This pre-code drama, nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, is a delightfully witty yet potentially tragic melodrama about a pretty young model (Sally Eilers) who turns down all the wrong guys until she finds what she thinks is the right guy (James Dunn). They stay out all night together much to her reluctance, and the fact that she has a very domineering brother (William Pawley) makes her fear his reaction to her becoming engaged. While waiting for Dunn to show up so they can be married, she learns that he's moved out of his apartment and been fired from his job. Fortunately, she has a friend in the outspoken Minna Gombell who was prepared to marry her brother and walked out on him after he insulted his sister. This clever scene has Gombell seemingly supporting everything Pawley says to see how far he goes, and when his brutality takes an extremely cruel turn, the truth about how she feels comes out. Gombell is very clever in her admission of why she broke up with him, telling Eilers, ""He saved my life. They send you to the chair these days for killing your husband." Dunn shows his cynical sense of humor after hearing one of Eiler's neighbors fighting retorting, ""There's a tenement for you. A woman dies, a baby is born, and a guy's wife won't let him eat Limburger."
This clever script is as juicy as anything they were writing over at Warner Brothers for Joan Blondell or Barbara Stanwyck to spout and just as filled with insinuations as the dialog that Mae West would soon be uttering over at Paramount. When Gombell comforts Eilers, she has tears behind her laughter, telling her younger brother when Dunn finally does show up, "Open the door, Floyd, and if it's a man selling coffins, tell them we'll take two!" The drama occurs because Dunn gives the insinuation that he doesn't want children, but she's pregnant from the night they stayed out planning their future together. Not necessarily a great husband, Dunn spends more time trying to find work (eventually turning to prizefighting) than supporting his pregnant wife which brings Gombell down on him. So is she really a bad girl? Obviously in the eyes of her brother who raised her after their parents died and is morally appalled by the fact that she would marry Dunn so quickly rather than get his approval. Crisply directed by Frank Borzage with an excellent screenplay, this is one of those early sound films that really sounds true to life and touches the emotions. Truly worth a re-discovery, and in viewing the film, it is easy to see why it won Oscars for screenplay and direction.
This clever script is as juicy as anything they were writing over at Warner Brothers for Joan Blondell or Barbara Stanwyck to spout and just as filled with insinuations as the dialog that Mae West would soon be uttering over at Paramount. When Gombell comforts Eilers, she has tears behind her laughter, telling her younger brother when Dunn finally does show up, "Open the door, Floyd, and if it's a man selling coffins, tell them we'll take two!" The drama occurs because Dunn gives the insinuation that he doesn't want children, but she's pregnant from the night they stayed out planning their future together. Not necessarily a great husband, Dunn spends more time trying to find work (eventually turning to prizefighting) than supporting his pregnant wife which brings Gombell down on him. So is she really a bad girl? Obviously in the eyes of her brother who raised her after their parents died and is morally appalled by the fact that she would marry Dunn so quickly rather than get his approval. Crisply directed by Frank Borzage with an excellent screenplay, this is one of those early sound films that really sounds true to life and touches the emotions. Truly worth a re-discovery, and in viewing the film, it is easy to see why it won Oscars for screenplay and direction.