The Girl from 10th Avenue

If you want to see Bette Davis in one of her earlier pictures this is a must-see film. As far as the film itself, it is one of the most boring and average scripts and it is very formulaic code material. There is nothing new and interesting about the story. Standard soap opera. It is predictable, boring and pretty much a waste of time. But for a true Better Davis fan, this deserves watching. Otherwise this is about as bad as it gets.

Bette Davis was 27 when she made "The Girl from Tenth Avenue" in 1935. She's very slim and pretty, and as someone points out on this site, she looks more realistic than Joan Crawford did in these roles because Warners was less concerned with glamor. Davis did some roles in the early days where she was glamored up, such as "The Man Who Played God" and "Fashions of 1934" where she looks very pretty. Even in black and white, those huge blue eyes of hers really pop. When I saw her in person when she toured with John Springer, who interviewed her on stage, that's the first thing you noticed. That and that she looked so much better than she did in most of her roles.

"The Girl from Tenth Avenue" is about shopgirl, Miriam, who takes pity on society drunk Geoff (Ian Hunter) whose ex-girlfriend Valentine (Katharine Alexander) has just married someone else. Miriam marries him, and the two are happy, and he's sober, until Valentine tosses her husband (Colin Clive) out. Then she tears after Geoff. Since Miriam is from a different social class and self-conscious about it, she feels threatened.

Predictable class-conscious drama with nice performances. This is early Davis, before Warner Brothers realized that she was a forceful actress. It would be a couple of years yet before she hit her stride. Alison Skipworth provides the comedy as Mrs. Martin, who tries to counsel Miriam through her troubles.

Primarily for Davis fans.

Based on the play "Outcast" (from 1914, no less!), The Girl From Tenth Avenue opens by showing us a wedding invitation, and two gentlemen of the wedding party driving towards the ceremony. Then we see Miriam Brady (Bette Davis) and Geoffrey Sherwood (Ian Hunter) standing on a street corner, listening to the wedding that is taking place. Sherwood is drunk, and Miriam decides to take a personal interest in getting him into a restaurant, away from the wedding scene. Although WHY she does, isn't really explained... Davis had just made "Of Human Bondage", and was about to win the Oscar for "Dangerous"... good year for her! Viewers will recognize the landlord Mrs. Martin, played by Alison Skipworth; she made FOUR films with W.C. Fields. Next thing you know, Miriam and Geoffrey are married, apparently skipping a couple of the 12 steps Sherwood SHOULD be going through. There is a lot of talking in this story, as with most plays. It starts pretty slow, but picks up about halfway through. I wonder if this would have been a little more spicy if it hadn't been made right as the Hays Code was starting to be enforced. Davis and Hunter would make five films together in the 1930s.

Bette Davis is a poor working girl who is about to lose her job and is on her lunch hour. While watching outside a church where a high society wedding is taking place, she stands next to a drunk man who is muttering as the preacher administers the vows. Davis realizes that he is creating a disturbance and gets him to leave with her and the go to a nearby place where she can get a sandwich and he can drink.

Thus starts the relationship that eventually leads to them ending up married. He was driven to drink by the girl at the church who was getting married, because even though she loved him, she was marrying a richer man.

Davis sobers him up and gets him back to his position as a society lawyer in a top firm. All the while telling him that if he wants out, he just has to say so.

Many trials and tribulations ensue before he realizes he does indeed love his wife who he married on a drunken impulse.

The 1935 "ladies who did lunch" got their monies worth from Davis, Ian Hunter, Alison Skipworth, Phillip Reed and John Eldredge, and a top production.

Go back in time to the depression years, the downtown movie palaces with double features, and ladies in their suits, gloves and hats, who went to town once a week for the family shopping and then went to see their favorite stars. This film is one they would have seen - and loved. 9/10

After his girlfriend Valentine French dumps him to marry a wealthy suitor, prominent lawyer Geoffrey Sherwood (Ian Hunter) gets drunk and impulsively marries Miriam Brady (Bette Davis) whom he had just met.

This has a dash of Pygmalion with a love quadrangle. The Pygmalion part could be more acute and it would help to have Geoffrey do the teaching. The issue is that Geoffrey and Miriam need to build more chemistry in their relationship. He's a drunk and she has no reason to want him other than finances. Quite frankly, I'm fine with dumping Geoffrey with Valentine if they still want each other. I don't see the romantic connection between Geoffrey and Miriam. Any chemistry is generated by the power of Bette Davis' charisma and I question her reasoning. Otherwise, this is an emotionally flawed romance.