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I have seen the later versions that were done of this movie, and none compare to this one. Irene Dunne is superb, and brings a lot of depth to her role...you really get to care about her character, and sympathize with her plight.

Only saw this movie once on television years ago, and have not seen it aired since. As far as I can tell, this 1932 movie is not available on tape or dvd at the present time...a real shame, for it certainly needs to be!

BACK STREET (Universal, 1932), directed by John M. Stahl, from the popular novel by Fannie Hurst, is not so much a story about a certain street in a certain town, but a love story of two people who have each other but are unable to unite as husband and wife. While such a theme might have been a product for a Ruth Chatterton or Kay Francis, the heroine in question was awarded to Irene Dunne, on loan from RKO Radio, based on the strength of her Academy Award nominated performance in 1931's Best Picture winner, CIMARRON. John Boles, a likable actor and fine singer of screen musicals who made his way through dramas, assumes the sort of role suited for prospects as Ronald Colman or Ricardo Cortez. Under Stahl's direction, BACK STREET turned out to be a money maker for the studio, career advancement for Dunne, and further roles in the "soap opera school" for Boles, including another opposite Dunne in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (RKO, 1934).

The story begins at the turn of the century, "Cincinnati, in the good old days before the Eighteenth Amendment." Ray Schmidt (Irene Dunne) is introduced as a carefree girl living at home with her father (Paul Weigel), whom she works at his store; stepmother (Jane Darwell); and half-sister, Freda (June Clyde). Popular with the men, she's loved by the ambitious Kurt Shendler (George Meeker), who hopes to marry her after investing in the profitable automobile business. Fate steps in when Ray's friend, Mr. Bakeless (Walter Catlett), a traveling salesman, introduces her to visiting businessman, Walter D. Saxel (John Boles), at the train station. Their one day courtship turns to love. Although engaged to marry his childhood sweetheart, Walter hopes to change all that by arranging Ray to meet with him and his mother (Maude Turner Gordon)the following afternoon at Eden Park by the band stand. Delayed due to Freda's personal troubles, Ray's late arrival finds her watching the crowd gathering away. Five years later, Walter, a junior partner in the banking business, and Ray, employed at a Wall Street firm, meet again on the streets of New York. In spite of Walter's marriage to Corinne (Doris Lloyd) and father of two, he finds he cannot live without Ray. Leaving both her job and apartment, Walter arranges for Ray to take up residence elsewhere so they can meet secretly and resume their relationship. Posing as a married woman, Ray keeps very much to herself during Walter's business or family trips, corresponding only with her friendly landlady, Mrs. Dole (ZaSu Pitts). As Ray befriends a troubled girl named Francine (Shirley Grey), whose life parallels hers, advising her to break off her relationship with a married man, Ray continues living her "back street" existence with Walter for the next 25 years, leading to complications when confronted by Walter's now grown children (William Bakewell and Arletta Duncan).

The success of BACK STREET produced many imitations, along with two remakes for Universal: 1941 starring Charles Boyer and Margaret Sullavan (the best and most revived version), and 1961 featuring Susan Hayward and John Gavin (the least inspired in spite of Technicolor and up-to-date story). While remakes usually fail to compare with the original, the 1941 version is an exception to the rule. Boyer and Sullavan's enactment of Walter and Ray improve over Boles and Dunne, each more satisfying playing loyal or long suffering spouses than unfaithful husband and his mistress. Boyer's acting is more direct, especially during a scene when confronted by his son about his illicit affair, to then order him to "mind his own business" as compared to Boles' more polite manner in the same situation. The only time Boles breaks away from his gentle manner is when Ray asks him to "give her a baby," but even his outrage as to how this could ruin him is more controlled than forceful. Dunne's handling of Ray, too, is gentle and soft-spoken throughout, except during the opening in a couple of unrelated scenes where she speaks and acts in the manner of actress Barbara Stanwyck. The underscore that sets the tone for plot and characters, used to great advantage in the remakes, is sadly lacking in this "back street" of classic love stories. For Irene Dunne, greater movie roles, I REMEMBER MAMA (RKO, 1948) included, were ahead of her.

Out of circulation possibly due to the latter remake(s), the original BACK STREET sufficed again at revival movie houses in the 1970s, public television by 1982, American Movie Classics (1991) usually on a double bill with the 1941 version, and finally Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 9, 2023). Of the three adaptations, only the 1961 carnation had further exposure with its distribution on home video in the 1990s. (**1/2)

The first of the thrice filmed Fanny Hurst novel under the tasteful direction of John Stahl features a superb performance from Irene Dunne. From carefree youth to dying day Dunne gives an incredibly restrained yet powerfully emotional effort of a woman who signs her own death warrant to the American ideal.

Ray Schmidt is one elusive chick to the men chasing her. On to the traveling salesman con she also rejects the well intentioned local boy with promise Kurt Schlender who nevertheless remains persistent. One day at the train depot she's introduced to Walter Saxel (John Boles). The two hit it off and embark on an on off affair until the day they die.

Dunne endures the highs and lows of the relationship with a low key melancholy, much of it reflected in her eyes and long silences that reaches the audience and speaks volumes. The tragic chemistry between the two is evident in many of their scenes as they knowingly play out the doomed affair that will never attain respectability with a wan despair.

Stahl along with cameraman Karl Freund provide one fine background after the next with some beautiful set pieces as well some tender two shot close-ups of the star crossed lovers conflicted by their desperate passion for each other and the "proper " thing to do. A top rate tearjerker.

"Your memory has followed me day and night, like a shadow."

As sympathetic a portrayal of adultery as I think you're going to see, obviously only possible pre-Code, and with a fine performance from Irene Dunne. She plays a character who helps tend to an emergency with her sister one day, and is thus too late to meet a man (John Boles) and his mother in the park, losing her chance to become his fiancée. They've met each other too late, you see, and he continues on with his plan to marry the woman he's engaged to. Flash forward five years and they meet again, becoming lifelong lovers despite his marriage. She gives up her career to be set up in an apartment close to him, a "kept woman," frustrated at times by only getting a slice of his time, but so deeply in love that she stays with him, despite the attentions of a decent, kind guy who's always been crazy about her (George Meeker).

It's a little tough to see just how much Dunne's character sublimates her own life for her lover, as devoted as a puppy dog, but it was refreshing to see the affair not portrayed moralistically, and the two of them as protagonists we empathize with (well, her more than him, but still). Of course, it's an overly idealistic scenario for such an affair: the two are genuinely in love and not doing it because of some damage in their lives, the wife never finds out, and Dunne's character, while sad at times, is content to be the mistress and doesn't create trouble for him. She's certainly not in it for the money, accepting only what's needed to get by. Later in life, we get moral outrage from his adult son directed at both of them, but when the chips are down, he's incredibly kind to her. In the years of the Production Code his moral outrage would have been that of Joseph Breen, and he would never have extended such sympathy. There is tragedy in the story, but it's the natural tragedy of life, not moral comeuppance for having sinned.

At the same time, the film is a cautionary tale about the emotional toll of such an arrangement, and the message seems to be directed more at women than men. In an odd bit of drama, a neighbor has an explosion in her kitchen and is set on fire. As Dunne's character tends to her and consoles her with the fact that her husband will surely nurse her back to health, the other woman confides in her that the man she's seen around isn't really her husband - he's married and carrying on an affair with her, just as in the main storyline. The point is to show that in such an emergency, such a relationship is a disaster, and she will lie there, lonely.

The early voice of wisdom in the film is her father (Paul Weigel), who tells her "I wouldn't fiddle around waiting for something better than Kurt, when it's just like life to hand you something worse. Kurt is a fine, steady boy. He won't ever surprise you maybe, but don't you care. The trouble with most marriages is they've got too many surprises."

We also have the subplot with her sister Freda (June Clyde), who has come into sexual maturity and thinks it's a pathway to marriage. "Say, mama, Katie Shendler says you can make a man marry you if you..." she says, before getting slapped in the face. Later, it's clear she's had some kind of physical relations with a guy named Hugo and he plans to leave town, making her suicidal. This is the emergency that Dunne's sister sticks around for, to force Hugo into staying, causing her to miss the meeting in the park. We do find out later that Freda did indeed marry Hugo and is now raising a family, clearly the "right path" in the eyes of the film.

Irene Dunne is marvelous here, as we see her strength in fending off unwanted advances from men early on, her flirtation and joy ("Paris always brings out the beast in you"), and her sadness, like those tears in her eyes when her lover goes off to Europe, played with perfect restraint. Director John M. Stahl is mostly workmanlike in telling the story, but does get in a fantastic zoom out shot when she's standing there at the pavilion while the crowd disperses, and he's not there. Also, look for that funny little bit in the beginning, where before Prohibition, the family, including three kids, are all drinking beer.

Lastly, another nice quote from the father: "Ever since I can remember, the younger generation has been 'going to the dogs,' yet somehow it always manages to come out on top."

At our recent film society screening of this film (we very luckily have a 16mm print in The National Film and Sound Archive here in Australia) it was very apparent of the skill of director and his star in what is an subtle and underplayed telling of this Fannie Hurst tearjerker. There is an absence of musical underscore very typical for the period prior to 1934, and this added to the potency of the effect of Dunne's absorbing and masterful performance, illustrating her as not just a star but an actress as well. Overall this film has a very gentle feel with slow fade-outs used frequently in giving this effect. Dunne is wonderful in her playing earlier in a lighter fashion and makes a skillful transformation into the section of the film where she is older and more serious. I had sympathy for her character in spite of the sacrifices she makes for John Boles, remaining in the "back street" of his life. I see director Stahl as a sort of predecessor to Sirk in his handling of solid fare such as this and "Leave her to Heaven" (1945).