Early Hollywood was infatuated with sin and ladies. So many movie titles had "sin" or "lady" in them. In fact, one of my favorite movies was "Lady for a Day" (1933). Conversely, one of my least favorite movies was "Ladies of Leisure" (1930). "A Lost Lady" is going to end up ranking somewhere near the bottom.
"A Lost Lady" was essentially about a woman of questionable emotional intelligence who makes one relationship mistake after another and makes herself the heel of the movie. I know that's not what the synopsis says, but that's what I witnessed.
The movie began with Marian Ormsby (Barbara Stanwyck) engaged to Ned Montgomery (Phillip Reed), a man she was deeply in love with. At their own engagement party a strange man entered their home and asked Montgomery if he'd been seeing his wife. The man then produced a cigarette case and asked Montgomery if it was his, to which he replied in the negative.
Marian had a few options here. A.) She could've been perceptive, realized that the strange man was a threat, and stayed quiet. B.) She could've been perceptive, realized that the strange man was a threat, and also denied that the cigarette case was her fiance's. C.) She could've blurted out to her fiance, "This is your cigarette case. It's the one I gave you."
She chose C and her fiance was summarily shot and killed by the stranger. I know what you're saying: "How was that her fault?" and I'm not saying it was. I'm just establishing her low social IQ and what was her first relationship. She was totally in love with a philanderer AND she inadvertently helped get him killed. In other words, Marian was quite daft.
That was Marian's first relationship.
Marian was so lost and depressed that she withdrew from society. She withdrew to her cabin in the woods somewhere on the California coastline. While walking in the woods one day she fell and injured her leg. A man named Forrester (Frank Morgan, best known as the Wizard from "The Wizard of Oz") picked her up and carried her back to her cottage. This would be the beginning of her second relationship.
Forrester was entranced by Marian even though she gave him no reason to be. She was dour and pessimistic, but all he saw was her beauty and helplessness. He remained in her company until he helped heal her leg and her psyche. By the time she was fully healthy he was in love with her, but she was not in love with him. He proposed to her and she initially rejected it on the basis that she was not in love with him.
As he was about to leave her life forever she stopped him.
"Wait," Marian said. "I'm going to be afraid without you." Marian was showing her selfishness, her lack of self-confidence, as well as her short-sightedness. Instead of letting Forrester go and perhaps finding a woman who would reciprocate his love, she opted to marry him to be... nice? I think she was just using Forrester emotionally. She believed that she would never love again, so being with Forrester was just as good as being with anyone else. She may as well use Forrester to comfort her and keep her company, except no one knows if or when they'll fall in love. If she fell in love with Forrester over time, then it all works out. If she fell in love with another guy--"Sorry Forrester, your time is up."
"You know I don't love you," she told Forrester, then added "I could never love anyone again."
I've heard these words before from both men and women on-screen who'd lost a lover. They're nothing but foreshadowing. No matter how deeply depressed and sorrowful they may be because of their lost lover, they invariably fall in love again.
Forrester didn't care about that at all. Another movie mistake. The man who marries a woman who doesn't love him will lose her soon enough.
"We'll have a unique kind of marriage. One that has never been done before. We'll leave the word love out entirely and substitute the word honesty," he offered, grasping at anything that would get her to marry him.
"Well what kind of life will that be for you?" Marian asked, knowing that it wouldn't be fair to him to be in an asynchronous relationship.
"I'll be incredibly happy," Forrester answered.
When someone wants a thing badly enough he doesn't care what the conditions are. In his mind he'll be happy no matter what, so long as he has that thing.
The two married and were happy. Well, Forrester was over the moon and Marian was satisfied.
While she was married to Forrester there came relationship number three. This one was a blip on the radar. This one was also asynchronous and I believe Marian handled it poorly.
Neil (Lyle Talbot), Forrester's junior partner in his law firm, was in love with Marian. Because he was a gentleman he confided in her that he was leaving the firm and the area in order to get away from her. At the very least, he didn't want to be around her; she was too much of a temptation. He loved her too much and he didn't dare covet Forrester's wife.
Again, Barbara showed her lack of sense. After Neil poured his heart out to her and said how he couldn't stand it, her response was, "I think you're a darling and it's been grand fun, but why spoil it?" as if he could control his loving her. Or as if saying that he loved her spoiled her blissful ignorance of his true feelings whenever they were together.
Neil said, "But Marian I can't go on seeing you." He meant it in the literal sense. They weren't seeing each other romantically. He didn't want to torture himself by quite literally seeing her.
Barbara's response was daft. "Oh yes you can," she responded. "Remember that marvelous old line?" she continued, " 'Their friendship rotted into love.' Now we can't let that happen to ours can we?"
Again she showed her emotional vacuity by telling a man to dismiss his feelings and keep hanging around. All she was doing was creating an awkward and tense situation. He was trying to do the right thing and she was minimizing his dilemma.
In this case it all worked out wonderfully. Neil smiled and somehow kept his feelings in check while Forrester laughed off the fact that his law partner was in love with his wife. It was a jolly triangle. Relationship number three was taken care of, even if it was handled clumsily. But then came relationship number four.
Man number four (played by Ricardo Cortez) was a man every man wanted to be and a man every woman wanted. He was strong, handsome, wealthy, bold, assertive, and took what he wanted. He made an emergency landing in his plane right in Marian's garden. The very fact he was a pilot added to his overall ruggedness and attractiveness. He got out of his plane and blithely apologized. Marian was furious. Ellinger (Ricardo Cortez) laughed it off then grabbed her and kissed her. It was chauvinistic, presumptive, and overstepping his boundaries, but in the 30's it was called being a man.
Marian pulled away and slapped him. She knew her role very well. She was expected to have such a reaction regardless if she appreciated the kiss or not. She was a lady and she was married. She skulked away from her garden upset. Or was she? We could tell that that man and that kiss remained on her mind.
It was more Hollywood relationship guidance for men. And we wonder how we got a hashtag MeToo movement.
Ellinger made himself a persistent presence. He wasn't going to let Marian forget him. When her husband,Forrester, had to go away on business and Marian begged to go with him I knew there was a problem. Whenever a woman tells her S. O. not to go somewhere or asks if she can go with him, it means she doesn't trust herself to be left alone (for reference see "The Key" (1934) or "He Was Her Man" (1934)).
Forrester went on his business trip without Marian anyway, leaving her alone to fight against Ellinger's advances. Perhaps if Forrester had known WHY she wanted to accompany him, he would've unhesitatingly taken her with him, but she kept her waverings hidden.
After Forrester was gone she let Ellinger into her home under the weakest of pretexts (she had to be a good hostess) and he continued to work on her everyday. His charm worked and she fell for him full stop. She got so sloppy and inconsiderate that she was sitting in his lap in her own yard. I know servants are meaningless peons who rich people don't have to hide anything from, but still, she was a society dame. Where was her sense of decorum and concern with appearances? She could at least respect his house.
She didn't have to marry Forrester, but she did. She claimed that she was afraid to be without him even though she didn't love him. Now that she'd found love, she was ready to throw Forrester overboard which was genuinely unfair. It was as if Forrester was simply a placeholder until she could find love again. He just filled a void. And even though she didn't love him, she did owe him fidelity. She took the vows and she was trampling all over them the whole time Forrester was out of town.
A fourth relationship Marian handled poorly.
When Forrester came back home she sorrowfully broke the news to him. You would've thought she was the most tormented woman in the world. The way she sobbed over her predicament was enough to make anyone roll their eyes.
The news was so damaging to Forrester he quite literally had a heart attack. I guess he truly believed he'd won her heart. What began as a tenuous relationship was broken by a suave, swashbuckling young man, and Forrester wasn't ready.
So we had two sufferers which would turn into three. Marian was suffering because she was torn between love and allegiance. Forrester was suffering because he lost the love of his life. Ellinger was suffering because Marian told him that she couldn't run off with him under the circumstances. Yes, she loved him, but she owed her life to Forrester, so she had to stick by him.
The movie would end with Forrester and Marian renewing their commitment.
"A Lost Lady" was essentially about a woman of questionable emotional intelligence who makes one relationship mistake after another and makes herself the heel of the movie. I know that's not what the synopsis says, but that's what I witnessed.
The movie began with Marian Ormsby (Barbara Stanwyck) engaged to Ned Montgomery (Phillip Reed), a man she was deeply in love with. At their own engagement party a strange man entered their home and asked Montgomery if he'd been seeing his wife. The man then produced a cigarette case and asked Montgomery if it was his, to which he replied in the negative.
Marian had a few options here. A.) She could've been perceptive, realized that the strange man was a threat, and stayed quiet. B.) She could've been perceptive, realized that the strange man was a threat, and also denied that the cigarette case was her fiance's. C.) She could've blurted out to her fiance, "This is your cigarette case. It's the one I gave you."
She chose C and her fiance was summarily shot and killed by the stranger. I know what you're saying: "How was that her fault?" and I'm not saying it was. I'm just establishing her low social IQ and what was her first relationship. She was totally in love with a philanderer AND she inadvertently helped get him killed. In other words, Marian was quite daft.
That was Marian's first relationship.
Marian was so lost and depressed that she withdrew from society. She withdrew to her cabin in the woods somewhere on the California coastline. While walking in the woods one day she fell and injured her leg. A man named Forrester (Frank Morgan, best known as the Wizard from "The Wizard of Oz") picked her up and carried her back to her cottage. This would be the beginning of her second relationship.
Forrester was entranced by Marian even though she gave him no reason to be. She was dour and pessimistic, but all he saw was her beauty and helplessness. He remained in her company until he helped heal her leg and her psyche. By the time she was fully healthy he was in love with her, but she was not in love with him. He proposed to her and she initially rejected it on the basis that she was not in love with him.
As he was about to leave her life forever she stopped him.
"Wait," Marian said. "I'm going to be afraid without you." Marian was showing her selfishness, her lack of self-confidence, as well as her short-sightedness. Instead of letting Forrester go and perhaps finding a woman who would reciprocate his love, she opted to marry him to be... nice? I think she was just using Forrester emotionally. She believed that she would never love again, so being with Forrester was just as good as being with anyone else. She may as well use Forrester to comfort her and keep her company, except no one knows if or when they'll fall in love. If she fell in love with Forrester over time, then it all works out. If she fell in love with another guy--"Sorry Forrester, your time is up."
"You know I don't love you," she told Forrester, then added "I could never love anyone again."
I've heard these words before from both men and women on-screen who'd lost a lover. They're nothing but foreshadowing. No matter how deeply depressed and sorrowful they may be because of their lost lover, they invariably fall in love again.
Forrester didn't care about that at all. Another movie mistake. The man who marries a woman who doesn't love him will lose her soon enough.
"We'll have a unique kind of marriage. One that has never been done before. We'll leave the word love out entirely and substitute the word honesty," he offered, grasping at anything that would get her to marry him.
"Well what kind of life will that be for you?" Marian asked, knowing that it wouldn't be fair to him to be in an asynchronous relationship.
"I'll be incredibly happy," Forrester answered.
When someone wants a thing badly enough he doesn't care what the conditions are. In his mind he'll be happy no matter what, so long as he has that thing.
The two married and were happy. Well, Forrester was over the moon and Marian was satisfied.
While she was married to Forrester there came relationship number three. This one was a blip on the radar. This one was also asynchronous and I believe Marian handled it poorly.
Neil (Lyle Talbot), Forrester's junior partner in his law firm, was in love with Marian. Because he was a gentleman he confided in her that he was leaving the firm and the area in order to get away from her. At the very least, he didn't want to be around her; she was too much of a temptation. He loved her too much and he didn't dare covet Forrester's wife.
Again, Barbara showed her lack of sense. After Neil poured his heart out to her and said how he couldn't stand it, her response was, "I think you're a darling and it's been grand fun, but why spoil it?" as if he could control his loving her. Or as if saying that he loved her spoiled her blissful ignorance of his true feelings whenever they were together.
Neil said, "But Marian I can't go on seeing you." He meant it in the literal sense. They weren't seeing each other romantically. He didn't want to torture himself by quite literally seeing her.
Barbara's response was daft. "Oh yes you can," she responded. "Remember that marvelous old line?" she continued, " 'Their friendship rotted into love.' Now we can't let that happen to ours can we?"
Again she showed her emotional vacuity by telling a man to dismiss his feelings and keep hanging around. All she was doing was creating an awkward and tense situation. He was trying to do the right thing and she was minimizing his dilemma.
In this case it all worked out wonderfully. Neil smiled and somehow kept his feelings in check while Forrester laughed off the fact that his law partner was in love with his wife. It was a jolly triangle. Relationship number three was taken care of, even if it was handled clumsily. But then came relationship number four.
Man number four (played by Ricardo Cortez) was a man every man wanted to be and a man every woman wanted. He was strong, handsome, wealthy, bold, assertive, and took what he wanted. He made an emergency landing in his plane right in Marian's garden. The very fact he was a pilot added to his overall ruggedness and attractiveness. He got out of his plane and blithely apologized. Marian was furious. Ellinger (Ricardo Cortez) laughed it off then grabbed her and kissed her. It was chauvinistic, presumptive, and overstepping his boundaries, but in the 30's it was called being a man.
Marian pulled away and slapped him. She knew her role very well. She was expected to have such a reaction regardless if she appreciated the kiss or not. She was a lady and she was married. She skulked away from her garden upset. Or was she? We could tell that that man and that kiss remained on her mind.
It was more Hollywood relationship guidance for men. And we wonder how we got a hashtag MeToo movement.
Ellinger made himself a persistent presence. He wasn't going to let Marian forget him. When her husband,Forrester, had to go away on business and Marian begged to go with him I knew there was a problem. Whenever a woman tells her S. O. not to go somewhere or asks if she can go with him, it means she doesn't trust herself to be left alone (for reference see "The Key" (1934) or "He Was Her Man" (1934)).
Forrester went on his business trip without Marian anyway, leaving her alone to fight against Ellinger's advances. Perhaps if Forrester had known WHY she wanted to accompany him, he would've unhesitatingly taken her with him, but she kept her waverings hidden.
After Forrester was gone she let Ellinger into her home under the weakest of pretexts (she had to be a good hostess) and he continued to work on her everyday. His charm worked and she fell for him full stop. She got so sloppy and inconsiderate that she was sitting in his lap in her own yard. I know servants are meaningless peons who rich people don't have to hide anything from, but still, she was a society dame. Where was her sense of decorum and concern with appearances? She could at least respect his house.
She didn't have to marry Forrester, but she did. She claimed that she was afraid to be without him even though she didn't love him. Now that she'd found love, she was ready to throw Forrester overboard which was genuinely unfair. It was as if Forrester was simply a placeholder until she could find love again. He just filled a void. And even though she didn't love him, she did owe him fidelity. She took the vows and she was trampling all over them the whole time Forrester was out of town.
A fourth relationship Marian handled poorly.
When Forrester came back home she sorrowfully broke the news to him. You would've thought she was the most tormented woman in the world. The way she sobbed over her predicament was enough to make anyone roll their eyes.
The news was so damaging to Forrester he quite literally had a heart attack. I guess he truly believed he'd won her heart. What began as a tenuous relationship was broken by a suave, swashbuckling young man, and Forrester wasn't ready.
So we had two sufferers which would turn into three. Marian was suffering because she was torn between love and allegiance. Forrester was suffering because he lost the love of his life. Ellinger was suffering because Marian told him that she couldn't run off with him under the circumstances. Yes, she loved him, but she owed her life to Forrester, so she had to stick by him.
The movie would end with Forrester and Marian renewing their commitment.