The Easiest Way (1931) in Color — Starring Constance Bennett & Adolphe Menjou

The Easiest Way (1931) — Buy This Classic in Color

Experience the daring pre-Code drama The Easiest Way (1931), now available as a professionally colorized digital download for only €15.00. Directed by Jack Conway and starring Constance Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, Robert Montgomery, and a young Clark Gable in an early role, this unflinching examination of class, desire, and moral compromise follows a department store salesgirl who must choose between the security of a wealthy keeper and the uncertain love of an honest man. Download instantly in DRM-free MP4 format and enjoy this provocative classic in vivid color.

Plot Summary

Laura Murdock works behind the counter of a New York department store, earning barely enough to survive in a cramped tenement apartment she shares with her bitter, envious sister and her cheerfully coarse brother-in-law, played with rough vitality by a young Clark Gable. Constance Bennett plays Laura with a fascinating blend of vulnerability and calculation — she is a beautiful woman who has been taught by poverty that beauty is her only asset, and by observation that men with money will pay for what they want.

Laura’s life changes when she attracts the attention of Willard Brockton, a wealthy advertising magnate played by Adolphe Menjou with the suave, worldly authority that made him one of pre-Code cinema’s most compelling figures. Brockton does not pretend his interest in Laura is romantic — he offers her an arrangement: a luxurious apartment, beautiful clothes, financial security, and the understanding that she will be available when he wants her. Laura, exhausted by poverty and realistic about her options, accepts.

The arrangement transforms Laura’s external circumstances completely. She moves from a tenement to a Park Avenue apartment, from cotton to silk, from counting pennies to spending freely. But Bennett conveys with quiet precision the psychological cost of the exchange — the moments of self-loathing masked by champagne, the social isolation of a woman who cannot explain her circumstances to anyone, the slow erosion of the self-respect she barely had to begin with.

Everything changes when Laura meets Johnny Madison, a young newspaper reporter played by Robert Montgomery with earnest charm and genuine passion. Johnny represents everything Brockton does not — youth, sincerity, authentic emotion, and the willingness to build a life together based on love rather than transaction. Their romance develops with an intensity that pre-Code cinema could portray without euphemism, and Laura experiences for the first time what it feels like to be loved rather than purchased.

Johnny asks Laura to give up everything Brockton provides and marry him. The proposal forces Laura into an agonizing choice that the film refuses to simplify: Johnny’s love is real but his income is modest, while Brockton’s arrangement is degrading but provides the material security that Laura has learned she cannot live without. Laura chooses Johnny, and the joy of their early relationship is played with genuine warmth and tenderness.

But Laura’s past proves impossible to escape. When financial pressures mount and Johnny struggles to provide the life Laura has become accustomed to, the temptation to return to the easier path becomes overwhelming. Constance Bennett plays Laura’s internal struggle with remarkable honesty — she is not a villain but a woman whose values have been shaped by poverty and whose willpower is not equal to her desires. The question of whether Laura can truly change, or whether the easiest way will always pull her back, drives the film to its powerful and morally complex conclusion.

Clark Gable, though appearing in a supporting role, makes a strong impression as Laura’s brother-in-law Nick, whose working-class bluntness and unashamed appetites provide a counterpoint to the genteel hypocrisy of the upper-class world Laura has entered. It is one of several early roles that demonstrated Gable’s unmistakable screen magnetism before A Free Soul made him a star later that same year.

Cast & Crew

Director: Jack Conway

Stars: Constance Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, Robert Montgomery, Clark Gable, Anita Page, Marjorie Rambeau, J. Farrell MacDonald, Clara Blandick

Constance Bennett delivers a fearless performance as Laura Murdock, bringing intelligence and emotional complexity to a character who could easily have been reduced to a simple morality tale. Adolphe Menjou creates a sophisticated, unsentimentally honest portrayal of wealth deployed as seduction. Robert Montgomery brings genuine romantic appeal to the young reporter whose love offers Laura her best chance at redemption.

Why Buy This Classic in Color?

This professionally colorized restoration reveals new dimensions in the film’s visual contrast between poverty and luxury. The gray drabness of Laura’s tenement life, the warm golds and rich fabrics of Brockton’s world, and the modest but cheerful tones of Johnny’s apartment all gain emotional weight in carefully restored color. The transformation of Laura’s appearance — from working-girl plainness to Park Avenue elegance — becomes even more striking when rendered in full color. Pre-Code costume design and art deco interiors shine with period authenticity. Now also available in colour.

Buy now for €15.00 — instant DRM-free digital download, compatible with all MP4-capable devices.

Historical Significance

Based on Eugene Walter’s controversial 1908 play that tackled the oldest profession with unusual frankness, The Easiest Way exemplifies the daring social realism that made pre-Code Hollywood’s brief window of creative freedom so remarkable. The film addresses class inequality, sexual economics, and the limits of individual willpower with a moral complexity that the Production Code would make impossible after 1934. Constance Bennett, one of the highest-paid actresses of the early 1930s, was celebrated for choosing exactly these kinds of challenging roles. Through colorization, this provocative pre-Code classic is preserved for modern audiences who can appreciate its unflinching honesty in vivid new color.

Technical Details

• Format: MP4
• Resolution: HD 720p
• Colorized: Yes, frame-by-frame restoration
• Audio: Original English mono
• Runtime: 73 minutes
• DRM-free: Yes
• Instant download: Yes
• Price: €15.00

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Movie-Specific Questions

Q: How does Clark Gable appear in this film compared to his later roles?
A: Gable plays a rough, working-class brother-in-law in a supporting role filmed just before his breakthrough in A Free Soul (1931). His natural charisma and commanding screen presence are already fully evident, making this a fascinating early glimpse of the star he would become.

Q: What makes this a notable pre-Code film?
A: The film treats the arrangement between Laura and her wealthy keeper with startling frankness, depicting the sexual economics of a kept woman without the moral condemnation or coded language that the Production Code would later require. Its refusal to offer easy moral answers makes it remarkably modern.

Q: Is this based on a stage play?
A: Yes, it is based on Eugene Walter’s 1908 play of the same name, which was considered so controversial at the time that it helped establish American theater’s reputation for social realism. The film preserves the play’s unflinching examination of class and desire.

Digital Download Questions

Q: What format is the download?
A: The film is delivered as a high-quality MP4 file in HD 720p resolution, playable on virtually any modern device.

Q: Is this download DRM-free?
A: Yes, the download is completely DRM-free for your personal, non-commercial use.

Q: How quickly will I receive my download?
A: You will receive a secure download link on the confirmation page immediately after purchase, with a backup link sent to your email.

Related Colorized Classics

• Baby Face (1933)
• Red-Headed Woman (1932)
• Paris Underground (1945)
• Possessed (1947)
• Back Street (1941)