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6.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Affairs of a Gentleman remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like those snappy, pre-code era mysteries where everyone talks like they’re trying to win a prize for the most insults per minute, you’ll probably have a decent time. If you need logic, or if you get annoyed when characters act like total idiots just to keep the plot moving, skip this. It’s a very 1930s kind of mess, and I mean that with love.
The whole thing hinges on a dead writer who was, by all accounts, a real jerk. He wrote about his affairs, and now he's dead in a room full of people who hated him. It’s classic stuff, really.
The movie moves fast, maybe too fast. You barely meet one of these women before someone else is screaming or getting interrogated. It’s got that frantic energy you see in But a Butler!, where the camera is constantly moving because the director is terrified you might actually notice the holes in the script.
Speaking of the script, I lost count of how many writers worked on this thing. Five people? It shows. Some lines feel like they were written by someone who had never met a human being before.
There’s a moment where a character walks across a room and trips over a rug, but they just keep talking like nothing happened. I swear they didn't cut it. It’s the most real thing in the whole picture.
If you are looking for deep character work, you are looking in the wrong place. This is just a game of Clue with more cigarettes and better suits. It reminds me a bit of the frantic pacing in The Prince Chap, though this one has way less charm.
Sometimes the movie gets *so* tangled in its own web of secrets that I genuinely forgot who was even supposed to be the killer. I don't think the writers knew either until the very last minute. It’s not exactly a masterpiece, but it’s got that weird, dusty personality that only these old studio churn-outs have. 🕵️♂️
Watch it on a rainy Tuesday when you don't want to think too hard. It’s thin, it’s petty, and it’s over before you can get too annoyed at it.
