Illicit is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Barbara Stanwyck, James Rennie, Ricardo Cortez, and Natalie Moorhead. Based on a play by Edith Fitzgerald and Robert Riskin, the film is about a young couple living together out of wedlock because the woman does not believe in marriage. When they finally get married, both become unfaithful to each other. Illicit was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Plot

Anne Vincent is a woman who has modern ideas about love. She believes that marriage kills love and leads to unhappiness and, inevitably, divorce. Although her boyfriend, Dick Ives II, and his father, Dick Sr., try to persuade Anne to get married, she resists their arguments. She believes it is important for people to be individuals, and that when they marry, they tend to become too emotionally dependent on each other, rather than, as an old suitor says, "being responsible to no one but herself." Both Anne and Dick have prior romantic entanglements still in the picture. Margie True admits she still loves Dick, and they talk; he says she will find someone who loves her as much as he loves Anne.