The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Maurine Dallas Watkins (based on the play: "Tinsel Girl" by), Erwin S. Gelsey (adaptation),

Stars:

Ann Dvorak, Lee Tracy, Richard Cromwell

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ann Dvorak	...	Molly Louvain
Lee Tracy	...	Scotty Cornell
Richard Cromwell	...	Jimmy Cook
Guy Kibbee	...	Pop - a Policeman
Leslie Fenton	...	Nicky Grant
Frank McHugh	...	Skeets - a Reporter
Evalyn Knapp	...	Doris
Charles Middleton	...	Captain Slade
Mary Doran	...	Dance Hall Girl
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Police Sergeant (as Thomas Jackson)
C. Henry Gordon	...	Detective Martin

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

false accusation | reporter | student | license plate | robbery | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 May 1932 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Tinsel Lady

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Willard Robertson is in studio records in the role of Sergeant Murdock, but he was not seen in the movie.

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Goofs

The title character's name is misspelled "Molly Louvaine" in a newspaper headline.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

"Mother Machree"
(1910) (uncredited)
Music by Chauncey Olcott and Ernest Ball
Lyrics by Rida Johnson Young
Played on a radio and sung by an unidentified tenor

User Reviews

The plot leaves something to be desired

Molly Louvain is a girl who has become pregnant by a rich young fellow that loves her and wants to marry her. He has told her that he intends to tell his mother that night before Molly gets to his house to attend his birthday party. However, when Molly shows up at the family estate she is told by the butler that mother and son left suddenly for Europe. Apparently Molly's fiancé loved mother's millions more than he loved Molly and no doubt Molly's would-have-been mother-in-law could not tolerate the idea of a member of the huddled masses being her future daughter-in-law. All alone in the world, Molly turns to shady character Nicky Gant, who takes her away from her home town and out on the road. Molly figures he's possibly financing their way with stick-ups, but Molly asks no questions as she has a baby to think of. One day Nick gets in a shoot-out with the cops with Molly at the wheel of the car, and suddenly Molly is up to her neck in Nick's past and present illegal activities. She dyes her hair blonde and decides to hide out under a false name in a small apartment until the heat is off. Molly has two problems that complicate matters even further - she is unable to go check on her baby, who she has left with kindly acquaintances, and ambitious reporter Scotty Cornell lives across the hall and is determined to find Molly Louvain and crack the story of a lifetime.

This film is watchable largely because nobody plays a woman suffering from the internal moral struggle of good versus evil like Ann Dvorak (as Molly Louvain) and nobody plays the smart aleck reporter that will do anything for a story like Lee Tracy (as Scotty Cornell). However, the film seems incomplete in so many ways. There is no chemistry between Tracy and Dvorak at all, and a story like this needs their chemistry in order to have their relationship in the film seem something other than tacked on. The ending is also woefully incomplete. It seems like Warners ran out of budget and the powers that be just said "stop here and write some dialogue to round this thing out".

I'd recommend this just to see Lee Tracy and Ann Dvorak do the kind of acting they do best, just don't expect the kind of precode sizzle you saw in any of James Cagney's and Joan Blondell's films.