Over a 20-year film career, the nearly forgotten Irene Dunne had one of the most versatile resumes of films, with westerns, women's weepers, screwball comedies, light operettas and epics. Before the Hays code, Dunne had a series of dramas of scandalous, nearly fallen women who suffered in sable and face the judgment of a harsh society, at least on screen. Her reign as a major star lasted throughout the 1930's and 40's, and today, many of her films (allegedly unseen for years because of remakes) are considered classics.
Along with "Back Street" and "The Sins of Madam Blanche", "Ann Vickers" shows the life of a beautiful woman who dared to live life according to her rules. She goes from small-town girl making a fool of herself because of her love for a big city swell who leaves her for another woman after being drafted to social worker in a prison who fights for the fair treatment of inmates, ending up as warden, and ultimately the mistress of a married man (Walter Huston) whose son she bares. Her greatest challenge is facing life alone after he goes to prison.
Although obviously episodic in nature, this film (based upon a novel by Sinclair Lewis, a favorite author of women's novels), this thrives on Dunne's multi-dimensional performance. she starts off the film as sweet and naive, becomes determined as she sees the cruelties prisoners face, challenges the system and later takes on the scandal of her personal life by writing of her findings about the prison system. At times, it feels like you are watching a bunch of different films rolled into one, but somehow it all rolls together properly in the end. I wish there was more of Edna May Oliver as Irene's equally commanding aunt, but for some reason she disappears halfway through the film although her character is mentioned as being around somewhere. Huston as always is very good, while Bruce Cabot as Irene's lover in the first half of the film girl shoots several different changes during the plot line surrounding his romance with her. This is a film that may not quite stand the test of time but certainly shows the type of films that women could dominate when the writing was strong and in their favor.
Along with "Back Street" and "The Sins of Madam Blanche", "Ann Vickers" shows the life of a beautiful woman who dared to live life according to her rules. She goes from small-town girl making a fool of herself because of her love for a big city swell who leaves her for another woman after being drafted to social worker in a prison who fights for the fair treatment of inmates, ending up as warden, and ultimately the mistress of a married man (Walter Huston) whose son she bares. Her greatest challenge is facing life alone after he goes to prison.
Although obviously episodic in nature, this film (based upon a novel by Sinclair Lewis, a favorite author of women's novels), this thrives on Dunne's multi-dimensional performance. she starts off the film as sweet and naive, becomes determined as she sees the cruelties prisoners face, challenges the system and later takes on the scandal of her personal life by writing of her findings about the prison system. At times, it feels like you are watching a bunch of different films rolled into one, but somehow it all rolls together properly in the end. I wish there was more of Edna May Oliver as Irene's equally commanding aunt, but for some reason she disappears halfway through the film although her character is mentioned as being around somewhere. Huston as always is very good, while Bruce Cabot as Irene's lover in the first half of the film girl shoots several different changes during the plot line surrounding his romance with her. This is a film that may not quite stand the test of time but certainly shows the type of films that women could dominate when the writing was strong and in their favor.