TALLULAH BANKHEAD is fine in one her of early screen roles, long before the booze and drugs did any damage to her youthful looks. Here she is, playing a 24-year-old society woman who loses everything when her wealth is wiped out by the stock market crash of 1929.
She's unwilling to give in to the marriage proposal of a man (ROBERT MONTGOMERY) who exists on $20,000 a year despite her losses. She leaves him, settles for a sugar daddy affair (with HUGH HERBERT), then returns to Montgomery who's willing to overlook her indiscretions when she promises to reform.
For awhile they're happy, but then the plot, in true soap opera fashion, thickens when he's hurt in a workplace accident and she hasn't got the money to take care of him. An interesting scene with her sympathetic landlady is underplayed (and subtly written) when the landlady sees through her plans to find some money by reminding her to fix her lipstick before she goes out. Tallulah applies the make-up, fixes her hair and leaves. The audience knows what she's about to do.
Interesting for the good chemistry between Bankhead and Montgomery, both of whom play their roles with professionalism. A good feel for the Depression-era mood, but could have been an even stronger film with a better script. Unfortunately, MAURICE MURPHY, as Montgomery's younger brother, gives an awful reading of all of his lines.
She's unwilling to give in to the marriage proposal of a man (ROBERT MONTGOMERY) who exists on $20,000 a year despite her losses. She leaves him, settles for a sugar daddy affair (with HUGH HERBERT), then returns to Montgomery who's willing to overlook her indiscretions when she promises to reform.
For awhile they're happy, but then the plot, in true soap opera fashion, thickens when he's hurt in a workplace accident and she hasn't got the money to take care of him. An interesting scene with her sympathetic landlady is underplayed (and subtly written) when the landlady sees through her plans to find some money by reminding her to fix her lipstick before she goes out. Tallulah applies the make-up, fixes her hair and leaves. The audience knows what she's about to do.
Interesting for the good chemistry between Bankhead and Montgomery, both of whom play their roles with professionalism. A good feel for the Depression-era mood, but could have been an even stronger film with a better script. Unfortunately, MAURICE MURPHY, as Montgomery's younger brother, gives an awful reading of all of his lines.