L'ultima carta

Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O'Brien, and C. Aubrey Smith star in "Gambling Lady," a 1934 film directed by Archie Mayo.

Stanwyck plays "Lady" Lee, the daughter of Mike Lee, who runs the only honest gambling joint in town. The rest are owned by a syndicate.

After Mike kills himself, Lady Lee gets a job with the syndicate, but she will only play honestly. She turns out to be quite the card shark.

Lady attracts a wealthy man, Garry Madison (McCrea) and the two marry. But jealousy enters the picture when Sheila Aiken (Claire Dodd) shows up and tries to get Garry away from Lady.

Nice film, on the short side, with good performances from Stanwyck, McCrea, O'Brien as Lady's friend, and C. Aubrey Smith as Garry's father.

Stanwyck is very young here, with the edge and toughness that will make her one of the great stars. McCrea is as handsome and likable as ever.

Recommended for the performances.

A high-minded GAMBLING LADY runs into trouble when she becomes connected with a society family.

Breezy & entertaining, this was the sort of film which Warner Brothers created with such ease. Blessed with good acting & fine production values, these pictures were generally guaranteed to be crowd pleasers.

As always, Barbara Stanwyck is utterly fascinating to watch. Not only talented & lovely, Stanwyck's great forte was her utter believability in any role she undertook. Here, she looks perfectly natural with a deck of cards in her hand, playing & dealing. Her authenticity is matched by the passion which she displayed with every performance.

Her leading men are two of the best: rich boy Joel McCrea & genial crook Pat O'Brien - both do well by their roles. Given equal billing, the viewer is left guessing for quite a while which one will finish the film in Stanwyck's arms.

Excellent support is given by marvelous old Sir C. Aubrey Smith as a kindly gentleman who befriends Stanwyck, Arthur Vinton as the head of a notorious Gambling Syndicate & eccentric little Ferdinand Gottschalk as Sir Aubrey's lawyer.

Movie mavens will recognize Willie Fung as a member of the Syndicate, and Arthur Treacher & Louise Beavers as Sir Aubrey's butler & cook - all uncredited.

Most people have a main reason for wanting to see a film, whether it's the concept, being a fan of a director, loving an actor or actress, having a thing for talented casts and curiosity. They have all been reasons for seeing a film numerous time, whether it's one of those, more than one or all. My main reason was Barbara Stanwyck, she was in a fair share of films that had material well beneath her but she always rose above it and very rarely gave a bad performance.

One can't go wrong with Joel McCrea in his first of six films with Stanwyck, when in a role that suits him, and C. Aubrey Smith who was always a scene stealer. Archie Mayo was not the most consistent of directors, but he was a more than able one and did do enough films that are worth watching such as 'Black Legion', 'It's Love I'm After' and 'The Petrified Forest'. 'Gambling Lady' doesn't see any of them at their best and all did much better films, but it is definitely worth a look and has enough to it to make it more than just a curio.

The cast is 'Gambling Lady's' biggest strength, so good that it is worth more than one star of my decided rating for the film. Stanwyck brings her usual steely toughness and has a sensuality also here too, making her character a lot more interesting than she seemed on paper. McCrea, in his first collaboration with Stanwyck, is likeable and plays his on paper not particularly interesting with cool charisma. O'Brien is good despite his underuse and makes the most of his too little material. Claire Dodd is suitably hissable. It was a shock to see Smith in the type of role he plays here and he was clearly having a lot of fun with it and some particularly juicy dialogue.

Some very funny moments in the script, which sparkles at its best. 'Gambling Lady' moves swiftly, is directed in tight fashion by Mayo and it is a good looking film too (not lavish but very nicely shot, some beautifully framed ones here, and always cohesively edited). Stanwyck looks great in her clothes.

'Gambling Lady' has its faults though. For pre-code, some of the material could have afforded to be bolder than turned out and edgier too. The ending comes across as very melodramatic and contrived, and some parts are on the soapy side.

Biggest drawback is the story. Pre-code films were often thin on the ground and silly in this regard, but the story here is very flimsy, in content initially and in depth, and sometimes later on over-complicated from trying to stuff too much in. It takes silliness and credibility straining to a whole new level, with some serious suspension of disbelief here needed to the extent that little makes sense. No real surprises here either.

Overall, not bad but not great. Just about worth taking a gamble on though. 6/10

Daughter of a professional gambler, Lady Lee (barbara Stanwyck) is a popular card player among the swells. She catches the eye of Garry Maddison (Joel McCrea )who falls head over heels for her and his father and gambling buddy (C. Aubrey Smith) makes a halfhearted attempt to buy her off more as a test than anything else. Other interested parties, Garry's elitist beau (Claire Dodd) and a fellow card sharp ( Pat O'Brien) whose carrying a torch for Lady are not so happy with the union however. Murder intercedes and Lady's lap of luxury lifestyle may be short lived.

Lady Lee is tailored made for Stanwyck and she dominates the picture with her self assured yet vulnerable style. McCrea and O'Brien bring a touch more complexity to their standard 30s character roles to stave off predictability and Director Archie Mayo provides a few interesting montages and compositions to give Gambling Lady a decent enough look that by the time it reaches it's somewhat contrived finish will not have you feeling cheated.

So I'm actually averaging a 5/10 story with 9/10 performances to give this one a 7. Barbara Stanwyck (Lady Lee) is well cast as the daughter of an honest gambler who has been raised to be an honest gambler. When her dad, Mike Lee (Paul Barrat) is being pressured by the syndicate to join their dishonest rackets, he kills himself rather than give in.

So Lady Lee is on her own, using what her dad taught her and the motto of "honesty,always" in gambling to make money for herself and her backers. She cleans up in every game using honest methods. Along the way she meets a rich young man, Garry Madison (Joel McCrea) who falls for her and wants to marry her. So far this is the stuff of any mundane 30's programmer.

What makes it unique are the performances. This film is still technically a precode, released just a few months before the code, and I had to look it up to see. It rides both sides of the fence. It makes gambling look like an honorable pursuit, as long as you are honest about it. Heck, by the end of the film you even don't look badly at the criminal gambling syndicate that drove Mike Lee to suicide and likely killed one other person besides that. The person you want to hiss at is Claire Dodd as one of Gary's rich ex girlfriends. She really makes some underhanded moves.

An oddball performance comes from C. Aubrey Smith as Garry Madison's dad, Peter. He gambles, he knew Lee's dad, and he likes Lee, yet he is willing to pay her off to not marry Garry. He has the audacity to want to cut cards over whether they marry or not, AND ask Lady "isn't that how Mike would have handled it"? OK, you rub the suicide of a girl's father in her face AND you think that your son would be better off in the clutches of some underhanded hussy like Clair Dodd's character? Color me bewildered by Garry's dad. It's just weird to see such unlikable words and attitudes coming from a character who is largely playing someone cuddly and paternal.

I'd give this film a shot. At 66 minutes it moves at a very brisk pace with good performances by everybody involved. Just be prepared to scratch your head a great deal and ask "Why did THAT person just do THAT???".