Possessed (1931)

Writers:

Edgar Selwyn (play)
Lenore J. Coffee (adaptation)

Release Date:

21 November 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Marion is a factory worker who hopes to trade the assembly line, for a beautiful penthouse apartment...

Plot Keywords:

Mistress | Factory Worker | Lawyer | Transformation | Contractor

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Marian Martin
Clark Gable	...	Mark Whitney
Wallace Ford	...	Al Manning
Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher	...	Wally Stuart (as Skeets Gallagher)
Frank Conroy	...	Horace Travers
Marjorie White	...	Vernice LaVerne
John Miljan	...	John Driscoll
Clara Blandick	...	Marian's Mother

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | USA:Approved | UK:PG (re-rating) (1994) | UK:A (original rating)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Charlotte Greenwood was signed as a cast member, but she was not seen in the movie. News items mentioned several performers during production, but some did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These include Florence Lake, Virginia Sale and Francis Ford.

Quotes:

Marian Martin, aka Mrs. Moreland: You don't own me. Nobody does. My life belongs to me.
Al Manning: You'll make one fine mess of it.
Marian Martin, aka Mrs. Moreland: It'll still belong to me.
Marian's mother: Don't, Marian, you frighten me when you talk like that.
Marian Martin, aka Mrs. Moreland: If I were a man it wouldn't frighten you! You'd think it was right for me to go out and get anything I could out of life, and use anything I had to get it. Why should men be so different? All they've got are their brains and they're not afraid to use them. Well neither am I!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

A Hot Time in the Old Town

Mature pre-code Hollywood drama

This movie goes to prove that pre-code Hollywood was much more mature and knew how to make movies of good taste on socially relevant issues. The theme of the woman who lives as a 'mistress' of the man she loves because he prefers not to get married was very daring in those days. The social background was also cleverly handled. One scene is particularly impressive and intelligent: when J. Crawford, just about to cross a railroad, stops to wait a train go slowly by and, through each window that passes, she has a glimpse of how the other half lives, just as though she were watching a movie. A visually very inspired moment.