Alec Walker (Cary Grant) is horseback riding when he comes across a young woman, Julie Eden (Carole Lombard), fishing on the bank of a stream. They talk, eventually spending the afternoon together. They make arrangements to meet again the next day, and the relationship takes off. But there is another woman--Maida Walker (Kay Francis), the wife of Alec. In name only. They have a loveless marriage. The only thing that holds them together is Maida's refusal to give Alec a divorce.

Eventually, Julie discovers Alec is married and he has to convince her that their relationship is more valid that his empty marriage. Maida plays the villain; she does not care for Alec but she hangs on in hopes of eventual financial reward.

The story condemns marital laws and society, which value the "sanctity of marriage" above all else. Things have changed since the thirties, but this story of love thwarted by conventions still engages the emotions of the viewer.

All of the lead actors plays their roles well. Helen Vinson plays the part of Suzanne, Maida's "best friend", who has her own reasons for tormenting the couple.

In Name Only (1939)

I thought I had seen pretty much every Cary Grant movie but this one evaded me and it was a thrill to discover, right from his best early period stuff. And he's good, and the movie is good, a story of being trapped in a bad marriage and then finding the right girl. And having your wife connive and become almost murderous to keep the marriage from ending.

It's all about money, too, since Grant plays a wealthy young man. So his wife, played with utter, awful precision by Kay Francis, has her eye on the dollar as she sees him begin to stray. The new woman is a restrained Carole Lombard, who is lovable and sincere, even after it becomes clear that Grant will never get free of his wife. It's all drama, not quite soap opera, and it's convincing enough to work. Grant has some moments where he has to act with some deeper richness, not his strong point, but he hangs in there (especially if you are predisposed to liking him). But Lombard and Francis are pitch perfect, and if quite the opposites, equally so.

Director John Cromwell had just directed Lombard in "Made for Each Other" (with Jimmy Stewart) and he has a way of bringing her out. This one is a better film, however, I think, so if you liked that other one, give this a look. Grant just filmed "Bringing up Baby" and is at the height of his lovable comic career. This would be his only film with Lombard, who actually might have been a good match in a lighter, wittier movie.

Expect nothing less than a fast, smartly written, involving drama.

Considering the three main stars a curiously obscure drama from the legendary year of 1939. Superior soap opera contains some of the best work Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and Kay Francis ever put on film. Carole shows that she wasn't just a superb comedienne but a skilled dramatic actress. Cary is just right in blending the facile with the seriousness of the untenable situation he finds himself in. As good as both of them are, and they are great, even better is Kay Francis, a portrait in silky malevolence. This was inexplicably almost the end of her film career, she ended up in Poverty Row junk only a few years later and after watching this it's hard to understand how this didn't open up a whole new chapter for her as the wicked woman of cinema. Perhaps she was just too early for noir, she would have been perfect as a poison pit viper in many of those pictures.