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:

Edgar Selwyn's play, "The Mirage", opened in New York on 30 September 1920.

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 The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006)

Soundtrack:

Little Annie Rooney

Excellent Gable Performance

Possessed (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A poor factory worker (Joan Crawford) turns her back on the man (Wallace Ford) who loves her and heads off to NYC where she becomes the mistress to a powerful attorney (Clark Gable). The first thirty-minutes of this film contain some very good drama and a couple great sequences but as the film moves on the screenplay becomes rather lazy and the movie falls apart. There are a number of great sequences early in the movie and that includes a terrific scene with Joan watching a train pass her by. Looking inside the train, this scene is meant to show her that there might be a better life outside her small town. Another great scene is when Crawford tells Ford that she plans to move to New York City. Ford never really gets credit for being a good actor but he handles the drama here very well. The second half of the film falls into pure melodrama, which leads to an incredibly stupid ending that ruins everything that came before. Ford's character pops back towards the end of the film and this throws a conflict in Crawford and Gable's relationship but this drama never works. Crawford is very good in her role but I think she was better at playing the poor girl in the start of the film. Gable turns in another very good performance and I'm really having fun watching these pre-fame Gable movies because it's easy to see why he became a legend.