Une femme joue son bonheur

Robert Preston (David) tracks down his wife Barbara Stanwyck (Joan) in hospital after she has been beaten up. He pleas with John Hoyt (Dr Rojac) to let her go home with him after she has been treated rather than hand her over to the police where she has several outstanding charges. In flashback, we watch the story of her descent into gambling addiction after a visit to Las Vegas.

The film is interesting to watch for the location settings. I actually bought it specifically for the Las Vegas setting as it is where I got married earlier this year and I wanted to make a comparison with 1949. The story was incidental. As it turns out, the story is OK if predictable. Stanwyck carries the film with good support from gangster Stephen McNally (Mr Corrigan). Robert Preston changes his tune during the course of the film as he swings from rejecting her to accepting her while the role of Stanwyck's sister Edith Barrett (Ruth) is pretty annoying and some sentimental pop psychology is dragged into the proceedings.

I'm sure that the inspiration behind the Las Vegas section of the film was Bugsy Siegel and his Flamingo Hotel which paved the way for the notoriety of the Strip. The main body of the film is set in the Pelican Hotel (a bit similar?) and McNally has an interest in a horse racing scam just as Bugsy did.

The film ends in a disappointingly corny way after a funny moment when John Hoyt shows us what to say to someone when they are about to jump off a window ledge. I dare you to try it some day! As for the film's climax, we have to hopefully imagine that everything will go downhill again once they return to Vegas and hit the casinos.

It is very evident that Barbara Stanwyck was able to adapt to any sort of role or character in each of her pictures. In this one, she plays a businessman's wife who becomes addicted to gambling after a trip to Las Vegas. This isn't a bad character study, and probably one of the earliest ones dealing with this sort of obsession. It is also interesting to see how the Vegas strip looked in over 50 years ago. A young, unknown Tony Curtis has a cameo as a bell boy.

This is one of the best films about the madness of gambling. As a former compulsive gambler, I can really relate to this film. The only other film about gambling addiction that could be better is The Great Sinner starring Gregory Peck. I don't like to tell the plot on my reviews, and I won't now either. Barbara Stanwyk does an incredible job as a woman that gets obsessed gambling. When she describes how it's a "good tired" after a night of gambling( after she wins) and how Stephen McNally describes the good tired even after you lose. Both logics are so true. Stanwyks performance is brilliant as a lunatic gambler. If you're a gambler or an ex over the top gambler, you'll enjoy this film.

There were three primary reasons for wanting to see 'The Lady Gambles'. The biggest one being the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck, despite her filmography being hit and miss her performances were a lot more consistent and helped make the misses just about watchable. Two being my love of classic film. And the final one being the subject, it is always worth addressing any kind of addiction on film and that is including gambling (big at the time and still a big problem now).

Despite the potential, 'The Lady Gambles' doesn't completely live up to it. It starts off very well and had all the makings of a great film, but the second half or so is less good or compelling with the very late stages feeling like a different film. 'The Lady Gambles' is definitely worth the look and Stanwyck, as expected, makes things a lot better than it had a right to be, but this was an interesting and heavily flawed affair as an overall whole.

Stanwyck is the best thing about 'The Lady Gambles', she did steely and vulnerable better than a lot of actresses at that time and to this day long after her death she remains one of the best ever at those. Both of those can be seen to intense and moving effect and she really does give it everything she's got. The other acting standout is the genuinely intimidating Stephen McNally, goodness does that man have a menacing presence here and the drama does really come alive with him. Enough of the direction is competent.

It is a well shot film and Frank Skinner's music avoids being overly-melodramatic and is not sugary. 'The Lady Gambles' starts off very well with an intriguing and suitably tense first half, that has edge and one does care about how things are going to go.

Which is why it was a shame that to me 'The Lady Gambles' wasn't as compelling later on, where the film became rather predictable and lacked the tension it should have had. Where the dialogue can be on the soapy side and it gets very melodramatic.

As does Robert Preston's performance, which does get too over the top, and his character is too naive that one wants to give him a shake and scream "wake up" in his face. The ending is very corny and far too soft for the subject, like the film had run out of ideas or something.

Concluding, worth seeing for Stanwyck but could have been more. 6/10

This is not a great film but it is a must see for all those Barbara Stanwyck fans out there (of which I am one). She plays Joan Boothe,a housewife who while visiting Las Vegas with hubby Robert Preston gets the gambling bug. She quickly becomes addicted and descends into the seedy, dirty world of the compulsive gambler. The movie attempts to psychologically explain why La Stanwyck has an addictive personality but really who cares. Sit back and watch the masterful Barbara portray a sick, out of control addict. She bankrupts her husband, gets beat up , screws up a horse racing con, prostitutes herself. This is grim stuff but in the hands of the brilliant Barbara Stanwyck it is worth watching. Barbara Stanwyck was the greatest of all the leading ladies from the golden Age of Hollywood. Versatile, compelling and oh so watchable she was a natural infusing every scene she played, with a believable humanness. Joan Crawford could have played this and done so fairly well but she wouldn't have been as good as Stanwyck. I just got finished watching a bunch of her movies and I am giddy with Stanwyckitis. I am addicted! Thank God the lady made 80+ movies-I can keep watching for a while before I run out of Barbara and withdrawal sets in!