The early confession girls lost their virtue for fun, for luxury, or for nobly self-sacrificial motives
But as the depression continued, films began to touch on a more basic motive for streetwalking: staying alive
In the first of these, "Faithless," Tallulah Bankhead is a spoiled heiress so wealthy that she refuses marriage with an impoverished $20,000-a-year executive (Robert Montgomery) because he insists that they live on his salary alone
When both are wiped out by the Wall Street crash, Tallulah in order to go on living in the style to which she is habituated, becomes the mistress of a rich boor (Hugh Herbert). When she can no longer stand his ill-treatment, she seeks out the penniless Montgomery who is soon badly injured in a labor riot
Tallulah Bankhead was lent to MGM by Paramount for "Faithless." Her flamboyant personality and uninhibited performances on and off the stage had kept Londoners on a vicarious spree for eight years until Paramount brought her back to the States in 1931 They starred her in five films, and she returned to stage after this MGM job The camera unaccountably dimmed her brightness and her crowd magnetism
In the first of these, "Faithless," Tallulah Bankhead is a spoiled heiress so wealthy that she refuses marriage with an impoverished $20,000-a-year executive (Robert Montgomery) because he insists that they live on his salary alone
When both are wiped out by the Wall Street crash, Tallulah in order to go on living in the style to which she is habituated, becomes the mistress of a rich boor (Hugh Herbert). When she can no longer stand his ill-treatment, she seeks out the penniless Montgomery who is soon badly injured in a labor riot
Tallulah Bankhead was lent to MGM by Paramount for "Faithless." Her flamboyant personality and uninhibited performances on and off the stage had kept Londoners on a vicarious spree for eight years until Paramount brought her back to the States in 1931 They starred her in five films, and she returned to stage after this MGM job The camera unaccountably dimmed her brightness and her crowd magnetism