One of the great joys of the Golden Age of Hollywood is that filmmakers were able to make a romantic comedy about absolutely anything, regardless of the cultural or moral standards that they may have challenged. Only under this system could a film like Love Before Breakfast be made, whereby the story centres on a fiercely independent woman who is relentlessly pursued (almost to the point of absolute obsession) by a young man who starts to resemble a stalker, following her everywhere she ventures, in the hopes of finally winning her heart. Whatever compelled Walter Lang to direct this film, which was written by a team of screenwriters (amongst them an uncredited Preston Sturges), adapting the short story by Faith Baldwin, is unknown, and it’s certainly not a film that could be made today, for a number of reasons. Certainly one of the many romantic comedies produced during the 1930s that emphasized the idea of someone doing whatever they can to achieve their ultimate goal (especially when it has to do with affairs of the heart), it has some questionable content – one just has to look at the poster, which features a drawing of the beguiling star of the film, sporting a black eye, to realize that Love Before Breakfast is not a film that really pays too much attention to delicate subjects, instead bursting through as an ostentatious and, quite frankly, polarizing attempt at extracting romance from a strange situation – and yet, like many classic era comedies, we can’t help but be charmed by the film, even if the strongest elements are those that are not the focus, which helps distract from the more ethically dubious conversations.

Despite the controversial subject matter, we need to look at films like Love Before Breakfast as a product of their time. Perhaps in contemporary standards, a film about a woman being constantly bothered by a man to whom she supposedly shows very little interest is bizarre, especially when the crucial tension comes when he backs off and goes on with his own life, and she begins to feel lonely and worthless (making it a very weird relationship that borders on a mild form of Stockholm Syndrome), but in terms of the stories made under the guidelines of 1930s moral principles, there was apparently nothing wrong with such an approach. Screwball comedies did have their own way of dealing with romance, so it only stands to reason one of them would contain a romanticizing of truly reprehensible behaviour. It’s not our place to berate the long-deceased stars and creators of this film, but rather revel in the fact that something so peculiar exists – and even more surprising, it is actually quite entertaining, if we can move beyond the actual morally ambigious content. The presence of Sturges as an uncredited screenwriter is quite interesting, since he was one of the most progressive-minded writers of this period, so one has to actually wonder whether Love Before Breakfast was glamorising the process of stalking someone until they magically fall in love with you, or critically commenting on the tendency for many people to simply think that they can buy someone’s love – and if we view it as a straight romantic comedy, it becomes somewhat questionable, but if we look at it as a scathing satire, a response to the more zany entries into the genre, we can see how it can be considered a resounding success, a darkly comical deconstruction of romance that is quite peculiar in both its approach and ultimate resolution to the story. 

Any discussion about a film that features her in the starring role has to draw attention to the fact that Carole Lombard’s star may have shone only briefly, but it was brighter than nearly any other actress working at the time. One of the era’s great beauties, she was easily someone who would define this era, with her incredible talent allowing her to play a range of individuals, and her refusal to simply portray mindless female characters forcing writers and directors to give her better work. Love Before Breakfast isn’t normally cited as her strongest work (if it is even mentioned at all), but it is certainly one of the several films she made in her peak that relies on the actress’ unique gifts and feisty sensibilities, which led to some extraordinary performances. Playing a woman who demands more than what those around her have to offer, instead choosing to follow her own path, Lombard is delightful – she’s hilarious (some of her line-readings are some of the funniest moments in the film), but also capable of a deep sense of aching melancholy, a sadness that comes about when we look at a woman trying her best to not lose herself to the bland nature of high society, where she has always had a preordained place as a faithful wife. Lombard is undeniably the star of the film – it was designed to be a vehicle for the actress – and not even strong work from Cesar Romero and Preston Foster can come close to touching what she does with the role, single-handedly adding depth and nuance to an otherwise conventional romantic comedy that would have been far more concerning had it not been for her spirited work.

Love Before Breakfast is not the kind of film that really lends itself to much overt discussion – we can try and reconfigure it through the lens of it being a scathing satire of both the high society’s tendency to treat women like they were prizes to be won, as well as the romantic comedies that reiterated this belief. Yet, this is an approach that really only becomes evident when we give it some thought, nothing about the story giving off the sensation that this was the intention in the first place. It would be foolish to think this film is also so myopic that it would try to entirely romanticize the experience of having a stalker, whose actions are supposedly valiant and the product of undying passion – considering the strict conventions at the time, it seems odd that anyone would think that a film that takes such questionable moral discussion seriously would be a good idea. The likely answer is that it would be a blend of both, a simultaneously satirical and fondly romantic look into a dynamic relationship that is portrayed as something of a cat-and-mouse game between two intelligent individuals, both of whom have the ability to fool the other. It leads to a delightful but otherwise unremarkable comedy that is only made special by the lovely Lombard, who leads the film with poise and grace, and the sparkling wit that helps the story from being entirely ambigious when it comes to its ethical approach. It’s not a film that has been perceived as some obscure classic, or even one of the best comedies of the era – instead, its a solid, charming 70 minutes of witty conversations and hilarious trickery, grounded by good performances and story so strange, it makes us wonder what the original intention of the film was, and whether it was actually achieved. One or way or another, Love Before Breakfast is something quite endearing, even if it does call into question a range of other conversations that were perhaps too ahead of their time for a comedy produced during this era.