The Human Side: A messy, domestic look at theater life

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, you probably already know if you are the type of person who digs these mid-30s domestic dramas. It is slow. It is talky. It is very polite until it isn't. If you want a movie that keeps you awake with sharp cuts and constant movement, skip this. But if you have a soft spot for actors just standing around in rooms talking about their feelings, you might actually get a kick out of it. 🎭

The whole premise feels like something cooked up during a long lunch in a smoke-filled office. A theater producer trying to keep his family afloat while the theater world is clearly trying to pull him under. It is a classic setup, right?

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Human Side (1934) through its definitive frames.

Oddly Specific Moments

There is this one scene involving the kids that goes on for a bit too long. You can tell the director was trying to establish a certain "family warmth" but it just feels like the kids were told to be cute for the camera and they forgot how to act like humans for a second. It is weirdly charming, though.

Also, the way Adolphe Menjou holds his cigarette in the second act? I don't know, it just feels like he is trying to signal 'I am very stressed' to the back row of the theater. It is a bit much. But then again, maybe that is exactly what the scene needed.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Human Side (1934) through its definitive frames.

I found myself thinking about Gossip while watching this. There is a similar vibe where people are just constantly worrying about what other people think. Only, The Human Side is way less interested in the actual scandals and way more interested in how everyone looks while they are unhappy.

The Pacing Issue

Look, the movie drags. There is no way around that. Sometimes the dialogue just circles the drain. One character will make a point, and then another character will repeat it, and then they will just stand there. I caught myself checking my phone, which is never a good sign.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Human Side (1934) through its definitive frames.

But then, there are these flashes of real personality. The way they talk over each other feels almost natural, which is rare for stuff from this era. Most of these films sound like a script being read aloud by a robot. This one? It sounds like people who are actually tired of each other. ☕

• The house set looks suspiciously like it was built for a different movie entirely.
• The lighting in the study is just bizarrely bright for a dramatic confession.
• I’m still not convinced the kids were actually related.

It is not a masterpiece. It is barely even a cohesive story by modern standards. But it has that weird, lived-in quality that makes me think someone on set actually cared about the little details, even if they forgot the big ones.

If you have a rainy Sunday and a very low bar for excitement, give it a shot. It is certainly more interesting than some of the stuff I have sat through lately, like Framed which just left me cold. This one at least tries to have a pulse.