Primrose Path (1940)

Girl from the "wrong" side of the tracks falls in love with an ambitious young man from the "right" side of the tracks.

Director:

Gregory La Cava

Writers:

Allan Scott (screen play), Gregory La Cava (screen play),

Stars:

Ginger Rogers, Joel McCrea, Marjorie Rambeau

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ginger Rogers	...	Ellie May Adams
Joel McCrea	...	Ed Wallace
Marjorie Rambeau	...	Mamie Adams
Henry Travers	...	Gramp
Miles Mander	...	Homer
Queenie Vassar	...	Grandma
Joan Carroll	...	Honeybell
Vivienne Osborne	...	Thelma
Carmen Morales	...	Carmelita

Storyline

Ellie Mae lives on Primrose Hill with her good-hearted and fancy free mother, her drunken father, her younger sister and a mean-spirited grandmother. The Hill is not a good part of town, however. When she meets and falls for a hard-working man, they marry and she hides her past from him. When he discovers the truth it jeopardizes their marriage.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | prostitution | suicide attempt | accidental shooting | poverty | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 March 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Una nueva Primavera

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

'The Primrose Path' opened at the Biltmore Thater on January 4, 1939 and ran for 166 performances.

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Goofs

When the "Portugee" (Portuguese) girl steps out of the cantina to call Ed back inside, she threatens to cut his ears off in Spanish, not Portuguese.

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Quotes

Gramp: The world would be a lot better off if there was no people in it.

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Crazy Credits

Shown during opening credits: We live, not as we wish to, but as we can. --Menander, 300 BC

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Connections

Referenced in Choose Me (1984)

User Reviews

underrated

This is one of Gregory La Cava's last pictures and doesn't seem to be very well known. Film critic Andrew Sarris didn't seem to think much of it in his book The American Cinema, and rates it as one of his lower pictures. I never would of watched this movie before until i discovered how great Ginger Rogers was and now i want to watch all her films. Rogers plays a poor girl who lives in the slums with a drunk father, a prostitute for a mother and some other relatives. Rogers has no interest in guys until she meets Joel McCrea at a restaurant and they wind up married. She lies about her family to him and it causes some problems between them. Ginger Rogers is good as usual and Joel McCrea is very good as the husband.