If it's not living in a rat infested infested tenement like in "Street Scene", "Dead End" or "One Third of a Nation", it's being involved with bums like Fredric March, Spencer Tracy, George Raft or Henry Fonda. Okay, so some of those leading men played characters who were involved in circumstances that had them being framed for crimes they did not commit or being confusedwith somebody else or dealing with a past they were desperately trying to escape.
Before she played feisty old ladies who use their acid tongue to prevent themselves from being mistreated or exploited, Sylvia Sidney was probably Hollywood's most tragedy prone leading lady. Her pre-code characters were often used by the men she was involved with, and in this case, being robbed while trying to get out of town has her accused by the police of solicitation. Aided by carny con-artist Fredric March, she finds herself aiding him in his scams while secretly trying to reform him. but certain men cannot be reformed. In one of his rare non gentlemanly roles, March speaks with a definitive thug like accent, and basically overacts in a way which makes him seem completely unbelievable. Of his lengthy career, this is one of his few performance misfires and often you may laugh at how tough he's trying to be and how unsuccessful he is at convincing the audience that he is.
That pretty much leaves the film in Sylvia's hands and she creates a character that you can't help but root for because everything seems to be against her from the start. her only flaw is in the character thinking that March is worth trying to reform and that he is the man that she should settle down with if she manages to fulfill her goal. The cast of character actors is largely unrecognizable save for Bradley Page as the hard-hearted carnival manager and Russell Hopton as marches cohort who robs Sylvia in the very first scene. That alone should have told Sylvia to get away from him as fast as she can, which is a problem with the script that makes the remainder of the film so unbelievable. As a pre code curiosity, it does have some interesting elements about it but overall is nearly a complete misfire.
Before she played feisty old ladies who use their acid tongue to prevent themselves from being mistreated or exploited, Sylvia Sidney was probably Hollywood's most tragedy prone leading lady. Her pre-code characters were often used by the men she was involved with, and in this case, being robbed while trying to get out of town has her accused by the police of solicitation. Aided by carny con-artist Fredric March, she finds herself aiding him in his scams while secretly trying to reform him. but certain men cannot be reformed. In one of his rare non gentlemanly roles, March speaks with a definitive thug like accent, and basically overacts in a way which makes him seem completely unbelievable. Of his lengthy career, this is one of his few performance misfires and often you may laugh at how tough he's trying to be and how unsuccessful he is at convincing the audience that he is.
That pretty much leaves the film in Sylvia's hands and she creates a character that you can't help but root for because everything seems to be against her from the start. her only flaw is in the character thinking that March is worth trying to reform and that he is the man that she should settle down with if she manages to fulfill her goal. The cast of character actors is largely unrecognizable save for Bradley Page as the hard-hearted carnival manager and Russell Hopton as marches cohort who robs Sylvia in the very first scene. That alone should have told Sylvia to get away from him as fast as she can, which is a problem with the script that makes the remainder of the film so unbelievable. As a pre code curiosity, it does have some interesting elements about it but overall is nearly a complete misfire.