This is one of the few Barbara Stanwyck films I have been trying to hunt down for many years. I have seen all but a few, and this was the one I desired most to see. While I cannot be disappointed over it not being all that great, no film with Miss Stanwyck in my opinion is worth missing for old movie fans. Add on the fact that its set in New York in the depression prior to the creation of the movie code, and there is a lot of hope it will be at least fun to watch, if no masterpiece. There lies my disappointment. There is hardly any grit to the script, and that's where it looses its importance in the Stanwyck cannon of classics.
Stanwyck is a Broadway taxi dancer (dime a dance girl) who marries office clerk Monroe Owsley even though his wealthy boss (Ricardo Cortez) obviously loves her. Owsley is critical of her past, and uses it against her after she saves his hide from embezzling from his work. Sounds promising, I know, but there is hardly any great dialogue for Stanwyck to claw her way through. However, she is magnificent, whether dealing with a clumsy sailor in the dance joint she works at or her complaining boss. The scene where she finally has enough with her no-good hubby finally gives her something juicy to do.
It's apparent that the lessons she learned from Frank Capra on "Ladies of Leisure" (her first good film) have taken over in her acting, because she has greatly improved since the two previous less than decent films she made prior. (Those being "The Locked Door" and what I consider her worst film, "Mexicali Rose"). It's surprising that Ricardo Cortez isn't the villain here, actually a decent man who nobly helps Stanwyck in her time of crisis. Not a great actor, he is at least watchable. As for Owsley, I was quite disappointed with his performance. Even in the fight scene at the dance joint, he came off as extremely awkward, and in emotional scenes with Stanwyck was quite stiff. As for Lionel Barrymore's direction, I was searching for something out of the ordinary, and could not find it. It would only be with Capra and those with whom she worked at Warner Brothers would Stanwyck find the guidance to become the legend she is today. I just expected more from a film of this era. With its setting and story, there should have been much more fire.
Stanwyck is a Broadway taxi dancer (dime a dance girl) who marries office clerk Monroe Owsley even though his wealthy boss (Ricardo Cortez) obviously loves her. Owsley is critical of her past, and uses it against her after she saves his hide from embezzling from his work. Sounds promising, I know, but there is hardly any great dialogue for Stanwyck to claw her way through. However, she is magnificent, whether dealing with a clumsy sailor in the dance joint she works at or her complaining boss. The scene where she finally has enough with her no-good hubby finally gives her something juicy to do.
It's apparent that the lessons she learned from Frank Capra on "Ladies of Leisure" (her first good film) have taken over in her acting, because she has greatly improved since the two previous less than decent films she made prior. (Those being "The Locked Door" and what I consider her worst film, "Mexicali Rose"). It's surprising that Ricardo Cortez isn't the villain here, actually a decent man who nobly helps Stanwyck in her time of crisis. Not a great actor, he is at least watchable. As for Owsley, I was quite disappointed with his performance. Even in the fight scene at the dance joint, he came off as extremely awkward, and in emotional scenes with Stanwyck was quite stiff. As for Lionel Barrymore's direction, I was searching for something out of the ordinary, and could not find it. It would only be with Capra and those with whom she worked at Warner Brothers would Stanwyck find the guidance to become the legend she is today. I just expected more from a film of this era. With its setting and story, there should have been much more fire.