Forbidden (1932)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Frank Capra (story)
Jo Swerling (adaptation)

Release Date:

15 January 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Her Greatest Dramatic Role !

Plot:

In this romance a librarian takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to a crippled woman.

Plot Keywords:

Cruise | Librarian | Newspaper | District Attorney | Disability

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Lulu
Adolphe Menjou	...	Bob
Ralph Bellamy	...	Holland
Dorothy Peterson	...	Helen
Thomas Jefferson	...	Wilkinson
Myrna Fresholt	...	Roberta - Baby
Charlotte Henry	...	Roberta - Age 18
Oliver Eckhardt	...	Briggs

Also Known As:

Jane Doe (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

85 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Laguna Beach, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The Production Code Administration (PCA) refused Columbia's request for approval in 1935 for re-release, citing the adultery, which was a code violation. The production code was strictly enforced starting in mid-1934.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film begins in the present day, i.e. 1932. There is no attempt at period decor in any way; the automobiles, music, and clothing styles are all contemporary; twenty or thirty years pass by. The principals live out their lives, grow old, and die. Yet their surrounding environment never changes; it is still 1932.

Soundtrack:

Cupid's Holiday

The actors rise above the jumbled script....

The three principle actors are the best thing about "Forbidden" released in 1932 by Columbia Pictures. Like most pre-code films, it dealt more frankly with story lines like extramarital affairs and unwed mothers. Lonely Stanwyck meets an outgoing man (Adolphe Menjou) and falls in love, not knowing he is married. She tries to do the right thing, staying away from him, and then has his baby without his knowledge. Well, they meet again, are off and on again, all the while Menjou's political career soars, and he stays married, raising the child as his and his wife's. Stanwyck stays the "other woman" for decades. Then there is the sleazy newspaper man (Ralph Bellamy) out to get Menjou and destroy his political career, and is also hot for Stanwyck, who works for his newspaper. It all turns pretty sordid, to say the least. The film has its flaws, and the script at times jumps about, but Barbara Stanwyck is good in anything she does, and it was nice to see Adolphe Menjou actually playing someone who is actually in love (and rather sweet in his own way) and not a sleazy stage producer, which seemed to be his usual role in the 1930's! I had no idea the newspaperman was Ralph Bellamy - he is very young and good looking here, although a slime ball. But he too turns in a good performance. These films remain important because they remind of us a time when films were more honest and blunt in their dealing with real life situations - before the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934. This film was directed by Frank Capra - who would direct Stanwyck in some of her most memorable roles.