Sinners in the Sun

... because with a name like "Sinners in the Sun" I figured it was one of those precodes in a tropical locale with some mad doctor doing odd experiments. But then I read a summary and thought I'd give it a whirl.

It's basically about love and the Great Depression. Doris (Carole Lombard) is a model at a high end boutique. Jimmie (Chester Morris) is a mechanic. They are engaged, but Doris is afraid of poverty, on being dependent on whether some employer thinks you are worth keeping around, and a visit to her apartment and you see why. Doris and her entire extended family, including her grandparents and her underemployed brother and his wife are crammed into this small place, and there is constant bickering. Doris wants Jimmie to own his own garage and be his ow boss before they get married, and eventually this leads to a break-up because Jimmie thinks Doris would be settling for him.

After Jimmie and Doris part, Jimmie becomes the chauffeur and then the husband of an idle rich woman. Doris becomes the mistress of an idle rich married man. They both make these moves because of things they find out that the other has been doing in regards to the opposite sex. Will this whole thing work out? Watch and find out. This boils down to the saying that more than enough money may not make you happy, but less than enough can sure make you miserable. Except the film rather leaves out the second part of that maxim, maybe so Depression era audiences wouldn't get too introspective after seeing this.

It was unusual to see Allison Skipworth play Doris' mother - a kind of Marie Dressler role. She usually plays the older sophisticate. If she doesn't have money she ordinarily pretends that she does. And here she is an ordinary housewife, downtrodden and disheartened by life without ever actually coming out and saying so. Cary Grant makes a few appearances as a rich and unattached guy who'd like have Doris for himself.

One of the most interesting scenes in the film to me - Anderson Lawler in an uncredited role as gigolo to a woman old enough to be his mother. He has a heart to heart with Jimmie about how they are not so different, to Jimmie's horror.

Doris (Carole Lombard) and Jimmie (Chester Morris) have been dating for some time and pretty much everyone assumes they'll one day marry. However, when he asks her to marry him, Doris announces that she won't marry him, as she wants a man with money....and Jimmie is just a poor mechanic. They both go their own way...she as a model and he is hired as a chauffeur for a pretty rich woman. Soon BOTH end up with offers of marriage from rich folks...and hers from a man who is already married! Can either be happy without the other or living 'the good life' with the rich and powerful?

Apart from a chance to see Cary Grant in one of his early supporting roles, the film is still worth seeing. Occasionally, it comes off as heavy-handed (such as the scene that obviously telegraphs a suicide to come) and the message seems ironic considering how rich these Hollywood folks are...but it's also enjoyable and the two leads do a splendid job.

While the film only vaguely goes there, the implication is that Doris perhaps has been putting out in order to get rich and famous. Many other Pre-Code films might have made this more obvious and vulgar.

Sinners in the Sun (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Jimmie (Chester Morris) and Doris (Carole Lombard) are in love with each other but Doris wants riches and she's not sure Jimmie will ever be able to give them to her. They end up breaking up and before long she's in the arms of a married man (Walter Byron) while he finds himself married to a rich woman (Adrienne Ames). Before long Doris begins to think that money might not be everything.

If you're looking for a great or hard-hitting plot then you're not going to find it here. SINNERS IN THE SUN is pretty much a standard story of a couple poor people who think money is the answer and they have to learn that it isn't more important than love. This type of rags to riches story was quite popular during the early sound days and this one here remains watchable thanks in large part to a great cast of characters.

Morris has always been one of my favorite actors. He might not have ever became a huge star but I've enjoyed going through his career and this is certainly one of his better performances. At first he's style of speech and his delivery reminded me of Jimmy Stewart, although that actor hadn't yet even appeared in Hollywood. Morris gets a couple very good scenes including one where he lets loose on his former love and the actor did a terrific job here.

The rest of the cast is extremely good as well with Lombard doing a very good job in her role of the woman who wants gold, gets it and lives to regret it. She's very good in the role and quite believable whether she's playing that small town girl or the spoiled rich one. The supporting players are nice as well and this includes a young Cary Grant in his second screen appearance. He doesn't have much to do but his few scenes are quite good. Alison Skipworth also gets a couple very funny scenes playing Lombard's mother.

As I said, storywise SINNERS IN THE SUN is pretty silly and predictable but the actors make it worth sitting through.

As pre-code movies go, this is a great, well-produced and entertaining example. Everything you'd expect is here: The Depression, thwarted aspirations, class conflict, beautiful leading ladies (in sexy lingerie of course) plus good old fashioned moralising.

If you enjoy pictures from this period, you mustn't overlook this often overlooked one. The multi-layered characters are written with depth and realism - they're not the flat dimensionless cartoons who so often appear in films from this era. The story is pretty well trodden but scripted here with life and wit. The theme is that old chestnut: poor girl is seduced by rich man but this time it's doubled up because we get a poor boy (the poor girl's ex) who is also seduced by a rich girl.

Like a Warner Brothers picture, its point of view is from the perspective of the working class people but refreshingly the society characters are not soulless evil villains twiddling their moustaches. They are portrayed as real people too as well with real issues. Their attitudes and sense of entitlement however is cleverly and heavily criticised particularly the way both rich playboy Eric and society gal Claire treat their working class lovers like pets, loved pets yes but not like "their" people. But it's not their fault - it's just the way they are and it reflects the stratified unequal society of the time.

At Belfast's Titanic exhibition, it's explained how imperative it was to separate the 1st and 2nd class passengers from those in 3rd class. It seems crazy to us now that so much effort was put into ensuring that 'nice' people would never ever have the awful experience of actually seeing a poor person. As we see in this fabulous film, if the two classes of people even just see each other, disaster awaits! This treats the horrible disparity between the haves and have-nots in a much more light hearted way than other films but nevertheless still stirs a sense of outrage. This aspect is even subtly imbued in the inevitable girls' dressing room scenes. The rich guys see nothing wrong with walking in on them as are getting changed because they're rich and they're just working class girls. One of those girls might be lucky if Mr wealthy decides to pluck them from their life of drudgery. Welcome to the 1930s!

Besides a profusion of young ladies in their underwear, one big reason to watch this isn't that bloke from Bristol, it's Adrienne Ames! She wasn't really an actress, she didn't make too many pictures, she was 'The celebrity' of the age. Her acting isn't that convincing but she certainly lights up the screen and it's great to see her in a rare leading role.

This is a highly predictable story, which makes for a half-interesting film. It is almost as if the first scene between the main characters was already announcing everything that will take place. Doris and Jimmy love each other but he thinks they can marry without money, while she does not - and she does not trust him to be ambitious enough. As happens in Hollywood and not that often in real life, they are both soon offered occasions to climb up many steps at once through encounters with do-nothing millionaires - though Jimmy gets the better lot of the two as he is asked to marry, while Doris is not and finds herself relegated to the role of a half-official mistress. But in fact this difference is not that important - it would not be a real spoiler to tell how it all ends as anybody can guess it easily. Let us just say - in an elevator, as this is one of the amusing ideas in a film which manages to have a few ones, and occasionally crisp dialogues. These are the only times when Carole Lombard, who moreover is most of the time covered by heavy make-up making her look cheap, can really shine her true self and her abilities; at other times the film makes attempts, artificially and rather unsuccessfully, at a more melodramatic tone and she is visibly less at ease.