Lane) that is steeped in just enough physical injury to make it unfunny and unromantic in the extreme. Given that none of the players from Mitchell on down seem to believe any of the lines they're spouting, and that the flat direction gives us nothing to appreciate in the acting or staging up to that point, it's almost a relief when this picture's final credits ("blame" might be more appropriate) unspool. (Even Dick Foran, who was accustomed to playing unsubtle lunkheads -- a role he later aspired to in real life -- looks uncomfortable here). And of course, the fact that it took four credited screenwriters to deliver the script for this 71-minute time-filler should be a warning to the unwary.
If you're looking for a good movie about marital conflict and resolution from this decade, see William Wyler's DODSWORTH. LOVE, HONOR AND BEHAVE is closer to Jiggs and Maggie, and painful to watch, especially given our awareness that everyone involved (including underlying author Stephen Vincent Benet, whose output included "The Devil And Daniel Webster") was capable of so much more than what we see here.
