George Brent is building bridges. Physically, as in the Golden Gate and metaphorically as in rescuing his relationship with Kay Francis. Spig Wead had a hand in the script and no prizes for guessing his contribution centered on the mechanics of rivets and girders leaving the wit - such as it is - to Delmer Daves. For a movie made in the heart of the Depression Kay Francis sure knows how to live, inhabiting an apartment that could be on Sutton Place and by the same token Barton McClain could be over-ambitious in his demand for 'five grand a week' from Brent in return for 'protection'. There's a lot going on for a film with a running time of only 82 minutes but somehow Borzage manages to cram in a suicide, non-English speaking mail-order brides, an idealistic kid unaware that his father is in prison and a society gal foisted on Francis by her social register mother, most of which is meaningless in terms of the main story, the romance between Brent and Francis. Kay Francis, of course, starred in One-Way Passage opposite Bill Powell (it was remade with Brent and Oberon 8 years later) for which I for one will forgive her anything. Pleasant rather than memorable.
Review of Stranded
