Friends and Lovers (1931 film)
Friends and Lovers is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film released by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Victor Schertzinger and stars Adolphe Menjou, Lili Damita, Laurence Olivier, Erich von Stroheim, and Hugh Herbert. The story follows British Army captain Geoff Roberts, who has an affair with Alva, the wife of the cruel Victor Sangrito. Sangrito knows about the affair and uses Alva’s charm to blackmail men. Roberts is drawn into the trap, pays the blackmail, and goes to India to forget Alva, whom he loves but believes betrayed him. In India he is joined by his friend Lt. Ned Nichols, who is in love with the same woman back in England. The two nearly fight over Alva, but realize she has deceived them both and that their friendship matters more. When they return home, they meet Alva again and wonder whether she truly betrayed them after all.
The film runs 68 minutes and was released by RKO. It is based on the 1930 novel Le sphinx a parlé by Maurice Dekobra, with adaptation by Wallace Smith and Jane Murfin, music by Victor Schertzinger and Max Steiner, and cinematography by J. Roy Hunt. The movie later recorded a loss of $260,000 at the box office.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:13 (CET).