Barbara is Shopworn

Her father's sudden death forces Kitty Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) to take a job in a hamburger joint in the city.  One of her customers is David Livingston (Regis Toomey), a medical student. He and Kitty gradually fall in love, but David's snooty mother, Helen Livingston (Clara Blandick) has other plans for her son than a Shopworn (1932) girl.

This post is part of The Queen of Sass: The Barbara Stanwyck Blogathon hosted by Pale Writer. 

Shopworn is a mixed bag. On the one hand, you have a dynamic performance by Barbara Stanwyck, but other elements of the film fall into the banal.  Perhaps the key culprit is the final film itself. There are huge gaps (probably the result of censorship) (TCM article), that make the movie feel helter skelter. In the latter section of the film, we are told that six years have elapsed - it takes a while to find this out - and in the meantime, we are wondering why the sweet Kitty suddenly seems to be such a notorious woman. With almost no transitions between the major sections of the film, one finds oneself bemused by the changes. Regardless, Ms. Stanwyck makes the change easily to accept, and the audience accepts the change because of her skill. Lila Lee was initially considered for Kitty (AFI Catalog); Ms. Stanwyck evidently was sorry the part was not given to Ms. Lee. It probably didn't help that her marriage to comedian Frank Fay was starting to disintegrate. (A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True, 1907-1940 by Victoria Wilson).

The casting of Regis Toomey as Kitty's love interest is another problem. Mr. Toomey is fine as a character actor; he also was a good fit for television. He is a more intimate actor, which makes him ideal for the small screen, but opposite a dynamo like Barbara Stanwyck, he seems insignificant and unworthy of her attention. You spend most of the movie wondering what Kitty could possibly see in this momma's boy. Only when he finally stands up to Judge Forbes (Oscar Apfel) do we finally have any regard for David, but it is perhaps too little too late.

Our villains in the piece are David's nightmare of a mother, and her strongman, Judge Forbes. Given this is a pre-code film, no punishment is meted out. In the long run, we longed for the Judge to get his just deserts. There's no question Helen is a horror, but Forbes is a man of the law, and he misuses his position horribly. He's a despicable man, and the only comeuppance his gets is pitifully inadequate. A lurid trial, and the image of him being disbarred would have been a nice conclusion (but that is probably another movie).

ZaSu Pitts is adorable as Kitty's aunt and best friend, Dot. It's a small, but memorable role, and we looked forward to seeing her reappear on the screen. Her polar opposite is Clara Blandick, who creates the ultimate monster mother in Helen Livingston. It's the women who dominate in this film; but the only woman we really care about is Ms. Stanwyck's Kitty.

While the reviews for the film were not great - Variety called it "the clumsiest kind of literary hoke..." (A Life of Barbara Stanwyck, 1907-1940: Steel-True by Victoria Wilson) and Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times said "It is beyond the powers of such capable players as Barbara Stanwyck, Regis Toomey, Clara Blandick and Zassu Pitts (sic) to make their actions in this film convincing or even mildly interesting" - in the long run, the film did well at the box office (Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck by Ella Smith). If you are a Stanwyck completest, you should watch it for her performance. 

We'll leave you with a scene in which Kitty shows her strength of character:



Be sure to visit the other posts that celebrate the Magnificent Missy at Pale Writer's The Queen of Sass: The Barbara Stanwyck Blogathon
 

Barbara Marries an Immigrant

It's 1909.  Mary Archer (Barbara Stanwyck) nervously awaits the return of her cousin (and possible fiance) Jeff  (Ralph Bellamy) from Germany.  But Jeff's return changes both of their lives when Mary meets his friend, Hugo Wilbrandt (Otto Kruger).  Hugo and Mary fall deeply in love, marry, and begin a family, consisting of their dachshund Cammie and their son Teddy (Ronnie Cosby).  Hugo begins a successful career as a professor in Rossmore College, and becomes an American citizen.  Their lives seemed blessed, until World War I erupts.  From that point on, Hugo and Mary are shunned as the enemy, and their happy existence becomes a series of tragedies.

Ever in My Heart (1933), a pre-code film, is almost relentlessly sad; there are parts of the film that are almost too much to bear.  Since it begins as an almost lighthearted romance, the ultimate spiral downward makes for an even more intense viewer experience. Released by Warner Brothers studio, which also gave us such socially relevant films as I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932, which looked at the American criminal justice system) and Heroes for Sale (1933, which dealt with the problems faced by World War I veterans); this film too is attempting to highlight injustice within the United States. The film, however, came out as Germany was electing a Nazi government, and beginning their persecution of the Jewish population (Victoria Wilson's A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True, 1907-1940).  As a result, it probably was not perhaps seen in the light which screenwriter Bertram Millhauser had intended.

Barbara Stanwyck was not fond of this picture (TCM article) or any of her films at Warner Brothers; she called them "a series of parts that were much alike - women who were suffering and poor, and living amid sloppy surroundings."  That may be true, but she is dynamic as a woman who watches her life crash in ruins about her.  We have no doubt of her sincerity when Mary refuses to leave her husband, despite their reduced circumstances.  When neighbors, who had been their friends begin to reject them because of her husband's nationality, Stanwyck gives Mary a quiet but determined dignity.

We were enchanted by Ronnie Cosby in the role of young Teddy.   He is just delighful in the role of the affectionate child whose life becomes a tragedy.  Mr. Cosby's career began with a small role in 1929's Madame X.  He worked steadily through 1939, appearing in films such as Broadway Through a Keyhole (1933), Little Men (1934), and the 1937 remake of Madame X.  His last appearance was in 1941's Birth of the Blues.  He died in 2010, at the age of 82.

Ralph Bellamy is also excellent as Jeff, Mary's first cousin and original intended.  Jeff is carefully set up as a contrast to Mary's brother, Sam (played with a certain amount of petulance and jealousy by Frank Albertson).  When Sam revolts against his brother-in-law merely because he was born in Germany, it is Jeff who tries to soothe the family. Though Jeff describes himself as passionless, is always a true friend to both Mary and to his rival, Otto.  When Mary's family ignore her, it is Jeff who ultimately convinces Grandma Archer (Laura Hope Crews) to take in the starving couple. That Jeff is also a member of the very biased family is sometimes hard to remember - he is much more like the very open-minded Mary than the rest of the Archers.  We understand why Mary at one point was considering a marriage with Jeff.

As is often the case, Ms. Stanwyck and Mr. Kruger were not the first choices for the Wilbrandts. Kay Francis and Paul Muni were originally considered (AFI Catalog).  Not surprisingly, The New York Times reviewer was not enamored of the film, calling it "meaningless to this new generation" because it was not "news any more that the war propaganda which dramatized the Germans as baby murderers and wife beaters was prejudiced."

This comment by the Times in 1933 is quite ironic, given that Ever in My Heart is much more timely today than any of us might like to admit.  Just days before we viewed the film, I heard this report from NPR story concerning US residents, most of the Muslims, who are fleeing to Canada - and to arrest - rather than staying the in U.S. This film is testimony to the fact that these are not new prejudices, and that despite this film's pleas for tolerance and understanding, history keeps repeating itself, with the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and today with a political agenda aimed at a particular religious group.   

As we publish this article, the news of Robert Osborne's death has just been announced. It's with a heavy heart that we add our voices to those that mourn this kind, wonderful and intelligent man.  I had the privilege of meeting him at a reception several years ago; he was gracious and welcoming.  But more than this, I will miss my nightly visit with him on television, where he answered my need for more information, and provided a context and an appreciation for the films that I've always loved.  I have learned at the feet of a master; he will be greatly missed.
 
We will leave you with this trailer and with a reminder that no one in the United States should be forced to state that "they let me be a citizen, but they won't let me be an American."

Gumshoe Lee, R.N.

The Nurse's Secret (1941), based on a novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart, (Miss Pinkerton) is a remake of two prior films: Miss Pinkerton (1932) (which we'd already seen) and While the Patient Sleeps (1935).  The plot of this film is identical to that of Miss Pinkerton -  a young man is found dead of a gunshot wound in his room.  Is it murder, suicide, or an accident? Police inspector Tom Patten (Regis Toomey) figures this case is the one that can get him promoted.  When the doctor of the woman who found the victim, his aunt and insurance beneficiary Miss Juliet Mitchell (Clara Blandick), needs a nurse, Patten suggests his girlfriend, Ruth Adams, R.N.  (Lee Patrick).  Though annoyed at Patten for his constant cancellation of their dates, Ruth is thrilled to be a female Sherlock Holmes.  However, someone is wandering around the house, and whoever it is may be a murderer.  

Miss Pinkerton was a much more lighthearted effort than The Nurse's Secret.  Ms. Patrick makes Ruth far more serious than Joan Blondell's Miss Adams, and while we liked Lee Patrick, we missed Joan Blondell's sassy attitude.  This is a plot that can get very convoluted, and the humor from the first iteration deflected some of the confusion. Early in The Nurse's Secret, we even get a reference to the first film, when Patten (responding to Ruth's comment about being a lady Sherlock Holmes) replies "Or Miss Pinkerton."

What this film does offer is a panoply of wonderful character people.  First and foremost is Ms. Patrick, who spent most of her career as second lead and in character parts.  As this TCM article points out,  the biggest surprise here is that Ms. Patrick gets to carry the film, and she does an excellent job.  Born in 1901, Lee Patrick has 110 film and television credits (and 26 Broadway plays) to her name.  She started her career in films in 1929, and continued until 1965 when she retired to become a painter.  She was lured back to films once more, however - in 1975 she reprised the role of Effie from The Maltese Falcon in the spoof The Black Bird.  Looking at a list of her film gives one pause - you remember her character, but sometimes forget it was her - even with her chirpy voice, she was a chameleon who changed to fit the part she played.  When you realize that the same person who played Mrs. Biederhof in Mildred Pierce also played Doris Upson in Auntie Mame, it's almost surprising.  Married to the same man from 1937 until her death in 1982, Ms. Patrick was a talent that we sometimes forget (and shouldn't), but should NEVER ignore.

The film also contains performances from some interesting character people, most notably Clara Blandick, best known for playing Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz. With over 100 film credits, Ms. Blandick spent much of her career playing crotchety old ladies, as she does here.  But she was also a noted stage actress, appearing in such Broadway plays as Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman and The Enchanted Cottage (as Mrs. Minnett, the role that would go to Mildred Natwick in the film version).  Following her retirement in 1951, Ms. Blandick was quite ill.  Finally, wracked with pain, she committed suicide in 1962, at age 85.

While we think Miss Pinkerton is the better film, this one is not bad, especially if you are more interested in a serious take on the material.  We have a trailer to get you started: