A Lost Lady

No movie with the great Barbara Stanwyck is completely without interest, but there is little else to recommend this misbegotten movie. Willa Cather was so horrified at what had been done to her novel that she refused to sell any of her other books to the movies, and one can see why. The story, characterisations, time span, plot, and tone have all been changed, for the worse, in a trite Hollywood way. For example, the house in the book, which is a nice-size house whose distinction is the beautiful scenery around it, is here a huge mansion with the standard Thirties-mansion double-height curving staircase. Complex relationships in the novel are here so oversimplified as to be almost meaningless. The movie adheres to a post-Code morality, also very simple, good vs. bad, where the book was much more subtle and complex.

In what I think is the only case of this I have seen, Stanwyck has a different hairstle in every scene, which changes her appearance greatly. It makes you feel that trivial details like these, at the expense of consistency, are what most concerned the film-maker (Alfred Green-- who?).

Warner Brothers (WB) release demonstrating what the studio system did right with these small dramas. Tight script and running time sixty-one (61) minutes did not allow any FAT. This was reinforced by a very competent cast led by Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Morgan, supported by Ricardo Cortez, Lyle Talbot with Rafaela Ottiano (maid as usual). Hobart Cavanaugh and Willy Fung provide comedy relief (as usual and thankfully brief).

Plot revolves around Stanwycks characters loss of love. Resurrection by the love of Frank Morgan. Temptation from first Lyle Talbot then Ricardo Cortez and redemption back to Frank Morgan. This is told in a brisk style that holds interest all the way through. It is a quick time soap opera.

It is great to see is Frank Morgan in a role that was more akin to his early stage presence. Most people only think of him as 'Professor Marvel' from THE WIZARD OF OZ, or some other eccentric character usually over acting. Barbara Stanwyck is looking very 'chic' in a role that would normally be played by WB clotheshorse Kay Francis. Ms. Stanwyck is not what you would call a conventual beauty, but there is something about her sex appeal that is irresistible. We can't exactly put our finger on it, but obviously Robert Taylor did.

... and by that I mean this film is portraying PTSD 56 years before that is even a recognized phenomenon. In the case of veterans they would call it "shell shock", in the case of crime victims or witnesses to some other horrible incident they would just call it shock, and it really is realistically portrayed by Stanwyck, even though she doesn't really know that is what she is portraying.

Two days before her marriage, wealthy Marian (Barbara Stanwyck) is talking wedding talk to her fiancé, John Ormsby (Henry Kolker), and you can tell she is very much in love with the guy. They descend a staircase at a party and are met by a man. The man claims that Ormsby has been having an affair with his wife and produces the cigarette case Ormsby gave his wife as proof. It has his name on it and to add insult to injury it was a gift from Marian to Ormsby. The jealous husband shoots Ormsby dead right there on the staircase in front of Marian. Marian is in no danger because escape is not on the husband's mind, only murdering his wife's lover, and he has accomplished that.

The papers are full of the scandal, reporters hound Marian's front door, and fortunately she has a house of loyal servants to keep the interlopers out. The worst thing is Marian can't feel anything - she doesn't feel love, hate, hope, just a kind of nothingness. It is suggested that she spend some time in the Canadian Rockies. It is summer and she has always loved the place, however her mood does not improve. She still feels nothing.

On a long walk she falls down a hill and injures herself. She is found by Forrester (Frank Morgan), who is also on a walk. He carries her back to her house, comes to visit her, and at first when she realizes he feels a romantic attraction she gives him the brush off. But he is persistent and soon they are fast friends. He wants to marry her and she confesses she feels no love for him, but also tells him that she feels nothing for anybody. It comes time for Forrester to return to civilization and she realizes she does not want to lose him. He agrees to the marriage and says for love they will substitute honesty, and that will be enough for him.

They return to Chicago, and at first her PTSD keeps her from wanting to be around large numbers of people, but Forrester is gentle with her and soon she is able to take on the task of being hostess in their home. He builds a house for her in the country, and she is content, but still not in love. She busies herself with gardening in her new home, but with a beautiful young wife who is not in love, and a husband who is older and has to be away for weeks at a time sometimes, you know something bad is just going to drop from the sky in all of this. And it literally does just that - Ricardo Cortez, portraying the president of an aerospace corporation, crash lands during a test drive of one of his new designs on her garden and introduces himself by kissing her passionately. Cortez' character KNOWS she is married, is a guest at a party thrown by her husband, and yet the villain still pursues her. How will all of this work out? Watch and find out.

Everybody plays their part marvelously here. I haven't mentioned Frank Morgan, but he really was just more than the bumbling often ne'er do well that he often played over at MGM and this Warner's B film really does show off his talents. Seeing Rafaela Ottiano play Marian's caring servant seemed rather weird when I mainly remember her from The Devil Doll as the mad scientist, missing one leg and one arm and consumed with shrinking people...but I digress.

What is especially weird is that Marian has one servant that looks the part - somewhat stuffy - but whenever he opens his mouth he sounds like he should be in a gangster film. I'm not sure where that was coming from.

At any rate, I consider this one much better than its reputation, even if it was one of Warner's B efforts. Recommended.

A very good cast is well directed, but this film is practically hobbled by a pedantic, bowlderized script. The story concerns Stanwyck as a society dame whose fiance is shot by an angry husband on the eve of their wedding. Stanwyck is sent to the country to recover her spirits, and there attempts suicide (although the film actually shows her SLIPPING off the edge of the cliff) and is rescued by a gentlemanly older man (Morgan), whom she subsequently marries. Her affair with Cortez (who often seems to fill this undesirable role) consumes much of the rest of the film. Unconvincing conclusion adds to the mire that this film got stuck in.

Barbara Stanwyck, the greatest actress never to have won an Oscar, is here unusually young and glamorous in a succession of ravishing Orry-Kelly creations as she is torn between staying faithful to nice but dull (although fabulously wealthy) husband Frank Morgan and dashing young blades Lyle Talbot and Ricardo Cortez.

It's unusual to see Ms Stanwyck adorning a Women's Picture at this stage in her career; slickly packaged in a grade A production by Warner Bros. rather as they would soon showcase Bette Davis. The original 1923 Willa Cather novel had been filmed with Irene Rich ten years earlier (sadly now lost), and after seeing this glossy travesty Ms Cather never allowed her work to be filmed again during her lifetime.