Unashamed

Once again, if you don't know who Helen Twelvetrees is, then you had better get acquainted. She was a big star in the early thirties. With a name like "Twelvetrees", how is it I never heard of her before either?? I have now seen her in over 9 films, "State's Attorney" (1932), "A Woman of Experience" (1931), "Her Man" (1930), are just a few examples, with "A Woman of Experience" being excellent!

The reason I recommend this film is so you can experience the great acting job Helen Twelvetrees does in her transitioning between types of personalities in her life. It is almost as if she is playing four different characters.

First she plays a young innocent in love and blind to what she is getting into. Then she has to play cold and hard and a woman who would turn her own brother over to death row. Then she becomes crazed and frantic as she starts to see the error of her ways. And finally she does the best performance of all when she takes the witness stand and becomes a lady with no morals and brash.

The plot is "simple". She loves a man (Monroe Owsley) who is only after her for her money. Everyone sees it but Twelvetrees. Her father (played very well by Robert Warwick) forbids the marriage and so the Owsley takes her to a hotel over night, knowing it will ruin her reputation in society and her father will then force them to marry. Twelvetrees' brother (Robert Young) tries to help her out of the situation but she insists her lover is good and she loves him. Finally Young turns on Owsley and exposes him for the mercenary liar he is. The lover punches Young. Young returns with a gun and in a rage shoots the lover dead.

Twelvetrees, still in love, turns on her brother and says that she will see him go to the electric chair for what he has done. Lewis Stone plays the defense attorney for Young. But when Twelvetrees takes the stand and swears it was cold blooded murder, it looks dark for Young.

I won't spoil the end. Watching for the first time, I truly did not know if Twelvetrees was going to come through and do the right thing. You will have to see for yourself. It makes a good ending!

As a footnote, I have also been seeing a lot of Louise Beavers too in recent films. She makes an appearance in the court. It is a small part and almost unnecessary, but the studios seemed to like putting her in films wherever they could. They even had a publicity photo done with her behind Young that is not in the film. But it is good to see them promoting her either way.

So attend the intense court room drama and watch the Classy Classic called "Unashamed". You will LOVE Twelvetrees!

Harry Swift (Monroe Owsley) is an awful young man...and without an ounce of character. He's been spoiled his entire life by his idiot father (Jean Hersholt) and he's been wooing Joan Ogden (Helen Twelvetrees). His interest isn't strictly honorable, as his interest really is in her money as she comes from a wealthy family. When his father learns of their relationship, he approaches Joan's father and tells him that his son is just no good. Not surprisingly, Joan's father forbids her from marrying Harry. As for Joan's brother, Dick (Robert Young) he knows Harry and thinks he's a cad. So to try to force them to allow the marriage, Harry spends the night with Joan...in a hotel room (after all, this is a Pre-Code picture)! Despite that, the family still won't budge...they won't condone this awful marriage. In fact, the brother is so against the marriage that he kills Harry! Soon Dick is on trial for his life...and Joan seems oddly indifferent to his fate.

This is a very strange movie in that you see Dick murder Harry. Sure, Harry was a terrible person but the film seems to imply that Dick and his lawyer lying in court was okay and that Joan SHOULD have lied for Dick! That's all very weird...as is Dick's almost incestuous feelings towards his sister. What's weirder? Joan doing a 180 late in the film...and not conceivable reason for this. Overall, a strange, muddled plot...though the film is oddly entertaining despite the writing and overly dramatic moments. In essence, it's watchable and enjoyable crap.

By the way, it's odd that Robert Young's character was referred to as a boy! In one scene, someone even says "...the boy is a minor"...and yet Young was 25 when he made this film.

One of the Interesting Things about Pre-Code Films is, of course, the Frankness and Non-Skirting way the Story and Dialog go about the Business of such things as Pre-Marital or Promiscuous Sex. It's just there, not Avoided like Post-Hays Movies. Here it is Actually the Central Part of the Storyline as the "in love" Couple check in to a Hotel.

The Next Morning, after Making Whoopee the Lovers use this as a Way to get Her Father to "force" Them to Marry (something the Dad did not want), because it is the Accepted Thing to do. But if that isn't Complicated Enough, Enter a "Loving" Brother who Despises His Sister's Cad Boyfriend and then there are Fireworks.

The Remainder of the Movie is set in a Courtroom where things get a bit Dicey about the Spicey Love Making and Crime. The Movie has a 1932 Mindset and looking at it Today might seem Difficult or a bit Strange with all the Talk about Unwritten Law and so forth, and the Ending may come Across as a Little more than Strange.

Overall it is Worth a Watch for the Dated Dialog, Social Mores, Incestual Overtones, and the Bizarre Conclusion.

In "The Unashamed" the Ogdens are a wealthy family that is very close and loving. Jean falls in love with a crass fortune hunter named Harry Swift who is obviously after her money. Her father and brother try everything to dissuade her. To force the issue, Harry persuades Jean to spend the night in a hotel with him (horrors!) When they fling this unheard of behavior in the face of her father and brother, to induce them to consent to marriage, things go badly. Jean's brother Dick shoots and kills Swift. However, Dick wants only to protect Jean's honor so he insists to his defense lawyer, Trask, that Jean be kept out of it completely.

The latter half of the movie consists of Dick's trial, and Trask's problem in trying to save Dick from the electric chair while protecting his wishes not to tell the real story of what happened. Thus Trask is not allowed to use the "unwritten law" as a defense (that's the one that allows husbands to kills their wives and wives' lovers). In addition, Jean is extremely bitter toward her father and brother since they've ruined her happiness. So she's not about to cooperate in the defense. Until...

This picture is extremely melodramatic, in a style which seems rather alien to us today, and a lot of the acting and dialogue is too stagy for our taste. Nevertheless, for its time, it was quite well done. The issues of class, honor and gender that the film raises may seem quaint but there were very real to rich people of the 20's and 30's. Similarly, the courtroom scenes are quite well executed with a real attempt to observe appropriate legal proecdures. The ultimate twist ending is also quite effective and will remind you of a more recent (and classic) courtroom movie.

Helen Twelvetrees loves Monroe Owlsley, who adores her, or at least the three million dollars she stands to inherit. He inveigles her to go to a hotel with him; her brother, Robert Young, finds out about it, tries to prevent her, and winds up shooting Owlsley. He is placed on trial for murder.

I think there are some fine performances here, in what is essentially a stage play. Miss Twelvetress plays the nitwit very well, expressing her spoiled character well. Monroe Owlsey plays his cut-rate Lowell Sherman rotter very well; his scenes with father Jean Hersholt are heart-breaking in his manipulation of the sentimental old man. Robert Young, as the murderer is appropriately callow.

The value of this movie, ninety years later, is showing people trapped in their own little society, secure in the mistaken belief that they are invulnerable. Not a one of them can conceive of any bad consequences to their selfish, thoughtless actions. I doubt that a modern audience would take that message away from the film. Many pre-codes seem to concern a society so alien to modern thoughts that one has to dig to get any instruction from them. Still, under the direction of the highly capable Harry Beaumont, every actor inhabits his character fully.