jarrodmcdonald-1 For anyone who doesn't know what the title means, it's certainly spelled out in the picture's story. I won't give the whole thing away but I did find it interesting the way George Brent's character transfers his ideas of living on velvet on to his wife, played by Kay Francis. They both suffer a lot in this film, but since this is a melodrama geared for female audiences, her torment is designed to be a lot more noble than his. Warren William, billed over Brent, appears as the couple's best friend, in more of a supporting role; he probably suffers too but his reduced screen time doesn't allow us to glimpse his particular turmoil and neurosis. Tearjerking aside, I found the performances to be sincerely played, and the woman (Helen Lowell) cast as Kay's impatient aunt was particularly good. Some of the denouement didn't make sense in the last few minutes, because a character who was supposed to die was suddenly allowed to live (per Jack Warner's wishes). Even if said character had died, I am not too sure how it would have reinforced a point the writers were trying to make. Maybe it was all supposed to lead to a realization that pain and suffering can be erased somehow, once you stop living on velvet.

calvinnme I say "oddly" because I cannot nail down precisely why I like it so much. There's just something magical and Christmas-like - in a renewed hope kind of way - about this film.I admit that I would find Terry Parker (George Brent) an unendurable jerk if it were not for the first scene showing the airplane wreck plus his one serious speech to his good friend and benefactor Gibraltar (Warren William) about why he is wrecking his own life with wild abandon. One act of carelessness - not being sure he had enough fuel when he piloted his family to an event - has resulted in all of their deaths while he walked away unharmed, and now he is being intentionally reckless and insuring that he will never be successful or happy. He feels he's living on borrowed time and he wants to be sure he can't pay back the loan.However, he can't help but reach for some bit of happiness when he meets Amy (Kay Francis) at a party. The two run out on the party, have a grand night together strolling through the park, riding in a carriage, and dunking donuts at dawn in a dingy diner. Then Terry learns that Amy is "Gibraltar's Amy" - the girl that his only true friend in the world loves and just told him about the day before. He won't betray that friendship, so in spite of Amy's pleas that the feeling is not mutual between herself and Gibralter, he refuses to see her any more and goes on a bender to try to get her out of his system. Uncharacteristic for almost any role Warren William ever played, he selflessly finds Terry, sobers him up, brings him back to Amy, and steps out of the way so that Terry and Amy can be together. Amy and Terry are immediately married, and Gibraltar lets them lease a lovely vacant house he owns on Long Island for only 4.50 a month.The two are fabulously happy at first, but then Terry starts in with his passive aggressive destruction of their marriage. He just can't let himself be happy. The whole thing ends rather abruptly and rather unbelievably in the way that so many 30's Warner films did, but the final scene is sure to warm your heart.What's great about this movie? It has a rather offbeat and unique premise even if word by word the dialogue is forgettable, Kay Francis and George Brent had amazing chemistry here as in all of their films, and there's that great romantic score playing through most of the film. I always thought that Warner's did these 30's high society dramas actually better than MGM, even though that was somewhat MGM's stock and trade, because Warner's knew to keep things moving and to the point rather than let things drag on as was the case in several similar films by MGM of that same era. Highly recommended.

dbdumonteil Coming just before " Stranded" , a movie dealing with the plight of people left out in the cold ," Living On Velvet" ,if there were any doubt about it,shows how much Frank Borzage was an auteur.His sympathy for suffering people was infinite and the things he tells us still reverberates today.A man has lost all his family in a plane crash.So he is "living on velvet" now,playing the part of a faux bon vivant,incapable of "filling the void" .A man ("Gibraltar") will have to sacrifice his true love for a woman to give Clarence a reason to believe in life again.There are real saints in Borzage's work: Margaret Sullavan would do the same in " the shining hour" where she's willing to leave her husband she loves dearly so that two people will be happy.Like this ? try these ......"Phone Call from a stranger" (Jean Negulesco,1952) "Fearless" (Peter Weir,1993)

Arthur Hausner There's not much of a plot. George Brent piloted a plane which crashed killing his parents and sister, while he walked away with hardly a scratch. So he believes he's living on borrowed time - "living on velvet" as he puts it. But he meets Kay Francis, the fiancee of his best friend, Warren William, and they fall in love. William wants her to be happy and not only approves of their marriage, but helps them out by setting them up in a Long Island estate he rents at $4.50 a month. Still the marriage has its problems because of Brent's irresponsible attitudes about working.Although the movie is somewhat enjoyable at the melodramatic level, there is one sequence that had me in stitches. To appreciate it, you must know in advance that Kay Francis always had trouble with the letter "r", which often sounded like "w". I notice it in all her movies. Here, George Brent gently ribs her about it. The night they meet, he tells her he likes the sound of her voice, and asks her to say something nice and long. She begins "30 days has September, Apwil June..." "Apwil? Apwil?" he interrupts. "Repeat after me please 'Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran'." Miss Francis repeats it, purposely exaggerating the "w" sound and starts her poem again this time saying "Aprrril", but letting the "w" sound creep in for some of the other months. It is a very funny sequence. As star of the movie, she easily could have suppressed that dialogue, but all the more power to her for letting it stay. It raised my opinion of her considerably.