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Une vie secrète

Original title: Forbidden
  • 1932
  • Approved
  • 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
Barbara Stanwyck in Une vie secrète (1932)
DramaRomance

A librarian takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to an invalid.A librarian takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to an invalid.A librarian takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to an invalid.

  • Director
    • Frank Capra
  • Writers
    • Frank Capra
    • Jo Swerling
  • Stars
    • Barbara Stanwyck
    • Adolphe Menjou
    • Ralph Bellamy
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    2.3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Frank Capra
    • Writers
      • Frank Capra
      • Jo Swerling
    • Stars
      • Barbara Stanwyck
      • Adolphe Menjou
      • Ralph Bellamy
    • 54User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination total

    Photos28

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    Top cast48

    Edit
    Barbara Stanwyck
    Barbara Stanwyck
    • Lulu
    Adolphe Menjou
    Adolphe Menjou
    • Bob
    Ralph Bellamy
    Ralph Bellamy
    • Holland
    Dorothy Peterson
    Dorothy Peterson
    • Helen
    Thomas Jefferson
    Thomas Jefferson
    • Wilkinson
    Myrna Fresholt
    • Roberta - Baby
    Charlotte Henry
    Charlotte Henry
    • Roberta - Age 18
    • (as Charlotte V. Henry)
    Oliver Eckhardt
    Oliver Eckhardt
    • Briggs
    Henry Armetta
    Henry Armetta
    • Emile
    • (uncredited)
    Jessie Arnold
    Jessie Arnold
    • Nurse
    • (uncredited)
    Wilson Benge
    Wilson Benge
    • Grover's Butler
    • (uncredited)
    Roger Byrne
    • Office Boy
    • (uncredited)
    Nora Cecil
    Nora Cecil
    • Chambermaid on Phone
    • (uncredited)
    Jack Chefe
    • Havana Gambling House Waiter
    • (uncredited)
    Lynn Compton
    • Halloween Child
    • (uncredited)
    Larry Dolan
    • Halloween Child
    • (uncredited)
    Bill Elliott
    Bill Elliott
    • Reporter
    • (uncredited)
    Mary Jo Ellis
    • Roberta - Age 12
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Frank Capra
    • Writers
      • Frank Capra
      • Jo Swerling
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews54

    6.92.2K
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    Featured reviews

    6blanche-2

    heavy-duty precode melodrama

    In 1932's "Forbidden," Barbara Stanwyck plays Lulu, who quits her job as a librarian, withdraws her savings of $1200, and goes on a two-week trip to Havana.

    When we first see the new Lulu, she is descending a long staircase into a restaurant on board ship, and she's wearing a fabulous gown and a fur wrap. That's right, because in 1932, $1200 was the equivalent of $18,000 today! Enough for a two-week vacation and then some.

    On the ship, Lulu meets an attorney, Bob (Adolphe Menjou), and the two fall in love. Lulu remains his mistress when they return to America, even though she's met Holland (Ralph Bellamy), the editor of the newspaper where she works, and he's crazy about her.

    Bob eventually admits that he's married, that his wife is an invalid, and he can't leave her. For a time, he and Lulu break up, and unbeknownst to him, she has his baby, a girl she names Roberta. She leaves her job at the newspaper and goes into hiding.

    Bob finds her, and so does Holland, who catches her with Bob, now the district attorney and whom he dislikes. Lulu says she's the governess for Bob's daughter.

    Because Holland is going to publish the story, Bob has no choice but to present a new adopted daughter to his wife when she returns from a series of treatments overseas. Lulu stays on as the nurse. It becomes too difficult for her, and she leaves Bob -- and her child -- behind.

    This is a real potboiler, directed by Frank Capra and beautifully acted by Barbara Stanwyck. It's an old-fashioned story that develops one twist after another. The story encompasses about 21 years, when Lulu is probably early 40s and Holland a little older - naturally they have white in their hair and dark circles under their eyes.

    Stanwyck excelled at this type of film. Both Menjou and Bellamy are excellent. In the hands of a director without Capra's talent and with a cast beneath this one, much of this movie would have been laughable. Dated as it is, it's well worth seeing.
    dougdoepke

    3 Hankies Beats 2

    Be sure to bring a snorkel so you don't drown in all the soap suds. Okay, it's a weepy from beginning to end, but 30's soap opera doesn't come much slicker than this. LuLu (Stanwyck) has a tropical fling to relieve a humdrum life. The trouble is that she leaves as one but comes back as two, and the father (Menjou) is already married. So what is poor Lulu to do now that she's an un-wed mother and Dad has big political ambitions and a wife. It takes an hour and a half to find out.

    Apparently, Columbia studios had the formidable Stanwyck pegged as a 3-hanky heroine since they kept casting her in these sudsy roles. On the other hand, it took hard-boiled Warner Bros. to bring out that tough-cookie inner person we all know and enjoy. Still, she runs the emotional gamut here in fine fashion, persisting from one heartbreak to the next.

    Two scenes stick with me. There's an absolutely exquisite horse ride through scalloped fingers of surf filmed in incandescent b&w (Joseph Walker). Anyone doubting the continuing value of b&w should take a look here. The wonderful dreamlike quality serves as a perfect correlate to what Lulu feels during the romantic get-away, and cannot be duplicated in color, at least in my little book.

    Then there's that hilarious scene in the newspaper office where the pot-bellied old "Mary Sunshine" explains his 'advice to the lovelorn' column to the new Mary Sunshine (Lulu). He's a hard-bitten old reporter who resembles the column's title about as much as Alfred Hitchcock resembles Shirley Temple. And when he tells her to read seven letters and throw the rest away, you just know the empathetic Lulu will read the whole stack.

    Sure, the story hangs together about as well as a Rube Goldberg contraption, but who cares since it all goes down pretty smoothly thanks to Capra's way with a camera and a storyline. Then too, I'm really proud of myself. I got through the 90 minutes with just two hankies on the floor instead of the usual three.
    8fredyfriedlander-1

    Despite a poor script, you still feel the hand of a great movie director

    "Forbidden" is no doubt pure melodrama. Frank Capra, its director expressed in his autobiography, that he " should have stood in bed". Fortunately he didn't because although the story is "soggy and 99.44% pure soap opera", using his own words, it still retains powerful moments and excellent interpretations from its main actors: Barbara Stanwyck and Adolphe Menjou. Their first meeting at a cruise to Havana, with Menjou so drunk that he ends in a wrong cabin (number 66 instead of 99) where Stanwyck, bored and happy to encounter somebody, is one of many moments where Capra's talent is evident. Raplh Bellamy is also fine as the managing editor of a newspaper, where gossip is always welcome. No doubt that this early talkie, with some flaws or doubtful situations, still partially conceals that behind the camera there is one of the masters of cinema: Frank Capra. I clearly recommend not to miss this imperfect but valuable movie.
    7DukeEman

    A fine melodrama.

    Stanwyck plays a kept woman for a married politician. Out of her sheer devotion to him she decides not to cause a scandal when she falls pregnant. Instead, she disappears, but no sooner does the politician track her down and the film gets swept away by the melodrama of a soap opera. But what a fine melodrama this is. Capra managed to take the fat out of the story and move through time in great leaps and bounds. This film is full of surprises and never sells out to the moral crusaders of the time. Further more, the characters are human, playful, you feel for them as the story slowly sucks you in until you have no choice but to go along with the melodramatic symphony that plays with your heart and mind.
    5mukava991

    time stands still!!

    What struck me about this film is the fact that although the story spans about 20 years, the hairstyles, clothes, cars, furniture and general infrastructure remain steadfastly "1932" throughout. Makes me wonder why they didn't start the film in 1912 - budget concerns over the cost of 1912 production values? Anyway, this melodrama is pretty routine for its time - contrived, fast-moving plot structure dealing with "naughty" subject matter, in this case cohabitation outside wedlock and its consequences. Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou and Ralph Bellamy are all quite arresting in their roles and there are some nice turns of dialog and at least one memorable camera angle during an emotional scene in which the only visible part of Stanwyck's face - mostly concealed behind Menjou's shoulder - is the area around her right eye, filmed through the spaces between balusters on a staircase. Whether this scene was meant to reflect the shadowy nature of the couple's relationship or just a way to make the scene more fun to watch, it's a standout.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      When Lulu's bankbook is shown at the beginning of the film it has a balance of $1,242.68 - which she withdraws from the bank to finance her vacation. That amount would equate to about $29,000.00 in 2025.
    • Goofs
      The film begins in the present day, i.e. 1932. There is no attempt at period decor in any way; the automobiles, music, and clothing styles are all contemporary; twenty or thirty years pass by. The principals live out their lives, grow old, and die. Yet their surrounding environment never changes; it is still 1932.
    • Quotes

      Lulu: Who are you?

      Bob: I'm the Census taker.

      Lulu: Oh, I lost my senses long ago.

    • Connections
      Featured in Frank Capra's American Dream (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      Cupid's Holiday
      (uncredited)

      Music by Irving Bibo

      Lyrics by Pete Fylling

      Played at the nightclub and sung by an unidentified male trio

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    FAQ13

    • How long is Forbidden?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 8, 1933 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Amour défendu
    • Filming locations
      • Laguna Beach, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Columbia Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 25m(85 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White

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