The Great Lover (1931 film)

The Great Lover
The Great Lover
Directed by	Harry Beaumont
Written by	Gene Markey; Edgar Allan Woolf
Based on	The Great Lover; 1915 play; by Leo Ditrichstein; Fanny Hatton; Frederick Hatton
Starring	Adolphe Menjou; Irene Dunne; Ernest Torrence
Cinematography	Merritt B. Gerstad
Edited by	Helene Warne
Music by	Charles-François Gounod
Production; company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	July 18, 1931;
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Great Lover is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Adolphe Menjou and Irene Dunne. The supporting cast includes Ernest Torrence, Neil Hamilton and Olga Baclanova. It as produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and based on the 1915 The Great Lover by Leo Ditrichstein. Dunne was loaned from RKO for the film.^[1]

Plot

Jean Paurel is a famous opera star, who agrees to help Diana Page her career, in order to take advantage of her. But instead he finds himself falling in love with her.

Cast

Adolphe Menjou as Jean Paurel
Irene Dunne as Diana Page
Ernest Torrence as Potter
Neil Hamilton as Carlo
Olga Baclanova as Savarova
Cliff Edwards as Finney
Hale Hamilton as Stapleton
Roscoe Ates as Rosco
Herman Bing as Losseck
Elsa Janssen as Madam Neumann Baumbach
Lilian Bond as Mrs. Loring

Production

An earlier version, also based on the 1915 play, was The Great Lover (1920), starring John Sainpolis and Claire Adams.^[2]

The 1949 film The Great Lover starring Bob Hope was similar in title only.

References

^ Gehring p.35
^ Goble p.785

Bibliography

Gehring, Wes D. Irene Dunne: First Lady of Hollywood. Scarecrow Press, 2006.
Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.