A carnival magician deserts his wife when he finds out she's pregnant. She then marries the carnival's barker, but finds herself attracted to a young engineer.
Jack Black IMDbs himself and dishes on The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Plus, we've got an uncensored version!
"The Sinner" star talks us through his arc in the show's just-finished Season 2.
User Lists
Related lists from IMDb users
Share this Rating
Title: Lilly Turner (1933)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
Learn more
More Like This
Heroes for Sale
(1933)
Drama
|
War
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Loretta Young,
Richard Barthelmess,
Aline MacMahon
Safe in Hell
(1931)
Certificate: Passed
Crime
|
Drama
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Dorothy Mackaill,
Donald Cook,
Ralf Harolde
Night Nurse
(1931)
Comedy
|
Crime
|
Drama
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Barbara Stanwyck,
Ben Lyon,
Joan Blondell
Frisco Jenny
(1932)
Drama
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Ruth Chatterton,
Louis Calhern,
Helen Jerome Eddy
So Big!
(1932)
Drama
|
Romance
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Barbara Stanwyck,
George Brent,
Dickie Moore
Midnight Mary
(1933)
Certificate: Passed
Crime
|
Drama
|
Romance
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Loretta Young,
Franchot Tone,
Ricardo Cortez
The Purchase Price
(1932)
Comedy
|
Drama
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Barbara Stanwyck,
George Brent,
Lyle Talbot
Certificate: Passed
Drama
|
Sport
Director:
King Vidor
Stars:
Wallace Beery,
Jackie Cooper,
Irene Rich
Small Town Girl
(1936)
Comedy
|
Romance
Directors:
William A. Wellman,
Robert Z. Leonard
Stars:
Janet Gaynor,
Robert Taylor,
Binnie Barnes
Wild Boys of the Road
(1933)
Adventure
|
Drama
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Frankie Darro,
Rochelle Hudson,
Edwin Phillips
This Man's Navy
(1945)
Drama
|
Adventure
Director:
William A. Wellman
Stars:
Wallace Beery,
Tom Drake,
James Gleason
What Price Hollywood?
(1932)
Certificate: Passed
Drama
Director:
George Cukor
Stars:
Constance Bennett,
Lowell Sherman,
Neil Hamilton
Edit
Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Ruth Chatterton | ... | Lilly 'Queenie' Turner Dixon | |
| George Brent | ... | Bob Chandler | |
| Frank McHugh | ... | David 'Dave' Dixon | |
| Guy Kibbee | ... | Doc Peter McGill | |
| Robert Barrat | ... | Fritz 'Heinie' | |
| Ruth Donnelly | ... | Edna Yokum | |
| Marjorie Gateson | ... | Mrs. Bessie 'Ma' McGill | |
| Gordon Westcott | ... | Rex Durkee | |
| Arthur Vinton | ... | Sam Waxman | |
| Grant Mitchell | ... | Dr. Hawley | |
 |
Margaret Seddon | ... | Mrs. Turner |
| Mae Busch | ... | Hazel | |
| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Walter Brennan | ... | (scenes deleted) | |
| Hobart Cavanaugh | ... | Earle (scenes deleted) | |
| Ethel Wales | ... | Mrs. Flint (scenes deleted) | |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
See All (49) »
Storyline
A carnival magician deserts his wife when he finds out she's pregnant. She then marries the carnival's barker, but finds herself attracted to a young engineer.
Plot Keywords:
carnival | engineer | magician | mental asylum escapee | weightllifter |Taglines:
It Will Make "Frisco Jenny" Turn Pale! (Print Ad- The Citizen-Advertiser,((Auburn, NY)) 9 June 1933)Genres:
DramaCertificate:
UnratedParents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents »
Edit
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
13 May 1933 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Os Amores de Lily See more »Filming Locations:
Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USACompany Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
Edit
(uncredited)
Music by Abe Holzmann
Played when Dave first appears as the carnival barker
Also played when Lilly confronts Rex backstage
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Warner Bros. tried to re-release the movie in 1936, but the Production Code office refused to award an approval certificate. See more »Soundtracks
Spirit of Independence(uncredited)
Music by Abe Holzmann
Played when Dave first appears as the carnival barker
Also played when Lilly confronts Rex backstage
See more »
Once I'd seen Ruth Chatterton in "Dodsworth," I wanted to see her as much as possible. In a movie different from that also from this one, she plays a brazenly sexual executive: That film is "Female." "Lilly Turner" has many elements of the standard women's picture. A women's picture that is, one must note, distinctly pre-Code. Also one that is directed by William Wellman.
It transcends the genre on many counts, though: Chatterton gives an excellent performance. I had to laugh when she gives her age as 22! Chatterton was 40 when this came out and 40, especially for women, was sort of the equivalent of 60 today.
Fine actress she was, whatever age she was passed off as. She gets excellent support here from peculiar collection of co-stars and supporting players. Frank McHugh is especially good as the alcoholic carnival worker who rescues her when she's dumped by a no-good new husband.
I was particularly impressed by the scenes with Robert Barrat. He was hardly an actor of Chatterton's caliber. He plays a strongman in the carnival run by Guy Kibbee. In his later scenes, the nature of which I will not give away, he is filmed in a manner highly reminiscent of German Expressionism. James Van Trees filmed the whole movie beautifully but these sequences are true knockouts. They'd be right at home in the very finest of film noir.
Be advised that some of the dialog exhibits racial and ethnic insensitivity that was acceptable at the time.