Our Blushing Brides

This was the third film in the Joan Crawford flapper trilogy - (Our Dancing Daughters (1928)/Our Modern Maidens (1929)/Our Blushing Brides (1930)). The first two were silent, the third was a talking picture. This was not Joan Crawford's first talking picture nor her first film with costar Robert Montgomery - both those honors go to 1929's "Untamed".

You can really see the onset of the Great Depression having an effect in this final film of the trilogy. The first two films involve lots of melodrama, but there is also widespread prosperity and a focus on living it up with partying that reflects the excesses of the 1920's. This final film really isn't about living it up at all. It's more about three shop girls just getting by and how the men in the lives of two of them (Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian) promise the good life but end up raining down tragedy upon them, while the third shop girl, Gerry (Joan Crawford), has her own cynical attitude towards men reinforced by watching the fates of her two friends. That makes the ending seem a little tacked on and even unbelievable to some degree, but it's still a good film.

Unfortunately this film is neither on DVD or VHS. "Our Dancing Daughters" and "Our Modern Maidens" can be found on used VHS copies, but the transfer is pretty blurry. None of the three is on DVD, and considering their place in Joan Crawford's filmography, I find that to be a shame.

Joan Crawford was the top box office star of 1930. That year she made three films: Montana Moon, Our Blushing Brides, and Paid. Even though these films were hits in their day, none have ever been available on home video. That is a shame, because they are all enjoyable.

Our Blushing Brides was the third and last of the "Our" series of films, which started in 1928 with the success of Our Dancing Daughters. It is also the best of the three, with an intelligent script, fabulous art deco sets, and terrific performances.

Joan Crawford stars as Gerry, who works in a department store and lives in an apartment with three other young women, played by Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian. Each of these women is being pursued by rich men.

Sebastian is out for money. She marries a rich man on their first date, after he promises her that she will never have to wake up to an alarm again. Page is in love with the wealthy son of the department store owner, who is in love with her but will not marry her. Crawford is disillusioned and does not trust men. She is the most independent of the three, but even she has trouble resisting the advances of a young and handsome Robert Montgomery, also a son of the department store owner.

When Crawford discovers Montgomery's intentions are motivated purely by lust, after being lured to his art deco tree loft for a midnight rendezvous, she walks out on him and keeps him guessing. Meanwhile, Page and Sebastian find out their men are cads, using them for sex and going out on them behind their backs. Sebastian's husband is arrested, and Page's beau marries someone else, prompting her to swallow poison.

Crawford, in a fit of rage, rushes to the wedding and orders Page's former beau to return to her until she gets well. Montgomery, sensing the reason why Crawford distrusted men, loves her all the more for it. But what will become of Page and Sebastian, and will Montgomery finally be the man Crawford can trust and love? This is an excellent pre-code, with moments of funny comedy and tearful drama. If you want to see a set of actors at their vibrant and youthful best, you have to give this little-known film a chance.

Overly long, dated, predictable melodrama done in 1930. Joan Crawford plays a department store model, Gerry Marsh, who resists the charms of Tony Jardine (Robert Montgomery), whose family owns the store. Meanwhile, she watches her two roommates (Dorothy Sebastian and Anita Page) make big mistakes regarding men.

This is a pre-code film, and despite the above-mentioned problems, they're always interesting to watch. This one had to do with giving in to one's baser instincts (having sex) for money and the good life. This is 1930, and America was still preoccupied with class distinctions. Gerry refuses to give in to Tony, but her roommate Connie (Anita Page) is kept by his brother David. Franky (Dorothy Sebastian) marries a big talker.

Two scenes stick out as a sign of the times - outside Gerry's apartment building on a hot summer night, the street is teeming with kids playing, an ice cream cart, and people sitting on the stoop. A very realistic portrayal of cities back then. With no air conditioning and no television, people sat outside for the air and to talk with their neighbors. Social interaction, not social networks, Internet, and cable, provided their entertainment.

The second striking thing was the radio description of an engagement of a couple from socially prominent families. I remember seeing an old Vogue magazine where an woman engaged to some sort of royalty got a full page portrait. Not uncommon.

For anyone who only knows the hard-faced Joan Crawford of later years, this movie will serve as a revelation. Made for movies with those huge, mesmerizing eyes, beautiful face, and trim figure, Crawford shines here. At times she sounds like she's sporting some sort of affected accent, though I don't know why. Page and Sebastian are also very good in their roles. Montgomery is underused - he was more than a dashing leading man - but he looks great and does the role well.

All in all, worth seeing for the young Crawford and a look at life in 1930 for shop girls.

Our Blushing Brides - another in the early black/white ensemble films with Joan Crawford and Anita Page- this one came along just in time for talkies. Joan is Geraldine March, Anita is Connie Blair, and Dorothy Sebastian is Francine Daniels, all chasing their various men. This one also has Hedda Hopper as Mrs. Ross-Weaver, and a dashing 26 year old Robert Montgomery as Tony Jardine. Crawford would work with Hedda Hopper in "The Women" in 1939, which also featured fashion shows that take place in a store where they work.... Also present is an 18 year old Ann Dvorak as one of the models, and Louise Beavers, from Imitation of Life, as the dresser. Geraldine and Francine prance around in tight dresses and slips, a sure sign that the movie code wasn't being enforced yet. Way too much time is spent on the fashion shows, in a Busby Berkeley-like synchronized dance around the pool. Later, Geraldine wears a blond wig, and speaks with a stilted, proper accent that wasn't there before, I guess to impress her rich new suitor, Tony (Montgomery). As the girls have their ups and downs, they all lean on Geraldine. Good performances by all, except that near the end, Joan starts doing her big, overdone facial expressions that were so necessary in all her silent films.

About three working girls/roommates/gal pals and their relationships with three men/millionaires/heels. The girls all work at Jardine's department store where virtuous Jerry (played by Joan Crawford) models dresses and ladies lingerie, blonde and innocent Connie (Anita Page) works the perfume counter, and wisecracking, sarcastic Franky (Dorothy Sebastian) is stuck in blankets (where there's "not a male customer in a carload"). Franky finally does meet a man in the blanket department - he's loaded with free-flowing wads of cash, so she immediately agrees to go out with him. Meanwhile pretty Connie is having a love affair with the owner's son, David Jardine (played by Raymond Hackett, who looked to me like a cross between David and Ricky Nelson), and Jerry has a fancy for the other son, Tony Jardine (Robert Montgomery). Jerry thinks Tony is "different" from the other cads/men she meets - but she soon finds out he's not as she ends up in his lair - a tree house complete with sunken couch, dim lights, mood music, and disappearing staircase. Oh brother!

This film is quite enjoyable, I like the interrelationships between the three girls - there's plenty of chemistry and camaraderie there. Robert Montgomery is a doll, his slim self handsomely decked out in tuxedo, white tie, and tails (ooh la la) - he plays his playboy-like part expertly. Joan Crawford acts up a storm in this, with a full range of emotions - and gets to show herself off in slinky outfits and barely-there lingerie as well (which she REALLY seems to enjoy doing!). The film includes a fun fashion show, complete with foppish Parisian dress designers, and lots of capes, drapes, ruffles, and deco look hats.