There are some nice touches to this Frank Capra film, including the opening scenes which have some humor. However, this is pre-code and not "Capracorn", so it will probably not be what you expect from a Fran Capra film. The opening photography is quite nice, as well (at least for 1932).
There are also some problems. Barbara Stanwyck was 25 when she made this film. The leading man -- Adolphe Menjou -- was 42...and the age difference really shows. However, it's interesting to watch Menjou as a leading man, rather than the character actor he became in later life...although I much prefer him as the older character actor. The makeup man should have received a retroactive Oscar for his makeup of Menjou as he ages 20+ years toward the end of the film. Menjou in old makeup looked exactly like Menjou himself looked 20+ years after this film was made.
Barbara Stanwyck is not as smooth in this film as some of her others in the same general time period, but I have come to appreciate her much more as I have seen a few of her early roles.
I give Capra very low marks here for the way he misdirected Ralph Bellamy. If it weren't for the otherwise sensitivity of the story line, it would have ruined the film. If you took the stereotype of a city editor of a newspaper and put it on steroids...well, that's how badly that role is played in this film. And I don't blame Bellamy. This is nothing like any other Bellamy performance I have ever seen. And even if it was Bellamy that goofed, a good director should have seen the excess. My guess is that Bellamy played it as Capra directed it. One of the rare times I would say, "Shame on you, Frank Capra." To some degree, the crusading editor should be a good guy, where Menjou (who has a mistress, fathered a daughter by that mistress, all while married to a woman partly crippled in an auto accident when he was driving) should be the bad guy. But Bellamy's part is played so badly, you end up rooting for the philanderer.
This story was allowed to explore topics not seen for many years after the code became strictly enforced. So while the script is clumsy in a few places (after all, talkies were still immature in 1932), it's quite a captivating story, and I recommend it...at least once.
There are also some problems. Barbara Stanwyck was 25 when she made this film. The leading man -- Adolphe Menjou -- was 42...and the age difference really shows. However, it's interesting to watch Menjou as a leading man, rather than the character actor he became in later life...although I much prefer him as the older character actor. The makeup man should have received a retroactive Oscar for his makeup of Menjou as he ages 20+ years toward the end of the film. Menjou in old makeup looked exactly like Menjou himself looked 20+ years after this film was made.
Barbara Stanwyck is not as smooth in this film as some of her others in the same general time period, but I have come to appreciate her much more as I have seen a few of her early roles.
I give Capra very low marks here for the way he misdirected Ralph Bellamy. If it weren't for the otherwise sensitivity of the story line, it would have ruined the film. If you took the stereotype of a city editor of a newspaper and put it on steroids...well, that's how badly that role is played in this film. And I don't blame Bellamy. This is nothing like any other Bellamy performance I have ever seen. And even if it was Bellamy that goofed, a good director should have seen the excess. My guess is that Bellamy played it as Capra directed it. One of the rare times I would say, "Shame on you, Frank Capra." To some degree, the crusading editor should be a good guy, where Menjou (who has a mistress, fathered a daughter by that mistress, all while married to a woman partly crippled in an auto accident when he was driving) should be the bad guy. But Bellamy's part is played so badly, you end up rooting for the philanderer.
This story was allowed to explore topics not seen for many years after the code became strictly enforced. So while the script is clumsy in a few places (after all, talkies were still immature in 1932), it's quite a captivating story, and I recommend it...at least once.