Adicionar um enredo no seu idiomaTwo young office workers working at the same large firm secretly marry and defy their employer's policy against coworker fraternization. When the marriage is discovered, Margy (Turner) is fi... Ler tudoTwo young office workers working at the same large firm secretly marry and defy their employer's policy against coworker fraternization. When the marriage is discovered, Margy (Turner) is fired. This causes the newlyweds to face serious financial struggles and Bill (Shelton) purs... Ler tudoTwo young office workers working at the same large firm secretly marry and defy their employer's policy against coworker fraternization. When the marriage is discovered, Margy (Turner) is fired. This causes the newlyweds to face serious financial struggles and Bill (Shelton) pursues desperate, perhaps even illegal, measures to make ends meet when the couple learn they... Ler tudo
- Prêmios
- 1 vitória no total
- Foreman
- (as Horace MacMahon)
- Bellevue Hospital Nurse
- (não creditado)
- Expectant Father
- (não creditado)
- Eckman
- (não creditado)
- Office Girl
- (não creditado)
Avaliações em destaque
During the 1930s and into the 40s, MGM generally tried to paint a very rosy picture during the Depression. Additionally, Louis B. Mayer himself (the head of the studio) worked very hard to defeat the leftist, Upton Sinclair, during his attempt to win an election. Why? Because Mayer was dreadfully afraid of communism and socialism and fought hard to nip it in the bud. In light of this, how could a film like "We Who Are Young" get made? Could Mayer have missed this one? Surely he must, as it's progressive message clearly is NOT what 'Uncle' Louis wanted America to see!
The plot of "We Who Are Young" is a lot like "The Crowd" and "Saturday's Children". The films are all about nice young folks who marry and try to grab a part of the American Dream but end up getting royally screwed. Again and again, things in the system seem to conspire against the couple as they try to just get by. At least that is the first 80% of the film--a strong Progressive message from the era...surprisingly strong. Unfortunately for the film, but perhaps fortunate for Mayer and his sentiments, the picture loses its way towards the end and degenerates too much towards sentimentality and lacks the hard edge you find in these other films. Overall, worth seeing but it just misses the mark. And, interestingly, although this is a Lana Turner starring vehicle, her co-star, John Shelton easily outshines her as the beleaguered husband.021
It's not that the philosophy is Marxist, exactly, but it is certainly a left-wing view of working life. Shelton's antagonist, Bemis, expresses a very pure libertarian view--he got where he is though his own efforts alone, he never asked anyone for help, nor got help from any, and he's damn proud of it. He has contempt for "weaklings" who don't match his self-sufficiency.
Shelton--Trumbo, that is--calls him out. He says that no one has ever done anything alone, he's always had help from the others around him and that people depend on each other for support and there's nothing wrong with that. Rules may be rules, but they must be administered with human kindness.
We're still having the very same argument today, in almost the same words. I've found myself having identical discussions on Facebook and Reddit, and the libertarian view is alive and well. Interestingly, Trumbo makes some of the same points I have made in these discussions.
Anyhow, there's a non-obvious deeper layer to this film that makes it interesting in today's political environment. It's worth seeing for that reason, if for no other.
On one hand, it shows you how times have changed in the workplace for the better at least as far as employment laws; on the other hand, at least the Lockhart character has qualms of conscience, which no employer in this day and age would have. Firing at Christmas doesn't bother them, nor does firing someone without notice and having security escort them out, lest they steal a paper clip, nor does spending $250,000 to have their offices redecorated, only to tell employees there's no money for even a cost of living raise.
John Shelton chews up the scenery as the husband. He's not particularly good, and though she doesn't get to emote like Shelton, MGM decided Lana Turner was going to be a star. She's very sweet, beautiful and fragile appearing here. Shelton I guess went into the service and lost what little grooming the studio was giving him. It looks like he quit show business in 1953.
Extremely dated, not great, interesting for Turner and a look at the workplace in the 1939-41 era.
Shelton wasn't really a bad actor but MGM dropped him not long after the film was completed. But Lana shines as the sweet and wholesome wife who stands by her man during hard times. Shelton gets to spout off some dialogue that comes from Dalton Trumbo's slant on the Depression-era tactics and rules of the workplace.
Obviously, one of Trumbo's lesser scripts has been turned into a film that is more of a programmer than an A-film, despite a cast that includes Gene Lockhart, Grant Mitchell, Henry Armetta and Jonathan Hale. Prices mentioned for wages, rent and furniture are hilarious by today's standards.
Você sabia?
- CuriosidadesCinematographer John F. Seitz took over as director of photography when Karl Freund fell ill.
- Erros de gravaçãoWhen Margy and Bill leave the office for lunch, briefly reflected in a store window, a crew member is visible sitting at the base of a loudspeaker on a stand..
- Citações
William Brooks: [William bursts into Beamis' office] I came for that plan, Mr Beamis. You know, my re-organisation plan that you never read.
C.B. Beamis: Oh, yes, I... I've been wanting to talk to you about it.
William Brooks: Yes, well I don't want to talk about it.
C.B. Beamis: What do you mean?
William Brooks: I don't find it very pleasant talking with you, Mr Beamis. I worked here three years and the only talks we ever had were when you fired my wife and when you fired me. And that isn't exactly my idea of conversation.
C.B. Beamis: Now look here, William, I've explained to you that I don't make the rules.
William Brooks: Well I'm not kicking about your rules. It's the way you operate them. You're a wrong guy, Mr Beamis. You've got the soul of an adding machine. Sure, you can add up the rules alright, you can add up anything that's in black and white. But the one thing that you can never add up, Mr Beamis, is how to give a guy a break.
C.B. Beamis: Now see here, I don't have to tolerate this. What right have you to speak that way to me?
William Brooks: I've got the right that comes from spending three whole years of my life in your office. I worked hard for you and did my job well. The only thing I wanted was to get married. Now that isn't asking too much is it? So you fired my wife and when they attached my salary, you fired me. When you take away a family's income, Mr Beamis, you take away its very life. You might just as well have shot me. It would have been kinder. Oh, but I forgot. You don't know anything about being kind.
C.B. Beamis: I certainly don't. Not if it means shooting people, I don't.
William Brooks: Well, I wouldn't expect you to understand. I should have saved my breath. You're not human.
C.B. Beamis: But you are, of course. I've noticed that about you weaklings. You're always twice as human as anybody else.
William Brooks: So I'm a weakling because I needed help, huh? Well, Mr Beamis, we don't speak the same language.
C.B. Beamis: I'm afraid you'll find the same difficulty with any employer.
William Brooks: Nah, no, you had me believing that all bosses are like you. But I've found out differently. I'm going to work for a man who helped me when I needed it. But you wouldn't understand that either.
C.B. Beamis: I understand it alright. And it's the one thing that I detest. In all my life I've never asked for help or accepted any. What I have, I've gotten through my own efforts. And I'm proud of it.
William Brooks: Oh, sure, you've got something to be proud of alright - a bank account with a million dollars worth of hatred.
C.B. Beamis: That's not true.
William Brooks: Why, every time you walk through that office, you'd feel the hate, if you were human. Yes, I say you're not human and I'll tell you why; it's because you really think that you've never been helped. You've never found out like I have that people could be kind, could understand. You've never found out that people are better than rules. And I'll tell you why you've never found out; it's because you've got a lie in your head. The same lie that you just told me. You've never been helped? Why you and I and everybody from the minute they're born they're being helped. The whole country, our homes, our churches, our schools and what they stand for, nobody could build those alone. We did it together, all of us, the people helping each other, and believe me, Mr Beamis, if any man says that he made his money or built his life without the help of anybody else, he's a fool! He's wore than a fool, he's a liar.
- ConexõesFeatured in A Hollywood Vermelha (1996)
- Trilhas sonorasSidewalks of New York
(1894) (uncredited)
Music by Charles Lawlor
Played during the opening credits, and as background music and at the end
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Detalhes
- Data de lançamento
- País de origem
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- Também conhecido como
- We Who Are Young
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- Consulte mais créditos da empresa na IMDbPro
Bilheteria
- Orçamento
- US$ 362.000 (estimativa)
- Tempo de duração
- 1 h 20 min(80 min)
- Cor
- Proporção
- 1.37 : 1