Possessed
Directed by Clarence Brown
Written by Lenore J. Coffee from a play by Edgar Selwyn
1931/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] Marian Martin, aka Mrs. Moreland (to her mother): If I were a man it wouldn’t frighten you! You’d think it was right for me to go out and get anything I could out of life, and use anything I had to get it. Why should men be so different? All they’ve got are their brains and they’re not afraid to use them. Well neither am I![/box]
Beautiful people and MGM Class-A production values enliven this otherwise standard woman’s picture.
Marian Martin (Joan Crawford) is a small-town middle-school dropout who works at a paper box factory. Hard-working childhood friend Al Manning (Wallace Ford) has been after her to marry him for years. A chance meeting with a drunk millionaire gives her the final push she needs to try her fortune in New York instead.
Almost immediately, she meets wealthy lawyer-politician Mark Whitney (Clark Gable). He sets her up in an apartment, educates her on the ways of society, and takes her around the world. In short, he is the best sugar daddy ever. Marian holds herself out as a wealthy divorcee living on her ex’s alimony but fools nobody. After a while, she chafes at her lack of marital status. But Mark is gun-shy and has high political ambitions that conflict with taking a woman with a past as his wife. That’s when Al comes back into the picture.
I loved looking at the beautiful sets and gowns. Joan Crawford was at the height of her beauty at this time as is the mustache-less young Gable. I was enjoying the story, too, until the last 20 minutes when Crawford goes all noble on us. Fans of Crawford are likely to appreciate the film even more than I did.
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