Sadie McKee (Joan Crawford) is a cook's daughter. She runs away from home to marry her sweetheart Tommy (Gene Raymond), despite protesting and ribbing from the son of the family she works for, lawyer Michael (Franchot Tone). They (Sadie and Tommy) get an apartment of their own and all seems to be going well. Trouble is, Tommy's overheard singing and whisked off by an entertainer named Dolly (Esther Ralston), essentially standing Sadie up at the altar.
Sadie then takes a job at a nightclub, where wealth practically falls in her lap- a rich alcoholic by by name of Jack Brennan (Edward Arnold). Jack's alcoholism is a burden to Sadie, who makes it her duty to run him dry. She succeeds at that, but can't quite hide another thing- she still loves Tommy. Jack agrees to give her the divorce, but Tommy's got some troubles of his own. What are they? Will they get back together? Watch the film.
Joan Crawford gives an honest portrayal of a hard-working young woman with her turn as Sadie McKee. This was still the Pre-Code era, but tastes were changing, so instead of using her body and good looks to get a better life, riches just happen to come to her by coincidence. Seeing as this is an M-G-M production, Joan is given lots of sumptuous gowns to wear, and she rocks every one. It's films like this that I recommend to people when they tell me that Crawford couldn't act. (This film is also the one they used in What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? To show that Blanche was a good actress.)
Gene Raymond is a rather colourless actor and a slightly-more-than-mediocre singer, but he's attractive, and there's a certain quality that he has that makes him believable as a love interest for Joan Crawford. They're a very cute couple. Edward Arnold is good as rich drunk Brennan, even if his role does eventually descend into a clichéd caricature. Franchot Tone just does his usual, except his character is a bit more of an arse than you might think. Esther Ralston is alright as Dolly, and Jean Dixon provides some comic relief in the beginning as Sadie's friend Opal.
The plot, as you may have noticed from my description above, is fairly soapy, but the stars make it work. However, the writers seem to have run out of ideas by the third half, although I guess I appreciated that (minor spoiler) the two first billed stars didn't end up together at the end- something that happens in 98% of the films of this era- although they were such a nice couple that it also made me a bit sad. Clarence Brown, never a flattering director, directs this film with much more effort than usual. His shots are mostly better than usual, although some could have been improved.
The film was also the one that introduced standard Al I Do Is Dream Of You, later used in the film Singin In The Rain- it works better here as a ballard.
My complaints are outnumbered by the things I like about this film, however. This is a good film in the entries of all parties involved, but if it isn't your thing, that's okay.
Sadie then takes a job at a nightclub, where wealth practically falls in her lap- a rich alcoholic by by name of Jack Brennan (Edward Arnold). Jack's alcoholism is a burden to Sadie, who makes it her duty to run him dry. She succeeds at that, but can't quite hide another thing- she still loves Tommy. Jack agrees to give her the divorce, but Tommy's got some troubles of his own. What are they? Will they get back together? Watch the film.
Joan Crawford gives an honest portrayal of a hard-working young woman with her turn as Sadie McKee. This was still the Pre-Code era, but tastes were changing, so instead of using her body and good looks to get a better life, riches just happen to come to her by coincidence. Seeing as this is an M-G-M production, Joan is given lots of sumptuous gowns to wear, and she rocks every one. It's films like this that I recommend to people when they tell me that Crawford couldn't act. (This film is also the one they used in What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? To show that Blanche was a good actress.)
Gene Raymond is a rather colourless actor and a slightly-more-than-mediocre singer, but he's attractive, and there's a certain quality that he has that makes him believable as a love interest for Joan Crawford. They're a very cute couple. Edward Arnold is good as rich drunk Brennan, even if his role does eventually descend into a clichéd caricature. Franchot Tone just does his usual, except his character is a bit more of an arse than you might think. Esther Ralston is alright as Dolly, and Jean Dixon provides some comic relief in the beginning as Sadie's friend Opal.
The plot, as you may have noticed from my description above, is fairly soapy, but the stars make it work. However, the writers seem to have run out of ideas by the third half, although I guess I appreciated that (minor spoiler) the two first billed stars didn't end up together at the end- something that happens in 98% of the films of this era- although they were such a nice couple that it also made me a bit sad. Clarence Brown, never a flattering director, directs this film with much more effort than usual. His shots are mostly better than usual, although some could have been improved.
The film was also the one that introduced standard Al I Do Is Dream Of You, later used in the film Singin In The Rain- it works better here as a ballard.
My complaints are outnumbered by the things I like about this film, however. This is a good film in the entries of all parties involved, but if it isn't your thing, that's okay.