Forbidden

Stanwyck and Menjou are on top form here, a real pleasure to watch, and the camera-work is exquisite; the story/pacing is weak in places but you won't mind this much (perhaps hardly notice) unless you're immune to the former. The film depicts, over a period of about 20 years, a complex clandestine love-relationship between the two leads, leaving some space for individual interpretation - not at all like most films made under the appalling thirty year tyranny of the Hayes code introduced a couple of years later. Forbidden is a serious, thought-provoking and often very moving film, with careful, 'arty' composition and psychologically-loaded lingering shots, but it also contains moments of melodrama (not in bad way) and humour (laugh-out-loud but quirky, not slapstick). Highly recommended, along with Capra/Stanwyck's The Bitter Tea of General Yen, made the following year. I give it a 7 - reluctantly, in my effort to be objective with regards to the story. I watched it on the big screen and I 'felt' it as an 8.

"Forbidden" is no doubt pure melodrama. Frank Capra, its director expressed in his autobiography, that he " should have stood in bed". Fortunately he didn't because although the story is "soggy and 99.44% pure soap opera", using his own words, it still retains powerful moments and excellent interpretations from its main actors: Barbara Stanwyck and Adolphe Menjou. Their first meeting at a cruise to Havana, with Menjou so drunk that he ends in a wrong cabin (number 66 instead of 99) where Stanwyck, bored and happy to encounter somebody, is one of many moments where Capra's talent is evident. Raplh Bellamy is also fine as the managing editor of a newspaper, where gossip is always welcome. No doubt that this early talkie, with some flaws or doubtful situations, still partially conceals that behind the camera there is one of the masters of cinema: Frank Capra. I clearly recommend not to miss this imperfect but valuable movie.

What struck me about this film is the fact that although the story spans about 20 years, the hairstyles, clothes, cars, furniture and general infrastructure remain steadfastly "1932" throughout. Makes me wonder why they didn't start the film in 1912 - budget concerns over the cost of 1912 production values? Anyway, this melodrama is pretty routine for its time - contrived, fast-moving plot structure dealing with "naughty" subject matter, in this case cohabitation outside wedlock and its consequences. Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou and Ralph Bellamy are all quite arresting in their roles and there are some nice turns of dialog and at least one memorable camera angle during an emotional scene in which the only visible part of Stanwyck's face - mostly concealed behind Menjou's shoulder - is the area around her right eye, filmed through the spaces between balusters on a staircase. Whether this scene was meant to reflect the shadowy nature of the couple's relationship or just a way to make the scene more fun to watch, it's a standout.

In 1932's "Forbidden," Barbara Stanwyck plays Lulu, who quits her job as a librarian, withdraws her savings of $1200, and goes on a two-week trip to Havana.

When we first see the new Lulu, she is descending a long staircase into a restaurant on board ship, and she's wearing a fabulous gown and a fur wrap. That's right, because in 1932, $1200 was the equivalent of $18,000 today! Enough for a two-week vacation and then some.

On the ship, Lulu meets an attorney, Bob (Adolphe Menjou), and the two fall in love. Lulu remains his mistress when they return to America, even though she's met Holland (Ralph Bellamy), the editor of the newspaper where she works, and he's crazy about her.

Bob eventually admits that he's married, that his wife is an invalid, and he can't leave her. For a time, he and Lulu break up, and unbeknownst to him, she has his baby, a girl she names Roberta. She leaves her job at the newspaper and goes into hiding.

Bob finds her, and so does Holland, who catches her with Bob, now the district attorney and whom he dislikes. Lulu says she's the governess for Bob's daughter.

Because Holland is going to publish the story, Bob has no choice but to present a new adopted daughter to his wife when she returns from a series of treatments overseas. Lulu stays on as the nurse. It becomes too difficult for her, and she leaves Bob -- and her child -- behind.

This is a real potboiler, directed by Frank Capra and beautifully acted by Barbara Stanwyck. It's an old-fashioned story that develops one twist after another. The story encompasses about 21 years, when Lulu is probably early 40s and Holland a little older - naturally they have white in their hair and dark circles under their eyes.

Stanwyck excelled at this type of film. Both Menjou and Bellamy are excellent. In the hands of a director without Capra's talent and with a cast beneath this one, much of this movie would have been laughable. Dated as it is, it's well worth seeing.

Stanwyck plays a kept woman for a married politician. Out of her sheer devotion to him she decides not to cause a scandal when she falls pregnant. Instead, she disappears, but no sooner does the politician track her down and the film gets swept away by the melodrama of a soap opera. But what a fine melodrama this is. Capra managed to take the fat out of the story and move through time in great leaps and bounds. This film is full of surprises and never sells out to the moral crusaders of the time. Further more, the characters are human, playful, you feel for them as the story slowly sucks you in until you have no choice but to go along with the melodramatic symphony that plays with your heart and mind.