Sam Hardy runs a gambling joint just over the Mexican border. He's married to Barbara Stanwyck, and crazy about her, but while he's out of town visiting his ward, William Janney, she steps out on him. He throws her out, but she comes back, only now she's married to Janney.
It's an early and earthy pre-code movie, directed by Erle Kenton for Columbia. There are some nice aspects to it, especially Stanwyck at her pre-code depth. However, the sound system is still unfamiliar enough to Kenton that he lets the actors have their heads, and they talk loud and emphatically, making sure their words are clear against the background hiss. Stanwyck has a few quiet moments that presage her coming mastery of screen acting, but the movie's strength is that it is so open and shocking about sex.
In a few years, Joe Breen would shut down overt sexuality in the movies. That would mean less frank handling of subjects when appropriate, but also clamp down when not. Eventually the writers and producers would adjust to the new dicta, and learn that a wink and a nod can be even more titillating than nudity, and that putting one past the censors was an art in itself
It's an early and earthy pre-code movie, directed by Erle Kenton for Columbia. There are some nice aspects to it, especially Stanwyck at her pre-code depth. However, the sound system is still unfamiliar enough to Kenton that he lets the actors have their heads, and they talk loud and emphatically, making sure their words are clear against the background hiss. Stanwyck has a few quiet moments that presage her coming mastery of screen acting, but the movie's strength is that it is so open and shocking about sex.
In a few years, Joe Breen would shut down overt sexuality in the movies. That would mean less frank handling of subjects when appropriate, but also clamp down when not. Eventually the writers and producers would adjust to the new dicta, and learn that a wink and a nod can be even more titillating than nudity, and that putting one past the censors was an art in itself