Flickers in Time

A Free Soul
Directed by Clarence Brown
Written by Becky Gardiner from a novel by Adela Rogers St. John
1931/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 2

Jan Ashe: [Seductively] Hello, there.
Ace Wilfong, Gangster Defendant: Hello, yourself. Say, it’s great to come up and find you here like this.
Jan Ashe: Is it now? Well, what are you going to do about it?

A very pre-Code take on the pleasures and pitfalls of free love.

Steven Ashe (Lionel Barrymore) is a brilliant, but alcoholic, trial attorney, who has taught his daughter Jan (Norma Shearer) to think for herself. When Jan meets Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable), a gangster her father exonerated in a murder trial, she drops her steadfast fiancé (Leslie Howard) and “gives herself” to him.

The Ashe family has already practically cut off Stephen and Jan.  Then Stephen shows up at a soiree roaring drunk, and that is that.  When Jan takes up with Ace, she is disowned as well.  Both pretend not to care.

Stephen objects violently to Ace but Jan refuses to give him up.  When Stephen’s alcoholism is growing terminal, Jan promises not to see Ace again if her father will stop drinking.  They go on a three-week camping trip together.  But their return to civilization doesn’t go so well.  I will stop here.

It was refreshing to watch a film with a strong female protagonist, even if Norma does recognize the error of her ways by the final frame. The trial scenes, as usual, bothered me. I always watch these with a critical eye and the attorneys and judge almost never fail to trample on every rule of evidence in the book.  Everything else about this movie is A-OK.

I have mixed feelings about Norma Shearer as she usually overdoes it in my opinion.  I was looking at her filmography though and hadn’t realized the number of silent films she made.  I looked at her through those eyes and understood her mannerisms completely.  Lionel Barrymore makes a good drunk, for sure.

Lionel Barrymore won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in A Free Soul.  The film was nominated in the categories of Best Actress and Best Director.

I love this fan made video (spoiler warning)

Waterloo Bridge
Directed by James Whale
Written by Benn Levy and Tom Reed from a play by Robert E. Sherwood
1931/US
Universal Pictures
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Collection

Roy Cronin: Where would I be likely to find her?
Mrs. Hobley: Oh, anywhere along the Strand, Leicester Square, Piccadilly. And of course there’s always Waterloo Bridge. A good many of ’em hangs about there to try to get the soldiers just coming in on leave.

James Whale shows that he was much more than a director of monsters in this sensitive portrait of doomed lovers.

The setting is WWI London.  Myra (Mae Clarke) was a chorus girl in a West End musical but has been out of work since the show closed two years earlier.  She now works the streets but has so much competition she is behind on her rent and everything else.

One night when she is cruising Waterloo Bridge looking for doughboys to pick up, she is caught in an air raid with fellow American Roy Cronin (Kent Douglass).  He escorts her back to her flat.  She doesn’t reveal her occupation and he doesn’t ask.  Instead, he begins courting her.

Roy tricks Myra into visiting his family who have a country estate near London.  They welcome her but Roy’s mother takes a private moment to have a conversation with Myra about the fate of their romance.  Roy is hearing wedding bells.  Both mother and Myra know this is impossible.  But Roy is set on the idea.  With Bette Davis in her third movie appearance as Roy’s sister.

1931 was the year of Mae Clark who did well in a wide range of roles – the fiance in Frankenstein, Jimmy Cagney’s rather strait-laced moll in The Public Enemy and as a sensitive but street-wise woman in this one. I enjoyed Whale’s restrained handling of the melodrama. I could have lived without the ending. I didn’t know they would have to resort to that in the pre-Code days. Highly recommended.

Red-Headed Woman
Directed by Jack Conway
Written by Anita Loos from a book by Katharine Brush
1932/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 1

Lil Andrews: Listen, Sally, I made up my mind a long time ago, I’m not gonna spend my whole life on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.
Sally: Well, I hope you don’t get hit by a train while you’re crossing over.

Jean Harlow makes a good pre-Code temptress.

Lil Andrews (Harlow) works in an office and is roommates with the wise-cracking Sally (Una Merkel).  She has decided that her best route to wealth is through seducing her married boss Bill Legendre Jr. (Chester Morris).  Bill is not an easy catch because he is in love with his wife Irene (Leila Hyams) who he has known since he was a child.  But Harlow is absolutely relentless and, well, she is an expert at breaking down resistance.  Once she has hooked him, they are surprised by Irene.  A divorce soon follows and Bill marries Lil.

Bill ran with the country club set.  All his friends look down on Lil both because of their friendship with Irene and because her sense of taste and decorum are strictly from the other side of the railroad tracks.  Bill is quickly tired of Lil.  But Lil is determined to climb the social ladder and there are other patsies waiting in the wings.  With Charles Boyer as a chauffeur.

This film made an interesting contrast with Baby Face (1933).  I found Barbara Stanwyck the more sympathetic of the anti-heroines, probably because her film took time to show her backstory.  Harlow’s character comes off more like a stalker.  Don’t get me wrong the film is enjoyable and Harlow makes a gorgeous red head.  I love Una Merkel and her scenes were the best in the film as far as I was concerned.

Baby Face
Directed by Arthur E. Green
Written by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola; story by Darryl F. Zanuck (as Mark Canfield)
1933/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Collection

Lily Powers: Of course, if Fuzzy Wuzzy really wants to give me something, he could put a few more pennies in my bank account.
J.P. Carter: My Dear, ask me something difficult.

To me this is the epitome of all that is Pre-Code.

Smart and sassy Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck) has been raised in squalor by her abusive father who runs a low-rent saloon and brews his own liquor.  She has been encouraged to be nice to the male clients since she was 14.  They all grab and paw at her. Now she hates men.  One night, her father empties the joint so she can spend some alone time with the politician who protects the saloon from the cops.  Lily breaks a bottle over his head.  Shortly thereafter, the saloon’s still catches fire killing her father in the process.

Friedrich Nietzsche: Face life as you find it – defiantly and unafraid. Waste no energy yearning for the moon. Crush out all sentiment.

Lily turns to a fatherly friend for advice.  He tells her that her youth and beauty gives her power over men and she should use it to get ahead.  Exploit or be exploited.

So Lily and her maid (Theresa Harris) hop a train bound for New York with $4 between them.  On arrival, they see a bank several stories high and Lily sets her sights on the top floor.  She gets advice from a friendly policemen and starts her career by seducing a personnel clerk and winning a job as a secretary.  She doesn’t stick to small fry for long, seducing each new boss in turn until she reaches the tippy top and makes bank president Courtland Trenholm (George Brent) fall in love with her. With John Wayne as one of the small-fry and Douglass Dumbrill as one of the bosses.

The plot description doesn’t convey how really fun and funny this movie is. Stanwyck is quick with some great one-liners and her procession of lotharios are comically dense. Little lingerie but this is about as risque as it gets.  Very highly recommended.

I watched the pre-theatrical release of the movie this time which includes scenes cut by censors before theatrical release.  I can’t remember my first viewing scene by scene.  I do know that the version I watched yesterday omits a scene where the fatherly guy is appalled by what Lily is doing and tells her she has got Nieztsche all wrong.

This is the end of my Stanwyck pre-code retrospective.  It has been great fun. I will next tackle the 40+ movies in TCM’s “Forbidden Hollywood” collection.  Red-Headed Woman (1932) up today.

Ladies They Talk About
Directed by Howard Bretherton and William Keighley
Written by Brown Holmes, William McGrath and Sidney Sutherland from a play by Dorothy Mackaye and Carlton Miles
1933/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Collection

Susie: Listen. Don’t think you can walk in here and take over this joint. There’s a lot of big sharks in here that just live on fresh fish like you.
Nan Taylor: Yeah, when they add you up what do you spell?

What could be more fun than a pre-Code women’s prison movie starring Barbara Stanwyck at her seductive bad girl best?  Not much, according to me.

Nan Taylor works with a bank robbing gang as sort of a shill and a watchdog. Although she is disguised as a blonde, she is easily recognized by a policeman as somebody he picked up before and the cops make short work of their investigation.

Dan Slade is both a prosecutor and an evangelist. He instantly falls for Barbara but also convicts her for her crime. She serves her sentence in the women’s prison at San Quentin, where she is as tough as any of the other girls .  She hates Dan and refuses his many requests to visit … at least until she can use him for her gang’s escape attempt.   With Lillian Roth as a fellow inmate and Ruth Donnelly as a guard.

I thought this was ultra fun. Stanwyck is absolutely gorgeous and beautifully dressed by Orry Kelly. The script is sharp and her delivery is spot on. This is the seductive bad Stanwyck we have learned to love. The women’s prison is a hoot! The prisoners spend most of their time in a common area when they aren’t smoking in the bathroom. Stanwyck’s cell looks exactly like a bedroom. Each prisoner has a distinctive uniform with lace etc. And they are all expert wisecrackers. My favorite scene from the film is when Lillian Roth sings “If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)” to a pin-up of Joe E. Brown. IMO, one of the essential Stanwyck pre-code films.  Recommended.

Even though it’s a cockatoo and the scene isn’t politically correct, this really made me laugh.

The Purchase Price
Directed by William A. Wellman
Written by Robert Lord from a story by Arthur Stringer
1932/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Emily: Gee, with a hundred dollars, maybe I could get myself a husband right here in town.
Joan Gordon, aka Francine La Rue: Of course, you could!
Emily: And then I’d sort of, eh, have a chance to, try the goods before I bought it!
Joan Gordon, aka Francine La Rue: Emily…

Barbara Stanwyck displays great range in this collaboration with William Wellman, who got an excellent performance from the often one-note George Brent as well.

Joan Gordon (Stanwyck) is a torch singer at one of the swankiest clubs in New York.  She is sick of the fast life including her relationship with gangster boyfriend Eddie Fields (Lyle Talbot).  Eddie is determined to keep her.  So she runs away to Montreal and sings under the assumed name Francine La Rue.  It doesn’t take Eddie long to find her.

Joan is ready to move on immediately.  Her maid announces she is leaving to marry a wheat farmer she has met only through a marriage broker.  She sent Joan’s picture to the broker instead of her own.  So Joan, on a whim, offers the maid $100 to take her place.

She is greeted by soon-to-be husband Jim Gilson at the train station.  Jim is painfully shy and awkward and to top it off has a bad cold.  He takes Joan to the farm. When he suddenly grabs her and kisses her on what should be their wedding night, Joan instinctively pulls away and that will be the end of their intimacy for several months.  Can Joan win her man over?

It’s no surprise that Stanwyck was excellent in this film. George Brent kind of surprised me with his sensitive performance. Wellman captures many beautiful scenes on the farm. I like this kind of story where men and women have to learn to know each other and highly recommend this film.

Barbara Stanwyck sings

The Miracle Woman
Directed by Frank Capra
Written by Jo Swerling based on a play by Robert Riskin and John Meehan
1931/US
Columbia Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/My collection

John Carson: Are you a teetotaler?
Florence: No, not annoyingly so.

This false prophet picture is another solid pairing of Frank Capra and Barbara Stanwyck.

Florence “Faith” Fallon (Stanwyck) is the daughter of a devout and holy preacher. His parish gave him the boot in favor of a younger man. He can’t even give his farewell sermon before dying of a broken heart. Florence loses her faith and thinks of believers as hypocrites.  She delivers a fierce farewell sermon.

Con man Bob Hornsby (Sam Hardy) approaches Barbara and tells her she can get back at the hypocrites by fleecing them and Barbara becomes a miracle worker and revivalist.  The entire operation is based on lies and playacting and is thoroughly corrupt.  Bob somehow figures he has an ownership interest in Florence and is very jealous.  She refuses to give him a tumble.

One night she chances to meet blind aviator John Carson (David Manners).  They begin seeing each other.  Can true love reform Florence?

This is an enjoyable movie and Mme. Stanwyck acts her heart out.  Not a must-see but one of the better pre-Code movies she made.

Clip – Stanwyck lets loose in the opening sequence.

Illicit
Directed by Archie Mayo
Written by Edith Fitzgerald, Robert Riskin, and Harvey F. Thew
1931/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
First viewing/My collection

Anne Vincent Ives: Nearly every girl I know, Mr. Ives, is either unhappily married or happily divorced, and I’ve simply come to the conclusion that marriage is disastrous to love. There’s so much about it that’s all wrong – the awful possession that people exert over each other, the intimacy, and the duties. I don’t know… but love can’t stand the strain, that’s all.

This movie can be criticized on several grounds, but Barbara Stanwyck’s performance isn’t one of them.

Dick Ives (James Rennie) and Ann Vincent (Stanwyck) are upper class New Yorkers who run with the fast crowd.  They are in madly in love with each other and, though they don’t live together, go away on lots of weekend get aways.  Ann thinks marriage would only kill the spontaneity and fun they currently enjoy.  She eventually talks Dick into going along with her, though he hates the hiding they must do.

Finally James’ father talks them in to marrying. All the things that Barbara feared happen and then they flirt with disaster and old flames played by Ricardo Cortez and Natalie Moorehead.  Can this marriage be saved?  With Joan Blondell as a friend.

Stanwyck is by far the best actor in this movie.  Though this is not a comedy, she exudes a charm and pep in the early love scenes that provide an early glimpse of her talents as a comedienne.  Other than that, the movie just seemed to plod along while not really being long enough to earn its rushed ending.

clip

Shopworn
Directed by Nick Grinde
Written by Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin; story by Sarah Y. Mason
1932/US
Columbia Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Crackle

Kitty Lane (after David’s minders offer her money to drop him): If that’s being rich, I’m glad I’m cheap, and I’m gonna stay cheap! Because no matter how cheap I am, I’m not for sale!

Barbara Stanwyck once again makes trite material quite watchable.

Kitty Lane (Stanwyck) works as a waitress in her small town.  All the boys are after her but she gives them the cold shoulder.  One day, medical student David Livingston (Regis Toomey) comes in for a bite to eat.  He is immediately smitten and they fall in love and become engaged. David’s mother is livid and plots with a local judgeto rid her son of this “common” match. Her first move is to take a bogus health trip to Europe with David by her side.  David agrees to this on the condition that Kitty will come along.  So the snobs conspire to break off the affair another way.

Poor Kitty ends up in a reformatory for wayward girls.  Then she becomes a big Broadway star.

This is a short movie and enjoyable for those moments when Stanwyck unleashes her fire.  She’s on screen most of the time and plays the part with a certain sweetness I had not seen until this point in my journey.  The story is predictable but the production and acting are pretty good.