Sinners in the Sun (1932) User Reviews

Completely mistitled...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 5 September 2021]

... because with a name like "Sinners in the Sun" I figured it was one of those precodes in a tropical locale with some mad doctor doing odd experiments. But then I read a summary and thought I'd give it a whirl.

It's basically about love and the Great Depression. Doris (Carole Lombard) is a model at a high end boutique. Jimmie (Chester Morris) is a mechanic. They are engaged, but Doris is afraid of poverty, on being dependent on whether some employer thinks you are worth keeping around, and a visit to her apartment and you see why. Doris and her entire extended family, including her grandparents and her underemployed brother and his wife are crammed into this small place, and there is constant bickering. Doris wants Jimmie to own his own garage and be his ow boss before they get married, and eventually this leads to a break-up because Jimmie thinks Doris would be settling for him.

After Jimmie and Doris part, Jimmie becomes the chauffeur and then the husband of an idle rich woman. Doris becomes the mistress of an idle rich married man. They both make these moves because of things they find out that the other has been doing in regards to the opposite sex. Will this whole thing work out? Watch and find out. This boils down to the saying that more than enough money may not make you happy, but less than enough can sure make you miserable. Except the film rather leaves out the second part of that maxim, maybe so Depression era audiences wouldn't get too introspective after seeing this.

It was unusual to see Allison Skipworth play Doris' mother - a kind of Marie Dressler role. She usually plays the older sophisticate. If she doesn't have money she ordinarily pretends that she does. And here she is an ordinary housewife, downtrodden and disheartened by life without ever actually coming out and saying so. Cary Grant makes a few appearances as a rich and unattached guy who'd like have Doris for himself.

One of the most interesting scenes in the film to me - Anderson Lawler in an uncredited role as gigolo to a woman old enough to be his mother. He has a heart to heart with Jimmie about how they are not so different, to Jimmie's horror.

A romantic rectangle beats unromantic squares.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 13 December 2016]

Poor girl loves poor boy but is pursued by rich boy while poor boy finds himself pursued by rich girl. It's all in the shape of things that this oddly formed depression era comedy/drama features such frivolity during the darkest financial era of our country. Carole Lombard is feisty but sweet, turning down all the opportunities to go out seriously with playboy Walter Byron, while the man she loves (Chester Morris) has passes made by his own boss (Adrienne Ames). It's obvious that the two wealthy people have rebellious streaks which take them to the other side of the track, intending to get what they want then toss it aside like a new toy they've gotten bored with. It turns out that Byron already has a wife, causing Lombard's father to kick her out. Handsome Morris has it better with the noble Ames who tries to pull Morris into a marriage doomed from the start.

This is silly and unbelievable from the start, but often very funny and ironic. Lombard is decked out in some wonderful chic clothes, hiding behind them and clamping in tears after learning about Morris's pending nuptials. I can see this helping young ladies deal with the depression, but giving a false indication of how it would all end. The young Cary Grant has a smallish role as another one of Lombard's admirers, and it is obvious that stardom was destined for him. Alison Skipworth plays Lombard's worried mother, quite a different type of role for her. It's an adequate time filler that uses the best of what made pre-code so fascinating. Of course, Carole Lombard could read the comics aloud and keep attention on her. The timeless quality of her personality is undeniable.

Surprise, surprise - money can't buy happiness

[hudecha · 5/10 · 5 December 2020]

This is a highly predictable story, which makes for a half-interesting film. It is almost as if the first scene between the main characters was already announcing everything that will take place. Doris and Jimmy love each other but he thinks they can marry without money, while she does not - and she does not trust him to be ambitious enough. As happens in Hollywood and not that often in real life, they are both soon offered occasions to climb up many steps at once through encounters with do-nothing millionaires - though Jimmy gets the better lot of the two as he is asked to marry, while Doris is not and finds herself relegated to the role of a half-official mistress. But in fact this difference is not that important - it would not be a real spoiler to tell how it all ends as anybody can guess it easily. Let us just say - in an elevator, as this is one of the amusing ideas in a film which manages to have a few ones, and occasionally crisp dialogues. These are the only times when Carole Lombard, who moreover is most of the time covered by heavy make-up making her look cheap, can really shine her true self and her abilities; at other times the film makes attempts, artificially and rather unsuccessfully, at a more melodramatic tone and she is visibly less at ease.

Routine Story But the Cast is Terrific

[Michael_Elliott · 9 March 2017]

Sinners in the Sun (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Jimmie (Chester Morris) and Doris (Carole Lombard) are in love with each other but Doris wants riches and she's not sure Jimmie will ever be able to give them to her. They end up breaking up and before long she's in the arms of a married man (Walter Byron) while he finds himself married to a rich woman (Adrienne Ames). Before long Doris begins to think that money might not be everything.

If you're looking for a great or hard-hitting plot then you're not going to find it here. SINNERS IN THE SUN is pretty much a standard story of a couple poor people who think money is the answer and they have to learn that it isn't more important than love. This type of rags to riches story was quite popular during the early sound days and this one here remains watchable thanks in large part to a great cast of characters.

Morris has always been one of my favorite actors. He might not have ever became a huge star but I've enjoyed going through his career and this is certainly one of his better performances. At first he's style of speech and his delivery reminded me of Jimmy Stewart, although that actor hadn't yet even appeared in Hollywood. Morris gets a couple very good scenes including one where he lets loose on his former love and the actor did a terrific job here.

The rest of the cast is extremely good as well with Lombard doing a very good job in her role of the woman who wants gold, gets it and lives to regret it. She's very good in the role and quite believable whether she's playing that small town girl or the spoiled rich one. The supporting players are nice as well and this includes a young Cary Grant in his second screen appearance. He doesn't have much to do but his few scenes are quite good. Alison Skipworth also gets a couple very funny scenes playing Lombard's mother.

As I said, storywise SINNERS IN THE SUN is pretty silly and predictable but the actors make it worth sitting through.

A big simplistic but engaging.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 16 February 2016]

This simple 1930s film seems to have the underlying theme that a person should be happy with their lot in life and shouldn't want more out of life--a reasonable less considering it was the Depression! When the film begins, Doris (Carole Lombard) and Jimmie (Chester Morris) are in love but to Doris there needs to be much more. This is because although Jimmie has a job, he's not exactly wealthy and she wants money and a fancy life. So, she dumps him and goes off on a search for a rich husband. Jimmie is angry and disgusted but eventually he goes looking for a rich wife. However, even though both have a cushy rich life in front of them, neither is happy.

The biggest reason to see this film is to see Cary Grant in one of his first films. He's reasonably good as a nice rich man but nothing more. As far as the story goes, I liked it but felt the fast run-time was a serious detriment. Because it went by so fast, the story felt more like an object lesson than about real people. But it still was modestly interesting and is worth a look.

Does money bring happiness?

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 6 July 2019]

Doris (Carole Lombard) and Jimmie (Chester Morris) have been dating for some time and pretty much everyone assumes they'll one day marry. However, when he asks her to marry him, Doris announces that she won't marry him, as she wants a man with money....and Jimmie is just a poor mechanic. They both go their own way...she as a model and he is hired as a chauffeur for a pretty rich woman. Soon BOTH end up with offers of marriage from rich folks...and hers from a man who is already married! Can either be happy without the other or living 'the good life' with the rich and powerful?

Apart from a chance to see Cary Grant in one of his early supporting roles, the film is still worth seeing. Occasionally, it comes off as heavy-handed (such as the scene that obviously telegraphs a suicide to come) and the message seems ironic considering how rich these Hollywood folks are...but it's also enjoyable and the two leads do a splendid job.

While the film only vaguely goes there, the implication is that Doris perhaps has been putting out in order to get rich and famous. Many other Pre-Code films might have made this more obvious and vulgar.

Money can't buy happiness

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 18 August 2020]

Remember all those Jean Harlow movies about poor girls wanting to marry rich fellows? If you liked them, check out Carole Lombard and Chester Morris in Sinners in the Sun. Ironically, the same year, Chester played the rich fellow in Jean Harlow's Red-Headed Woman. In this movie, he's a poor garage mechanic in love with Carole. He wants to get married, but she's afraid of a life of poverty. Given her background and growing up in the Great Depression, it's understandable.

Carole and Chester part ways in search of wealthy partners. Carole finds a married man who wants fun on the side, and Chester finds a wealthy woman who likes how he looks in a tuxedo. This pre-Code drama is a bit naughty, with see-through negligees and references to gigolos. Mostly, though, it's a tragedy about two people who think they'll be happier with money than with love. It's always a treat to see Carole in a drama, and Chester gives a great performance as he struggles with his pride. "Did you think I'd cry?" he asks, his voice breaking, when reunited with Carole after they've settled into other lives. If you like this one, check out Swing High, Swing Low.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. About 45 minutes in, and at 52 minutes in, the camera spins for about thirty seconds, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Sinners in the Sun review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 18 April 2020]

A young couple's relationship is threatened by his lack of success. An enjoyable romantic drama featuring a young Carole Lombard as a fashion model - which, as this is a pre-Code movie, means lots of shots of women in lingerie - and Chester Morris as a garage mechanic who eventually marries a socialite after becoming her chauffeur. It's the kind of story that's usually treated lightly by Hollywood studios, but Sinners in the Sun has a welcome dark edge, although everyone - even a wealthy philanderer - is a little too likeable. A pre-fame Cary Grant gives notice of his star potential in a couple of scenes.

After Gatsby

[ilprofessore-1 · 7/10 · 31 March 2019]

This 1932 pre-code Paramount Picture, based on a magazine story by Mildred Cram and directed by Alexander Hall, is best remembered today because it contains a bit of Cary Grant in one of the many stiff playboy roles he did before stardom. All in all, it's not much a story, entirely predictable, but as staged expertly by Hall the film does recreate visually the atmosphere of New York and Long Island society that Fitzgerald wrote about in The Great Gatsby a few years before. The actors are all particularly well-cast, down to the smallest part. (Look especially for a few moments with Anderson Lawler as a self-confessing gigolo.) Chester Morris (Boston Blackie) is for once throughly believable in a tough guy up from the streets role, but as usual it's Carole Lombard--she who could do no wrong--who steals the show and carries the picture. She's both lovely and touching and wears many a superb Travis Banton costume. A true star.

Just One of Those Things

[boblipton · 8/10 · 7 April 2006]

A beautifully written and sometimes magnificently played serious movie. Chester Morris and Carole Lombard love each other, but she is terrified of the corrosive effects of the life of poverty that she foresees with Morris. So they break up and drift into lives as a kept woman and a gigolo.

The two are almost perfect in their roles; Chester Morris plays a character who is almost unable to phrase a clear thought and pulls it off beautifully, for a wonderful payoff scene. Miss Lombard only fails in one scene, towards the end, when she is contemplating suicide: I blame the heavy-handed direction of it rather than her performance. But the movie is riddled with wonderful performances: the always excellent Alison Skipworth as Lombard's supportive mother; Reginald Barlow as the father who gives her no chance; Adrienne Ames and Walter Byron as their likable seducers. Particularly good is Rita La Roy, an actress whom I have never noticed before, as a kept woman who kills herself -- alas, this was her best part in the movies, After her career faded out she sold yachts. Cary Grant is also present in a small role, in his second movie, but if you're not paying attention to the soundtrack you could easily miss him: his voice was far more distinctive than his good looks at this stage of his career.

There is a happy ending, but it feels forced. That is the one flaw in this movie. Otherwise it is well worth your time.

Sin and Sinners

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 13 February 2024]

Sin and sinners: two things early Hollywood had a hang up on. Let's see there was "Sin Takes a Holiday" (1930), "My Sin" (1931), "Laughing Sinners" (1931), "They Call it Sin" (1932), "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" (1931), "The Virtuous Sin" (1930), "Charming Sinners" (1929), this movie ("Sinners in the Sun"), and who knows how many others.

"Sinners in the Sun" started us off with regular working class folks then they tied in rich, society folks as if it was mandatory. You could barely escape society folks in 30's movies and they were some of the most pretentious and morally bankrupt people on Earth.

Jimmie* Martin (Chester Morris) was in love with Doris Blake (Carole Lombard) and she was in love with him. Jimmie was a mechanic while Doris was a clothes model at a department store. Jimmie wanted to marry Doris, while Doris was against the idea as they were currently financially situated. She lived at home with her parents, her sister, and her brother-in-law. As she saw it, if she married Jimmie now they'd end up just like her sister and BIL.

Doris wanted the finer things in life: clothes, furs, jewels, trips--and Jimmie couldn't provide those at the moment. She didn't mean that Jimmie had to be rich, just better off. Jimmie understood from her rejection that she valued money over love, and with that he made a clean break.

He began chauffeuring Claire Kinkaid (Adrienne Ames) who was fond of him while Doris sort of hooked up with Eric Nelson (Walter Byron), a rich playboy.

I have to take this moment to comment on something that I see too often in the older movies and it's something I've commented on before. When Eric met Doris she was swimming. While the two of them took a break on a little floating dock he started his mating ritual. Part of his ritual was to pin Doris and forcibly kiss her. She slapped him, but the slap was more of a statement like, "I am a lady" or "I'm not that type of girl," but the slap wasn't "stay away from me you perverted creep" or "if you come near me again I'll claw your eyes out."

What I mean is that the slap was not much of a deterrent. I gather that he probably got slapped quite often and just continued his pursuit. He continued his pursuit of Doris and it worked, like it's worked in so many movies of that era. She gave in to his persistence and began dating him (though it wasn't a romantic thing from her perspective); a married man. Her family kicked her out because they had morals, but Doris failed to see that she was doing anything wrong.

The most important thing here is the forcible kiss because it occurred on screen so much with no repercussions (except if the guy was a bad guy) that it certainly helped reinforce to a generation of men that that was the way to get a woman. Take control and take what you want. If she rebuffs you, then she's just playing hard to get.

Doris had few choices after being kicked out, so being Eric's mistress was the easy solution to her housing problem (see "The Easiest Way" (1931)). When Jimmie saw Doris with Eric he decided to accept Claire's proposal and marry her. Neither of them were happy with their arrangements even though their arrangements were filled with drinking, partying, dancing, and spending lots of money.

The core message was that money wasn't everything and it certainly couldn't replace love. It was something Doris had to find out for herself. She found out rather rudely when Eric dropped her and essentially handed her to Ridgway (Cary Grant) like a football. If she didn't already feel cheap, that did it.

In the end she and Jimmie got back together as it was meant to be. They had to learn some things about themselves before realizing what was more important. Jimmie had acted in haste by breaking things off and Doris had her priorities mixed up when she insisted on Jimmie being more successful. The ending was cute and romantic. More importantly, they were both back to working and were away from the society crowd and their queer culture.

*Hollywood has always loved J names for men: James, Jimmy, Jack, and John were the most popular

Free on Odnoklassniki.

Screwing the Eye

[tedg · 12 July 2006]

What's interesting about these projects is the collage.

The story is simple: two young lovers. She refuses to marry him because he is poor. They break up and each become coupled with someone wealthy. They discover love is what matters so they reconcile.

Its boring and predictable. The thrill is supposed to be in watching their debauched fun while rich. The cinematic device is the collage. We see a series of images, first of her and later of him. Images of partying, laughing, drinking. We are meant to infer wild sex, gluttony, but the collage is tame.

That's because the technique within the collage is the swirl. Compared to the rest of the movie, indeed all movies of the era this collage was supposed have much shorter segments, more focused and abstract, whooshing by with lots of swirls in between.

I'll bet it worked in its day. I'm sure it did. But today this brisk skating of images is the norm.

Its a disturbing realization. Its not just the notation that's changed, is it? Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.