Virtue (1932)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Edward Buzzell

Writers:

Robert Riskin (screenplay)
Ethel Hill (story)

Release Date:

25 October 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Yesterday A Lady With A Past. Today The Wife Of The Man She Loved!

Plot:

A relationship gradually develops between a savvy New York street girl and a good-hearted cab driver--who first meet when she stiffs him for the fare--but other matters keep getting in their way, including financial problems and a murder. |

Plot Keywords:

Waitress | Train | Manslaughter | Infidelity | Marriage

Cast

Carole Lombard	...	Mae
Pat O'Brien	...	Jimmy Doyle
Ward Bond	...	Frank
Shirley Grey	...	Gert Hanlon
Mayo Methot	...	Lil Blair
Jack La Rue	...	Toots O'Neil
Willard Robertson	...	Detective MacKenzie
Lew Kelly	...	Magistrate (scenes deleted)
Fred Santley	...	Hank (scenes deleted)
Arthur Wanzer	...	Flanagan
Jessie Arnold	...	Landlady
Edwin Stanley	...	District Attorney

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG (TV rating)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Edward LeSaint' in the role as "Magistrate" is in studio records/casting call lists as a cast member, but he did not appear or was not identifiable in the movie. The role of "Magistrate" was credited onscreen to Lew Kelly, but he also did not appear. And neither did Fred Santley, credited onscreen as "Hank."

Quotes:

[first lines]
Flanagan: [at the ticket window at a train station] Pretty soft for you, sister, getting the city to pay your fare to Danbury.
Mae: Pretty soft for the city I don't live in Australia. C'mon, grandpa.
Flanagan: [on the train, placing Mae's luggage on the rack] There y'are.
[to the conductor]
Flanagan: The lady goes to Danbury, chief.
[to Mae]
Flanagan: Now take my advice, sister, and keep out of New York.
Mae: [snidely] OK, grandpa. I'll remember all your advice: I'll watch my diet, go to the dentist twice a year, keep my nose clean, and pray for you every night - to break a couple of legs.
[...]

Soundtrack:

My Gal Sal

Love in conflict with reality; or ones perception of it.

I liked this little movie quite a lot. It has a substance and quality that some of Lombard's other early movies lack. It is obvious that some care was taken with this screenplay. I would say that the key word for this film is "misunderstanding". It explores the question of whether someone can escape their past and whether love conquers all. This is the first of five pictures that Lombard would make for Columbia Pictures.

The chemistry is good between Pat O'Brien who plays "Jimmy" the cabdriver and Carole Lombard who plays "Mae" the street-girl. Mae's sentence has been suspended by the Judge on the condition that she leave New York City. Of course she refuses. On her way home she takes a cab, but has no money to pay. She stiffs the cabdriver. Later she goes back to square things and a relationship develops between the two. We watch these two grow closer and more dependent on each other, we root for Jimmy as he struggles to fulfill his dream to become a business man, and we cry as a financial crisis and murder come between them.