Así ama la mujer

I'm a big fan of the Crawford oeuvre, in all its permutations and occasional excesses. That said, her Sadie is refreshingly underplayed and sincere. The mid-Atlantic accent that she tended to is at a minimum here, and there is a fluidity that is in much contrast to the Greek tragic masks, riveting though they are, of some of her later performances. The wonderful Jean Dixon is on hand in a role that is a precursor to Eve Arden's pal of "Mildred Pierce" and "Goodbye My Fancy"--worldly, rueful, self-denigrating. (Mary Phillips took on a similar part in "The Bride Wore Red" several years later.) Esther Ralston does a fine job as the blowsy, sensuous man-stealer--at one point she practically does a Mae West with her intonations and stance. Solid performances also from Franchot Tone and Gene Raymond and the always-reliable, under-appreciated Edward Arnold. The very engaging Earl Oxford appears as "the Stooge" and one wonders why this charmer did not have a film career.

The story is serviceable, and there is a motif of characters' taking responsibility for their lives, and, as best they can, making amends for wrongs. Note that at the start and end of the film there are scenes in which the camera follows a character from one room to the next in such a way that you realize that there is not any real partition between the two rooms--an enjoyable little breaking of the "fourth wall" premise of theater.

Well-made Clarence Brown pre-Code soaper with Joan Crawford (Brown directs Joan 5 times) costumed by Adrian (he does this a total of 28 times) and photographed by Oliver T. Marsh (he did a total of 15 films with Joan). First class production crew yields a first class film.

Joan plays a `shopgirl' character that could have had no heart (Barbara Stanwyck would have excelled at such an interpretation) but the writers gave her an innate goodness that warms Sadie McKee to her audience. Edward Arnold stands out as the drunken millionaire that must have served as a role model for Dudley Moore years later in `Arthur.' His sock in the jaw to Joan is unexpected and looks very real. Gene Raymond does well as the love interest and if that was he singing – he did it well. His final scene is very good and somewhat unusual. Franchot Tone does not appear to have had the opportunity to develop his character sufficiently to make him more effective. It must have been good enough, because he got Joan after the film was completed. A somewhat zaftig Esther Ralston still manages to demonstrate why she was `The American Venus' and why Raymond spent so much of his time smiling. Why her character does not react to Raymond singing a love song to Joan in the Apollo Theater is beyond me. Leo G. Carroll does a superb job as the butler – his distain for the lower class Joan is great.

Joan's character has many choices in this film and she generally comes out ahead with some short deviations into taking what she can get when she can get it. She gives great looks at Arnold when she realizes she must be his lover now that they are married and later to her friend when she exclaims, `So I've got everything, huh?' and while reflecting what she has done after throwing Tone out of her house. Arnold also has choices and responds well to the outcome of the marriage. Although the two policemen in the film do not take the `tip' offered by Joan, they run out after the taxicab man who gets their share presumably to get their cut out outside the presence of Joan.

This is excellent movie making and a must see for Joan Crawford fans (or anyone else that wants to see a good movie). Highly recommended.

Clarence Brown was an above average director and his pictures with Joan Crawford in the early and mid '30s are better than those she did with others. Brown had an eye and a sense of detail and he favors long takes with two or more performers interacting, which creates a certain tension where there might otherwise be none. Certainly this improbable script is not noticeably better than others Joan did around that time, but everything about this picture works perfectly.

Having finally found her best 'look,' Crawford is undeniably gorgeous, the ravishing epitome of glamor. And Adrian does some of his best work for her in this, putting her in one stunning and flattering gown after another. She is also given a talented and varied supporting cast and all of the big set pieces work, though Edward Arnold's drunk scenes go on for too long.

And there are a couple of fantastic sets, one of Arnold's mansion and the other of a glass sanitarium in the snow. Though the whole cast is more than adequate, a few players stand out: Jean Dixon is delightfully world weary in a leopard coat, Esther Ralston makes a perfect amoral siren, and it's a bit of a revelation to see how much Leo G. Carroll accomplishes by doing very little in his role as a nasty butler. There's also a fantastic jazz version of "After You've Gone" performed by Gene Austin, Candy Candido and Otto Heimel. As for the main players, Crawford, Franchot Tone and Gene Raymond don't dig very deep in their performances, but with a plucky, luscious Crawford at full tilt and with everything else about this movie clicking so well, it doesn't matter. It works.

Joan Crawford acts up a storm in this well done, interesting soap opera like story of working girl Sadie, daughter of a cook, who is madly in love with a loser named Tommy (played by Gene Raymond). Sadie and Tommy run off together to NYC where they soon take up residence in this shabby, one-room apartment. The next day, big plans for job hunting and a noon appointment at the city hall to get married, but unfortunately for Sadie, Tommy the Rat is thrown in the path of a bad blonde/singer named Dolly who hires him on the spot to sing in her act, they kiss and run off together leaving poor Sadie waiting at the so-called altar. But Sadie pulls herself up by her boot straps, gets a job as a dancer, and meets a multi-millionaire (Edward Arnold) with a big drinking problem, while still holding the torch for her beloved Tommy.

This film is quite a good one, the story completely held my interest, and the acting is top-notch with Joan Crawford giving out her full emotional range, Edward Arnold is excellent playing drunk for the majority of his scenes, and Esther Ralston does a good job as Dolly, the loose hipped, barely able to sing man-snatcher. Franchot Tone plays a lawyer, the son of the well-to-do home where Sadie was raised - he isn't given as much to do here as I would have liked but still gives a satisfying performance, and he certainly looks handsome enough, as usual. The film includes a few fun to watch musical numbers, plus some interesting scenes filmed in diners and a neat old-time Automat.

This is often forgotten in Joan Crawford's filmography. It has lots of the ingredients of precode Hollywood, released a couple of month before the inception of the Production Code. It also has lots of the components of the films that Crawford made for MGM of the 1930s, but this one came relatively early in her career and thus seems fresh compared to later similar entries.

Sadie is the daughter of the cook in the home of the wealthy Alderson family. One night when helping out with the serving at dinner, she listens to the son and lawyer of the family (Franchot Tone as Michael) talking about how her boyfriend, Tommy Wallace, is a thief and should get no second chance from the community now that he's been fired from his job. Sadie tells them off and takes off with Tommy (Gene Raymond) to New York City. They have about twenty dollars between them, and pretend to be married to the landlady, planning to be married the next day. Sadie has a job interview, so she and Tommy agree to meet at city hall at noon and be married. He never shows. But this is not an Affair to Remember. Instead, it's exactly what you'd suspect. Brassy nightclub singer Dolly Merrick hears Tommy singing in the boarding house bathroom and offers him a job singing in her act. But the audition would conflict with his wedding. Tommy picks the audition over the wedding, clears out his clothes, and doesn't even leave a note behind.

Sadie, now a hardened jaded woman, gets a job dancing in a night club act where she meets the very wealthy Jack Brennan ( Edward Arnold). He's drunk when he meets her, drunk when he marries her, in fact the guy is perpetually drunk to the point I get tired of him, and it is so hard to get tired of the talented Edward Arnold. The complicating factor is that Michael Alderson is Brennan's lawyer, thinks the worst of Sadie, and is still a pompous glass bowl, although he was right about Tommy having no character. Sadie can't forgive him for that either.

Then comes the day when Sadie is told Brennan will die if he doesn't quit drinking, Sadie sees Tommy again and the old feelings surface, and Michael AND all of the servants think she is just a scheming tramp trying to let Brennan die drinking so she can become the rich widow. Complications ensue.

This film had lots of precode moments. There is the insinuation that Tommy and Sadie, in spite of their promises to each other to wait, do share a bed that one night they are in the rooming house. And there is the delightful Jean Dixon as Sadie's hard boiled friend who looks at the bedroom arrangements after Sadie marries Brennan and says "I've done a lot more for a lot less".

Recommended if it ever comes your way. It packs a lot of plot into its running time.