The Purchase Price

Of course this delicious tour-de-force is totally incredible... but WOW! You can't take your eyes off the screen in case Wellman gives his heroine whiplash as she moves from plushly-kept woman in Manhattan to mail-order farmer's bride in North Dakota. From take-out at Tiffany's to hauling coal nuggets 20 miles through a blizzard. From igniting the lust in men with her daring chanteusing to putting out the fire villains set to her and hubby George Brent's last-hope crop of wheat. All in just over 60 minutes!

THE PURCHASE PRICE is one of ten films Barbara Stanwyck for Warner Bros. in the early 1930's when she was under non-exclusive contracts to the studio and Columbia Pictures. The Columbia films are often quite good, several of them directed by Frank Capra, but most of the Warner Bros. she made in this period are little more than potboilers, films rarely running over 70 minutes with few ambitions. This title is among Stanwyck's weakest films although it is raised immensely by a typically fine Stanwyck performance making it much more interesting and appealing than it should be.

Stanwyck stars as Joan Gordon, a sexy nightclub torch singer who is the mistress of married bootlegger Lyle Talbot. This duo apparently have quite an open relationship as Talbot isn't too bothered by the fact that Stanwyck is also seeing society boy Hardie Albright who wants to marry her. When Albright finds out about Stanwyck's relationship with Talbot he dumps her, crushing Barbara's dream of a quiet life as somebody's wife. Wanting to get away from Talbot's lair, she skittles to Montreal and begins performing under a new name. While in Canada, she befriends hotel maid Leia Bennett whom she later learns is about to become a "mail order bride" - and has used Stanwyck's picture to net her fiancée! When Stanwyck sees some of Talbot's associates she knows it's only a matter of time before he comes up to Canada to get her so she offers Bennett $100 in exchange for letting her take her place as the wife-to-be ("Wow, a $100" Leia exclaims, "I can get a city husband for that!") Stanwyck then travels to North Dakota to meet "her" groom, poor farmer George Brent. They are married but the wedding night proves to be a disaster with Barbara brushing off George's crude attempt at love making. Infuriated, Brent refuses to have anything to do with after this on a personal level, Stanwyck simply becomes a wife on all levels except romantically.

This little film moves quickly and is entertaining but incredibility is all over the film. One little forgotten tidbit is that while Leia Bennett passed off Stanwyck's photo as her own she apparently used her own name but Barbara uses her real name of Joan while in North Dakota! And just why Stanwyck would so harshly reject Brent after no doubt having been pawed by scores of men far more rougher and less attractive? It makes about as much sense as Brent's willful refusal to forgive her for this one night of rejection (wouldn't many a man in this era have found a new bride less than at ease their first night together?) when it's clear she soon wants to make amends. There's also the little fact that Stanwyck is portrayed as a straight shooter, early in the film she insists to Albright she would have told him about Talbot - yet she doesn't give Brent a clue about the relationship or her past until Talbot shows up unannounced sometime into their marriage!

Barbara Stanwyck fully earns her reputation as an outstanding actress, she always seems sincere and real even in this silly little story. She's also stunningly beautiful in scenes where she is presented "naturally" without city artifice and heavy makeup. The big surprise for me was George Brent's excellent performance. Not known for being one of the more expressive of actors, Brent seems perfectly cast as the inexpressive, reserved farmer and was seldom more attractive (although being cast as about the only non-coarse hick caricature among the North Dakotans perhaps helps). He is terrific here and I can't remember him giving a better film performance. Lyle Talbot is also very good looking and so good-natured one has to wonder just why Stanwyck keeps running away from him unless she really DOES want to be just a typical housewife. Most of the supporting roles are fairly small and in bits one can see silent favorites Snub Pollard (as one of the locals) and Mae Busch (as an earthy blonde on the train with Stanwyck also in route to her mail-order man).

This film deals with Stanwyck, who works as a singer in New York. She has been working the nightclub circuit since she was a teenager and is romantically involved with the leader of the underground crime world. Fixture of the pre-code world, Lyle Talbot, portrays the underground kingpin. Because breaking up with such a powerful man, like Talbot, may prove to be difficult, Stanwyck opts to escape to Montreal. In Montreal, she resumes her career under a new name. Stanwyck is spotted by one of Talbot's henchmen. In lieu of returning to Talbot, Stanwyck hatches a scheme with the maid at her apartment building. It seems that the maid has been corresponding with a North Dakota farmer, George Brent, who is looking for a mail order bride. In one of her letters, the maid mails Stanwyck's picture instead of her own, because she finds the youthful Stanwyck more attractive than herself. Sensing the perfect plan, Stanwyck offers to pay the maid two month's worth of wages if she can go to North Dakota in her place. The maid agrees.

Stanwyck and Brent marry and soon it's Stanwyck's turn to learn about life on a farm during the Great Depression. On their wedding night, Brent tries to make advances on new wife Stanwyck to consummate their relationship, but she turns him down and forces him to sleep elsewhere. I know they're married and all, but I don't blame her, she literally just met and married him that same day. I imagine however, that sex probably comes with the territory as a mail order bride. But I digress.

For most of the film, Brent is aloof to Stanwyck and keeps his distance. She genuinely begins to embrace life on the farm and learns how to sew, cook, clean, etc. She is friendly with the neighbors and even helps a neighbor who has recently given birth. Stanwyck helps out with the baby and even instructs a young Anne Shirley how she can help her mother who is recuperating from the birth.

The main conflict in the film, aside from Brent's unhappiness with Stanwyck, is that he is broke and will lose his farm if he cannot pay his back bills. His saving grace however is that he owns a strain of wheat that grows well and is of high quality. He's sure to sell his wheat if he grows and harvests it. Brent and Stanwyck are finally on the same page and work together to save the farm.

This was an okay film, definitely not among one of Stanwyck's best. It definitely doesn't rank up there with my favorite Stanwyck pre-code, Ladies They Talk About. She gives the part her all, even though the plot is somewhat absurd. Brent is just there. He doesn't do much except give Stanwyck the silent treatment. But then this strong silent type was probably Brent's interpretation of a farmer of Scandinavian ancestry living on the Great Plains.

There were definitely some pre-code elements in the film, like Stanwyck walking around the bedroom clad in only a short slip and knee high stockings. She also lays a negligee out on the bed for George Brent to see and get excited, but he's mad at Stanwyck, and won't take the bait.

If you stop to think about the actual story you'll realise that it's the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen. Fortunately William Wellman directs this at such breakneck speed you don't have time to stop - you're whisked along on the Wellman express.

That all this can happen in 68 minutes is crazy but this was Warner's specialty in the early thirties. They were brilliant at it and this is a great example. It's not a fantastic picture but it is so typical of those fast moving features of pure entertainment Darryl Zanuck knew his audiences would lap up. If good quality early thirties movies are your thing, this will tick your boxes. Even though the setting isn't the usual mean streets of New York, it's still got all the usual ingredients.

A common ingredient of pre-code films that's present in this is the overriding importance of marriage. Although in pictures like this it's the single most vital thing in the world for a girl - which must have reflected reality, it seems completely unimportant who they marry as long as they can provide food and shelter. It's irrelevant whether he's a gangster, a decrepit pensioner or in this case, a complete stranger who advertised for a wife (essentially a housekeeper) in an agency. Disturbingly, mail order brides are still around today. Anyway...

One of those other usual key ingredients is George Brent. He's his usual dull self but for a change, that bland personality is suited to this role. Fortunately 'the other man' in the love triangle is Lyle Talbot who always adds some slightly shady charisma. These two however are definitely second fiddle to the absolute star of this picture, Barbara Stanwyck.

She effortlessly melds her gangster-moll persona to devoted farmer's wife as though it's the most transition in the world. Were this role be played by a lesser actress (and directly a lesser director) it could have been a joke picture because the premise is so stupid but she (and Wellman) make it seem completely believable and therefore thoroughly enjoyable.

As in all her thirties pictures (apart from the monstrous Stella Dallas) despite not having the classic Hollywood looks, she inexplicably oozes enough sex appeal to fuel the planet for a hundred years. She certainly had 'it.' This isn't one of her best films but it's still pretty decent - and she's absolutely lovely in it.

BARBARA STANWYCK is a city gal fed up with the sophisticated life of a nightclub singer and her lecherous boyfriend (LYLE TALBOT) and who sees an "escape" by fleeing to the country for a more bucolic existence and more wholesome environment. She gets more than she bargains for when her mail order husband turns out to be shy farmer (GEORGE BRENT), whom she at first repulses when he comes on too strong with his lovemaking and then spends the rest of the film trying to make it up to him.

The unusual domestic drama gives both Stanwyck and Brent offbeat roles which they handle beautifully. Brent is a surprising revelation as the shy, bumbling country guy with no understanding of Stanwyck's softer feelings and holding off loving her until the final reel, after the two of them have to save their crop of wheat from burning to the ground.

Only weak point in the story is the overdone nature of the wild party scene shortly after their wedding and Stanwyck's reaction to the crudeness of the country bumpkins. It seems a bit of a stretch to believe the way this scene unfolds.

But otherwise, an interesting look at Stanwyck who excels in showing both sides of her character--tough and tender--and Brent, who is usually the more debonair, sophisticated man showing us another side of his personality (and with some nice touches of humor too) as the shy groom. They both get excellent support from LYLE TALBOT as "the other man" in a rather thankless role that he makes believable.

Well worth watching and nicely directed by William Wellman.