Lilly Turner

Lilly Turner plays like a distant and more wholesome relative of Tod Browning's Freaks. Ruth Chatterton, excellent as always, stars as a sideshow employee married to a lush (Frank McHugh) but in love with straight arrow George Brent. To complicate matters, an addled strongman (Robert Barrat) is in love with her, and escapes from the State Hospital in order to pursue her. The film is atmospherically shot by James Van Trees, and there's solid support by Guy Kibbee as the charlatan in chief of the shabby road show. Strongly recommended for fans of pre-Code cinema.

Once I'd seen Ruth Chatterton in "Dodsworth," I wanted to see her as much as possible. In a movie different from that also from this one, she plays a brazenly sexual executive: That film is "Female." "Lilly Turner" has many elements of the standard women's picture. A women's picture that is, one must note, distinctly pre-Code. Also one that is directed by William Wellman.

It transcends the genre on many counts, though: Chatterton gives an excellent performance. I had to laugh when she gives her age as 22! Chatterton was 40 when this came out and 40, especially for women, was sort of the equivalent of 60 today.

Fine actress she was, whatever age she was passed off as. She gets excellent support here from peculiar collection of co-stars and supporting players. Frank McHugh is especially good as the alcoholic carnival worker who rescues her when she's dumped by a no-good new husband.

I was particularly impressed by the scenes with Robert Barrat. He was hardly an actor of Chatterton's caliber. He plays a strongman in the carnival run by Guy Kibbee. In his later scenes, the nature of which I will not give away, he is filmed in a manner highly reminiscent of German Expressionism. James Van Trees filmed the whole movie beautifully but these sequences are true knockouts. They'd be right at home in the very finest of film noir.

Be advised that some of the dialog exhibits racial and ethnic insensitivity that was acceptable at the time.

This Pre-Code moves along at a crackling pace. Lilly Turner is a gal from Buffalo who marries a fast-talking actor Rex Durkee (Gordon Westcott) after a whirlwind courtship and finds out on her honeymoon that he is not exactly the answer to her maiden's prayer. Rather than a successful vaudevillian he is a third-rate carnival performer whose poverty forces her into the carnival scene too. He cheats on Lilly and sponges off of her until she announces her pregnancy, then he skips town. And, believe it or not, things just go downhill for Lilly from there. And this is only twelve minutes into this 65-minute film.

Like "Heroes For Sale", there are no sustained bright spots in this one - they both end on a depressing note. But it doesn't exactly enumerate the widespread problems of the Great Depression like "Heroes does, other than that the only attractive nice guy in the film - Bob Chandler (George Brent) - is a bright young man with a recent degree in civil engineering who has to drive a taxi because of the lack of jobs in his chosen field.

Many compare this movie to "Freaks", and although I don't really agree with that assessment, it does have a kind of Tod Browning vibe going for it. I'd recommend this one, just realize it is not going to lift your spirits.

This film deals mainly with a woman named Lilly Turner, (Ruth Chatterton) who is involved with a carnival magician who deserts her because she is pregnant and then marries the carnival barker who is a drunk. Lilly becomes very interested in a young attractive engineer named Bob Chandler, (George Brent) who falls head over his heels in love with Lilly and has no idea just what her secret past has been and in some ways keeps him in the dark. Bob Chandler is hired as a strong man and lifts some 300 pounds as a performer because he has not found his break in his professional career as an engineer. Ruth Chatterton and George Brent gave an outstanding performance in this great William Wellman film, don't miss this film.

Although this film is not usually what William Wellman as director gives us. He did a reasonably good job with Lilly Turner. Ruth Chatterton delivers the goods with the title role, a girl who keeps making wrong choices especially with the opposite sex.

The first choice was bad as she was married, pregnant and abandoned by two timing rat Gordon Westcott. More of a rat than she thought as he was already married to Margaret Seddon. Seddon by the way has one great scene with Chatterton.

The baby was stillborn and Westcott had been a carnival magician. Carnival barker Frank McHugh with a real nasty thirst problem feels sorry for Chatterton and marries her. She loves him in her own way, but hates his drinking. She also attracts the the attention Guy KIbbee the owner of the show.

Which is a medicine show and the others work for him. Attractions that are come ons for his medicines. Kibbee starts taking a liking to Chatterton, but his Marjorie Gateson keeps him on a short leash. She's got a roving eye also however. Another strong performance in a small role.

Chatterton also has strong man Robert Barrat sniffing around. He's not got much upstairs, but he does have a temper. When he gets out of line he hires ambulance driver George Brent, clean cut All American kid who studied engineering in college, but in The Depression can't get a job in his field.

Chatterton and Brent were married at the time and a lot of his early roles come in her films. This was a play produced and written by George Abbott on Broadway that only ran 24 performances in 1932. Theater was a luxury that many did without a lot of material was bought by Hollywood on the cheap that turned into decent films.

Decent film this is and the ending isn't quite what might have been led to believe would happen. Good cast, good direction and too bad for George Abbott he didn't write this in better times.