In_Name_Only

In Name Only

In Name Only is a 1939 romantic film starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and Kay Francis. It was based on the novel Memory of Love by Bessie Breuer.

Plot

Alec Walker (Cary Grant) puts up with a loveless marriage to Maida (Kay Francis) until he meets widow Julie Eden (Carole Lombard). They fall in love and he asks his wife for a divorce. She refuses; she married him solely for his social position and wealth and won't give them up. Though he knows it, she is such a skillful liar, she has his parents (Charles Coburn, Nella Walker) convinced that Julie is the fortune hunter, out to destroy a happy marriage.

Julie breaks up with Alec since she can't see any future with him. Alec becomes so distraught, he gets drunk and falls asleep in a hotel room, leaving a window open in the middle of winter. As a result, he becomes dangerously ill. The doctor tells Alec's father that he would have no trouble recovering if he hadn't lost the will to live. When Alec calls out her name in his delirium, the doctor strongly recommends that she be brought to him.

Mr. Walker reluctantly lets Julie speak to Alec; she lies to him, telling him that Maida will divorce him. Mr. Walker steps out of the room for a moment. Maida arrives, but Julie blocks her from seeing Alec, pleading with her not to shatter his hopes and promising to leave once he recovers. Alec's parents return without Maida hearing them enter. She then coldly tells Julie she gave up the man she really loved in order to marry Alec, and that she won't give him up because she wants his father's much greater wealth. Mrs. Walker gasps, alerting Maida to her blunder. Mr. Walker then advises her to get whatever she can from Alec, because she won't inherit anything from him.