MOVIE OF THE DAY: "LOYALTIES" (1933)

 

In light of recent events, as the cliche goes, it's interesting to watch the 90 year-old British movie Loyalties. During a weekend pajama party for champagne-swilling plutocrats, Jewish businessman Ferdinand de Levis discovers that £1700 has gone missing from his wallet. The most likely thief is another guest, the openly antisemitic Capt. Ronald Dancy, who denies de Levis' accusations. The other, slightly less-openly antisemitic guests prefer to believe (or claim) it was the work of an intruder. As word of the theft gets around the private club these jokers belong to, de Levis is urged to stop his accusations. Confident that there's no proof as to who committed the robbery, Dancy takes de Levis to court for slander, a move that eventually turns fatal for the captain/bigot/thief.

Which profile would you believe?

Unlike the previously-discussed American movie Counselor-At-Law starring John Barrymore, the religion of the lead character (played by Basil Rathbone) is front and center in Loyalties, as is the discrimination he faces. Even in the pre-Code days, American movies couldn't get away with dialogue like "You damn Jew!" as Loyalties does here, the Brits not averse to an extra dose of realism. 

De Levis' "friends" are despicable to the core. The business club members care more about protecting a thief than seeing justice served. One of the women attending the slander trial wonders if the jury's "two chosen people" should have been rejected by the defense.  At no time does anybody other than de Levis give a damn about the crime -- it's all about loyalties to one's class. (When Dancy meets his inevitable fate, it's de Levis who's blamed.)

Yet Loyalties is more complex than it seems. The bigots don't care for de Levis but allow him as part of their little circle. De Levis himself initially agrees to drop charges against Dancy in exchange for membership in the Jockey Club. It's as if both camps are deliberately daring each other (and themselves) to see how far they'll go before somebody snaps. 

C'mon, Basil, can't you be a little more obvious?

Basil Rathbone's performance is especially interesting, even if he's as believable here as Barrymore was at playing a Jewish character. Throughout Loyalties, he's contemptuous of these awful people, yet appears quietly desperate to be part of their clique, even if it means trading justice for another step up the class ladder. 

But what really fascinates is how Rathbone plays de Levis. He's not just foppish, but downright effeminate, doing his best to portray him not as Jewish but a stereotypical gay man of his time. Pursing lips, hands on hips, tilted head -- it's almost as if Loyalties wants to portray the other characters as being so blinded by antisemitism that they can't see the obvious staring at them. (Jews might have been looked down upon, but homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1967.)

Alan Napier (left) was old before he was young.

 Director Basil Dean jazzes things up visually from time to time with flashbacks, montages, interesting close-ups, and a climax that had me saying "Wow!" out loud. A couple of supporting actors are worth a mention, too. Miles Manders (the despicable Capt. Dancy) would appear with Rathbone over a decade later in the Sherlock Holmes movies The Scarlet Claw and The Pearl of Death. The one rich bastard who suspects Dancy of the crime, Gen. Canynge, is played by Alan Napier, who looks almost exactly as he did as Alfred the butler in the Batman series three decades later despite being only 30 years old here. Loyalties, then, makes for a remarkable viewing for cultural, historic, and, sadly, contemporary reasons. 

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