They Call It Sin

This is an amazing one to see, especially for early days of the actors we're more familiar with decades later. Was Louis Calhern ever young? Even here, he has a very mature look. There's a very placid and pleasing Loretta Young, mostly philosophic, never very ruffled for long by the twists and turns that come her way. Her wild roomie, Una, is no end of fun, getting ruffled enough for the both of them. David Manners caught my eye and looked for other movies with him, his having left Hollywood after less than a decade or so in favor of stage work. Very handsome young man, who reminded me of Jeffrey Lynn, who also wasn't around very long, in his case, to pursue another career altogether. George Brent transfers his usual low key portrayal from the last time you saw him. Surprisingly lively and interesting older movie.

There is really nothing here that couldn't have been shown in the production code era. In fact it could be a training film on how to make a seemingly sensational film in the production code era without any of the protagonists actually sinning.

Loretta Young is lovely as always as Marion, an amateur composer from a small Kansas town who heads for New York to pursue both a career in music and Jimmy, a man she loves whom she doesn't know is engaged to someone else. Fortunately, once in New York, she makes the acquaintance of chorus girl Dixie Dare (Una Merkel), a gold digger with a heart of gold, and physician Tony Travers (George Brent) who also just happens to be Jimmy's best friend. Not so fortunately she makes the acquaintance of Broadway producer Ford Humphries (Louis Calhern). When he finds he can't steal Marion's heart he steals her songs instead, claiming he wrote them himself and putting them in his show without reimbursing her. Meanwhile, Jimmy has gone through with his marriage but can't get Marion off of his mind. Tony also loves Marion and proposes. All of these story lines converge dramatically. How? Watch and find out.

The only real sinner here is Calhern as the slimy Humphries - he was an excellent villain in many films through the years - the devil in a three piece suit. It is rather implied that Marion might be sleeping with Humphries since he is paying the rent on her apartment, but their scenes together with her wiggling out of all of his embraces as though he were a squid makes me wonder. Una Merkel is a delight as Marion's loyal friend and steals every scene as she cartwheels - literally - through the film. Oddly enough George Brent is second billed when he actually gets very little screen time.

Rather sad is Marion Byron, an actress who played supporting parts similar to Una Merkel in the very early talkie era, who by this time was reduced to uncredited roles. Here she is a spunky soda jerk in the small Kansas town who flirts with Jimmy and gets nowhere.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys the Warner precodes of the era.

A small-town Kansas girl encounters hard luck & happiness when she follows her true love to New York City.

Aided by an excellent cast, THEY CALL IT SIN is a superior soap opera which delivers just enough sentiment & humor to keep the attention of most viewers. While the heroine's change of affection in the final scene is never really explained, this doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the film. Particularly commendable are the sequences set in the Merton park, with the softly playing ukulele setting a gentle romantic mood.

Beautiful Loretta Young is radiant as the sweet young thing who follows her dreams to the Big City. Doe-eyed & innocent, her purity is nicely countered by brassy, sassy Una Merkel, cartwheeling through her role as a chorus girl who doesn't take nonsense from anyone. Suave doctor George Brent & earnest businessman David Manners are both very fine in their roles as the fellows who adore Miss Young.

Helen Vinson plays Manners' wealthy fiancée. Elizabeth Patterson scores in her small role as Miss Young's spiteful ‘mother.' Louis Calhern plays the proper scoundrel as a lecherous theatrical producer.

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Roscoe Karns as a sarcastic dance rehearsal director. Marion Byron delivers some funny moments as the Merton soda jerk.

They Call it Sin (1932)

*** (out of 4)

A New York business man (David Manners) goes to a small farm town to close on a deal and meets a young woman (Loretta Young). Even though he has a fiancé back in NY, the two quickly fall in love but when he has to go back the woman follows him, which just leads to more problems. This is a rather charming romantic drama, which features some fine performances as well as several nice romantic touches. Both Young and Manners are terrific together with Young bringing that beauty to the screen, which always works well with her tender touch as an actress. This is also the best I've ever seen Manners who manages to be very charming and sweet without going over the top. George Brent and Una Merkel add nice support. Being a Warner film, there's an added murder subplot added on towards the end, which really wasn't needed but the film ends in an unexpected way, which makes up for that silly turn.

A startlingly mature teenage Loretta Young stars in this fast-moving melodrama as Marion Cullen, a songwriter who leaves her Kansas home for New York City to shape a career in show business and to follow the man she loves, Jimmy Decker (David Manners), a salesman whose business junket to her home town has tied their hearts together. Decker, however, is betrothed to another (Helen Vinson) and Marion discovers that success in her new profession benefits from a relationship with Ford Humphries (Louis Calhern), an influential producer but a libertine whose demands upon her include more than her ability to craft tuneful pieces for the stage. Decker, now married, continues to harbour his love for Marion, as does his best friend, medical doctor Tony Travers (George Brent) and it remains for the young musician to decide which of the three men she will choose and what sort of position she will prefer for herself, that as mistress, wife, or other woman. Graceful Loretta Young is asked to provide acting skill instead of solely her superb bone structure, and she does so to good result in mosaical scenes, displaying a full range of emotions while making them believable and, of course, is a perfect mannequin for the Orry-Kelly gowns with which she is raimented. David Manners must rely upon more than his profile here, and the stage-trained actor performs creditably, specially so in airy scenes, while silky George Brent and shrewd Louis Calhern execute their roles well; it is Una Merkel as Dixie Dare, Marion's Gotham companion, who nearly steals the show with her rendering of a salty-mouthed, high-stepping chorus girl. The entire production benefits from the extensive cinematic background of director Thornton Freeland who utilizes an interesting assortment of camera angles, is responsible for the crisp cutting and editing and handles his extras with sureness, with only the abrupt final minutes barring the work from achieving a higher aesthetic plane.