An uneven but fairly entertaining blend of comedy and domestic melodrama, Merrily We Go to Hell was perhaps more engaging to 1932 audiences than it is to modern ones. Director Dorothy Arzner makes a very game attempt to reconcile the warring styles of the screenplay, but there's only so much she can do to make the pieces fit naturally. She's also rather more successful in mining the comic aspects of the story than the drama, perhaps because the comic sections have a bit more interest to them. Arzner puts a nice little bite into these sequences, a twist here and a pinch there that help to enliven the proceedings. She tries to do the same with the melodrama, but the material doesn't respond as readily. Edwin Justus Mayer's screenplay does contain a decent amount of good dialogue, but many of the plot points will strike modern viewers as tired, while others will come across as somewhat offensive. Fortunately, Merrily has Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney on hand to essay the main roles. Both bring their appealing screen personas to the parts, and they give their parts much more depth than Mayer did. There's also the joy of a young Cary Grant in a tiny role, and a supporting cast that is diverting.