Amor Proibido

Back in the early 1930s, Hollywood had a rigid production code...at least in writing. However, studios routinely ignored it and stories that were very risquee were common....and a few even featured nudity. Because there was no rating system and anyone could attend any movie, there were a lot of valid concerns about the sorts of tales coming to local theaters. Instead of using a rating system, groups like the Legion of Decency called for sanitizing movies and getting rid of 'objectionable material'. At first Hollywood ignored this and similar groups...until attendance dropped as a result of these protests. So, reluctantly, in July, 1934 a new, tough Production Code was enacted...eliminating not just truly objectionable material but even things which normal folks didn't mind seeing in movies at all. Now, gay characters, adultery plots, unpunished violence and even the word 'pregnant' were removed from scripts...all in the name of decency. One of the last films to slip in to theaters before the Code was "The Life of Vergie Winter"...a film condemned by the Legion and which features a pro-adultery plot!

Vergie (Ann Harding) is in love with married John Shadwell (John Boles) and vice-versa. However, John is interested in a career in politics and having a mistress would destroy any chance at his getting elected. And, once she becomes pregnant, things get even more complicated! What's next? See for yourself...just understand that it heavily romanticizes adultery. Overall, a film which not only offended folks back in the day but is a genuinely poor movie because it is so simpering and sappy....to the point where it all just seems ridiculous.

Little remembered great actress Ann Harding, who was also a first magnitude star during a short period with the advent of the talkies, stars in this tearjerker supreme, as noble, good-natured, unselfish, brave, courageous Vergie Winters, who defies small-town gossip, carrying on with an illicit relationship, with now-married ex-sweetheart John Shadwell, played adequately by John Boles, who's better than usual in this role.

Harding's very good and sincere acting makes believable her self sacrifice because of the bigger-than-life love which she feels for both, Shadwell and their illegitimate daughter, Joan.

Helen Vinson is very, very good as Bole's selfish, mean, superficial and ambition-driven (just the very opposite of Vergie) wife, Laura- the face of this now forgotten actress reminds me greatly of Helen Hayes'. Josephine Whittwell is also very good as sympathetic Madame Claire, who in the film is implied to be sort of the owner or `madam' of the local `bordello', who's also friendly to Harding and helps to save her small hat store (she's the local milliner) from bankruptcy. Cecil Cunnigham and Maidel Turner shine too as two local fellow professional gossipers.

Mick La Salle, in his book `Complicated Women' states that this film was released the week before the Production Code was finally fully enforced. A must see for fans of classic pre-code weepies.

This was one of a forgotten genre that thrived through the 1930s, the weepie about an unmarried woman who loves a married man and stays faithful to him, sometimes having his child as well-- "Madame X," "Back Street," "Stella Dallas," "The Sin of Madelon Claudet," "The Strange Case of Clara Deane," on and on. This one, scripted by the reliable Jane Murfin, doesn't offer a lot of variation on a tried-and-true formula, but it does boast an important asset: Ann Harding, at the peak of her powers. As the milliner who loves John Boles, is deliberately separated from him by her father, and eventually is wrongly convicted for his murder, she's characteristically intelligent and appealing, with a stillness, a thoughtfulness that makes her more interesting than many actresses in similar roles. Some plot twists don't really work (Helen Vinson would NOT do that on her deathbed), and Alfred Santell's direction and the supporting cast are so-so--nice to see a young Betty Furness, though, and the always appealing Frank Albertson as her suitor. But Ann brings more genuine conviction to the title part than it deserves, and by the improbable kind-of-happy ending, I'll admit, I shed a tear or two for Vergie.

Anne Harding is "Vergie", who gets caught up with married man John Shadwell (john Boles). Lon Chaney Junior is in here as Hugo. The film opens with a funeral march down main street, and Vergie appears to be in prison, and... suddenly we're in flashback ! was Shadwell just her lawyer, or was it more than that? Shadwell is running for congress, and obviously a scandal would hurt his chances and career. and this all takes place before, during, and after WW One. there's a baby, that pops up out of no-where, and is being raised by Shadwell. It's a love story where Vergie must love him from afar. she watches it all from the sidelines. and to make things interesting, This was all on the "verge" of the film code, so they could only say so much in the film. in another year, it would be forbidden to even show such human issues and talk about such things. The truth all comes out when the baby is grown up and about to be married. Pretty good story! it all comes back full circle by the end. an old time story, told right before the production code white-washed everything. shows on Turner Classic. Directed by Al Santell.

This rather dated soap opera shows star Ann Harding as a truly noble woman sacrificing all for the man she loves out of wedlock John Boles. Harding made many of these kinds of films as the noble sufferer and Boles was typecast in many of these parts as the philandering husband after the success he had in Back Street.

Harding is our title character and she's in love with Boles who sadly is most married to socialite Helen Vinson. Vinson was another who took out a patent on the 'other' woman roles in the 30s. Boles is an up and coming politician rising to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The two have a kid who grows up to be Bonita Granville. But she's adopted by Boles and Vinson.

Boles's political enemies can never get quite get the goods on him, but rumors abound and a lot of 'decent' folks shun Harding and her millinery shop. Still he rises in politics.

The climax is one of those over the top screen moments not to be missed. Can't reveal what it is, but the screen explodes in emotion.

Walter Brennan is unbilled but has a marvelous part as the town snoop who can't wait to unload a juicy bit of gossip for a few drinks at the pub.

The Life Of Vergie Winters is most dated and unlikely to be remade. It still has some good moments.