Gallant Lady

Though the plotline is pure melodramatic slush (there were a lot of unwed mother stories in the pre-Code period: Constance Bennett seemed to have the patent on the roles), what Gregory La Cava did with the material is almost miraculous. He introduced characters (played by Clive Brook and Janet Beecher) who always seem to have a wisecrack, a withering aside, or a snide remark on hand when things were getting too heavy-handed. Their characters (as well as Tullio Carmanati) help to lighten the load, and before you know it, the movie is transformed from a weepie to a comedy. Of course, the (very rushed) ending brings the movie back to its melodramatic roots, but it's still very engaging most of the way through. And Ann Harding's verbal jousts with Brook and Beecher remind the viewer that she had been a top comedienne early in her career, as the prime interpreter of Phillip Barry (HOLIDAY, ANIMAL KINGDOM, PARIS BOUND).

This film was such a success and Ann Harding with Clive Brook made such an impression that it took only five years before a remake was made, with Barbara Stanwyck and Herbert Marshall. Clive Brook is better as a drunk than Herbert Marshall as the perfect gentleman, and Ann Harding was a greater star than Barbara in the 30s, but still the Stanwyck version is the better film, with less sentimentality than the Harding version, which in comparison actually is more shallow. Ann Harding is terrific, no one can contradict that, but Barbara did give greater depth to the role, making it more tragic, which Ann Harding as a tragedienne is not quite convincing with all her furs. Stanwyck's version is more down to earth, while Harding stays on a luxury level, if Clive Brook succeeds excellently in linking her closer to reality. They say the original is always better than the remake, but in this case I prefer the remake, although this original version has an even more efficient and shocking start.

Ann Harding stars in this story of loves gone wrong and the bond between mother and child.

Unwed mother (Harding) is despondent after giving up her baby and is being hassled by police in a public park when a stranger (Clive Brook) comes by and pretends she was waiting for him. They become friends and share stories. She the unwed mother, and he a one-time doctor whose patient died due to his negligence. Both are lost in the world but find new anchors in their friendship. He falls in love with her (not returned) and finds her a job in an interior design firm run by an old friend (Janet Beecher) who is in love with him.

Years pass and Harding is a great success; Brook continues to battle his demons and alcohol. Their paths cross again, and at the last minute, Harding replaces Beecher on a European buying trip after she finally realizes Brook is in love with her.

On the trip, she runs into her little boy (Dickie Moore) and his adopted father (Otto Kruger). His wife has died. Harding becomes friends with the boy. In Italy she captivates an Italian count (Tullio Carminati) and he follows her home.

Things get even more complicated when Harding accepts the job to design Kruger's house for his acidic fiancée (Betty Lawford). She has no use for the boy, so Harding decides to steal Kruger away from her and marry him although she does not love him.

The trail of unrequited love runs long and winding through this story, but all the actors are splendid. Harding is terrific and is simply gorgeous. A major star of her day, she had a solid film career in the 1930s. She should be better remembered.

The 1930s gave us a lot of films about all-sacrificing mothers, such as "So Big", "Stella Dallas" and "Madame X"...and audiences loved them. "Gallant Lady" is also one of these movies, though the way it ends isn't nearly the same as these other films.

The story begins with a flyer dying on takeoff on some historic flight. His girlfriend is left behind...pregnant. She meets a man who befriends her and he helps her through her pregnancy and when she gives up her child for adoption. As the years pass, Sally (Ann Harding) is able to straighten out her life and make a success of herself but when she takes a cruise something hard to believe occurs....her biological son is on the ship and he and Sally become friends. Later, when Sally is hired by the boy's future step-mother, she sees firsthand how cold and mean she is to the kid...so she vows to take her fiance away and marry him herself...and then she'll be both the boy's biological and step-mother! How does all this work out?

This is a very good film but it does suffer from a few coincidences too many...that the adopted boy's mother would soon die, that Sally is on the same ship as the kid, etcetera. But if you can look past it, it is a fascinating and enjoyable film. Well made.

Ann Harding watches her aviator fiancee crash on takeoff, leaving her pregnant and alone. She wanders in a daze and is almost arrested, but Clive Brook, freshly released form prison for euthanizing a patient -- he's a doctor -- rescues her, and arranges for some friends of his to adopt the baby. Then he disappears while she works with antiques dealer Janet Beecher, with Brook occasionally dropping in to adore her and then get drunk. On a buying trip to Italy, she meets Count Tullio Carminati, who adores her. Then she runs into her son, played variously by Scotty Beckett and Dickie Moore -- my, how they grow! Now her birth son is fathered by an adoring Otto Kruger, who has a witch of a fiancee -- his wife having died -- in Betty Lawford. So Miss Harding decides to make Kruger adore her and marry her so she can be the mother to her own child, and Brook can go and get drunk in peace.

Miss Harding pulls off this piffle in her usual graceful way, although it's hard to believe she didn't wince occasionally at this script. So does everyone do a fine job of acting under the direction of Gregory La Cava as Miss Harding goes through enough changes of emotions that I'm surprised she doesn't have whiplash. She's enchanting when her character is happy and fulfilled in Italy, with Carminati singing at her from Italy to Paris, to shipboard back to the US. Likewise, it's nice to see Otto Kruger playing a nice guy. It's the didoes the script cuts to make sure that there's another twist in the plot that makes it ridiculous.