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A young couple's relationship is threatened by his lack of success. An enjoyable romantic drama featuring a young Carole Lombard as a fashion model - which, as this is a pre-Code movie, means lots of shots of women in lingerie - and Chester Morris as a garage mechanic who eventually marries a socialite after becoming her chauffeur. It's the kind of story that's usually treated lightly by Hollywood studios, but Sinners in the Sun has a welcome dark edge, although everyone - even a wealthy philanderer - is a little too likeable. A pre-fame Cary Grant gives notice of his star potential in a couple of scenes.

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.

... 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.

A beautifully written and sometimes magnificently played serious movie. Chester Morris and Carole Lombard love each other, but she is terrified of the corrosive effects of the life of poverty that she foresees with Morris. So they break up and drift into lives as a kept woman and a gigolo.

The two are almost perfect in their roles; Chester Morris plays a character who is almost unable to phrase a clear thought and pulls it off beautifully, for a wonderful payoff scene. Miss Lombard only fails in one scene, towards the end, when she is contemplating suicide: I blame the heavy-handed direction of it rather than her performance. But the movie is riddled with wonderful performances: the always excellent Alison Skipworth as Lombard's supportive mother; Reginald Barlow as the father who gives her no chance; Adrienne Ames and Walter Byron as their likable seducers. Particularly good is Rita La Roy, an actress whom I have never noticed before, as a kept woman who kills herself -- alas, this was her best part in the movies, After her career faded out she sold yachts. Cary Grant is also present in a small role, in his second movie, but if you're not paying attention to the soundtrack you could easily miss him: his voice was far more distinctive than his good looks at this stage of his career.

There is a happy ending, but it feels forced. That is the one flaw in this movie. Otherwise it is well worth your time.

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.