One would admit that the production values of this film are skimpy but that's not really the essential message of this film. It's not about a woman giving up her womanhood to stand on her own. Nor about true love. It is a simple tale of one's own self worth and the ethics of life.
Kay's character in the beginning is a self centered nitwit with dreams of stardom. She forgoes any sense of propriety. She lies to her husband and visits a smarmy has been actor in his cabin. Alone. At night. Moments before he will sexually assault her-and even Kay can see this coming- her husband intrudes and in the scuffle and fight kills him. It's accidental but the court doesn't see it that way and the poor chap is carted off to prison for the rest of his life. Kay fools herself into thinking that once she becomes a star she can free her husband, come back and love him.
Off to New York she goes. With her toddling child. (Why didn't she leave her with her mother in-law?) Yes, she hates Kay. Understandably. Her flightiness caused the tragedy. After all, she would have cared for her grandchild. And the truth would have been told and the young girl could have visited her father. Yes, yes in prison. Kay would have come out the stinker but then she should have.
So, Kay goes to New York and puts the make on a theatrical producer. Because he already has a girlie she gets Kay fired. But the Broadway hotshot promises her a big break in another production. For once in her life she uses her brain and says no dice. Exit Kay.
Now, she's off to London to become a star on her own. However, her kid is a bit of a drag on her. She is way too easily convinced to leave the child with an over the hill hoofer she meets while touring the States. What conscientious mother would drop her child and be an ocean away from her? Kay would. And she does.
In London Kay at last realises her dreams. She sends for the kid. The hoofer brings her but the child regards the hoofer as her mother. Kay is pissed. But the hoofer explains the facts of the situation to Kay. As if she should need to have them explained to her. With a tear in her eye Kay sees the right of it.
It's probably here when the script Kay has been following in her quest for fame and redemption gets complicated. Her poor child goes through emotional torture on being separated from her surrogate mother to live with Kay. It's pathetic but the poor kid endures. Her surrogate/hoofer mother is devastated as well on losing the child she half-raised and will soon become a fixture in every sleazy bar in New York.
Kay's producer boyfriend has since returned though to pick up where they left off. They're so very, very happy. The child is doing better. Kay is famous. She's in love, bless her. Now she'll really feel great about herself when she can see her husband walk out of the prison he's been in for the past eight years. Thanks to her then and her money now. After that she can tell him she's never loved him and let's just leave bygones be bygones because she wants to marry another man.
But when she sees her husband life doesn't play out the way she thought. He still loves her. Unquestionably. Unconditionally. He hasn't seen his own child in years. He's rather frail. A heart condition. But he has dreams. Of an automotive shop. Of them being together as a family again. Hearing this her lifelong brain fog clears. She is his wife. His dreams are just as worthy and just as valid as her were. She realised her dream. Isn't her Broadway romance looking just a little cheap around the edges now? Kay has left nothing but a trail of tears behind her. The poor lecher that was accidentally killed, her broken hearted mother in law seeing her son go off to prison, her child's loss of her surrogate mother, the surrogate mother's loss of her child....E-Gads!
Maybe it's your turn Kay to take the bad with the good.... Certainly her daughter is willing.
By the way, Kay Francis is superb. Bette Davis would have ruined it.
Kay's character in the beginning is a self centered nitwit with dreams of stardom. She forgoes any sense of propriety. She lies to her husband and visits a smarmy has been actor in his cabin. Alone. At night. Moments before he will sexually assault her-and even Kay can see this coming- her husband intrudes and in the scuffle and fight kills him. It's accidental but the court doesn't see it that way and the poor chap is carted off to prison for the rest of his life. Kay fools herself into thinking that once she becomes a star she can free her husband, come back and love him.
Off to New York she goes. With her toddling child. (Why didn't she leave her with her mother in-law?) Yes, she hates Kay. Understandably. Her flightiness caused the tragedy. After all, she would have cared for her grandchild. And the truth would have been told and the young girl could have visited her father. Yes, yes in prison. Kay would have come out the stinker but then she should have.
So, Kay goes to New York and puts the make on a theatrical producer. Because he already has a girlie she gets Kay fired. But the Broadway hotshot promises her a big break in another production. For once in her life she uses her brain and says no dice. Exit Kay.
Now, she's off to London to become a star on her own. However, her kid is a bit of a drag on her. She is way too easily convinced to leave the child with an over the hill hoofer she meets while touring the States. What conscientious mother would drop her child and be an ocean away from her? Kay would. And she does.
In London Kay at last realises her dreams. She sends for the kid. The hoofer brings her but the child regards the hoofer as her mother. Kay is pissed. But the hoofer explains the facts of the situation to Kay. As if she should need to have them explained to her. With a tear in her eye Kay sees the right of it.
It's probably here when the script Kay has been following in her quest for fame and redemption gets complicated. Her poor child goes through emotional torture on being separated from her surrogate mother to live with Kay. It's pathetic but the poor kid endures. Her surrogate/hoofer mother is devastated as well on losing the child she half-raised and will soon become a fixture in every sleazy bar in New York.
Kay's producer boyfriend has since returned though to pick up where they left off. They're so very, very happy. The child is doing better. Kay is famous. She's in love, bless her. Now she'll really feel great about herself when she can see her husband walk out of the prison he's been in for the past eight years. Thanks to her then and her money now. After that she can tell him she's never loved him and let's just leave bygones be bygones because she wants to marry another man.
But when she sees her husband life doesn't play out the way she thought. He still loves her. Unquestionably. Unconditionally. He hasn't seen his own child in years. He's rather frail. A heart condition. But he has dreams. Of an automotive shop. Of them being together as a family again. Hearing this her lifelong brain fog clears. She is his wife. His dreams are just as worthy and just as valid as her were. She realised her dream. Isn't her Broadway romance looking just a little cheap around the edges now? Kay has left nothing but a trail of tears behind her. The poor lecher that was accidentally killed, her broken hearted mother in law seeing her son go off to prison, her child's loss of her surrogate mother, the surrogate mother's loss of her child....E-Gads!
Maybe it's your turn Kay to take the bad with the good.... Certainly her daughter is willing.
By the way, Kay Francis is superb. Bette Davis would have ruined it.