This is a very solid bit of movie-making. Well directed and edited. Little fluff. A script that is generally crisp and moves the plot forward.
Crawford is strong and likable as she moves from factory girl to "kept woman," apparently without missing a beat.
It's in these early Crawford films that you really see what the shouting was all about. She is beautiful, vulnerable, strong, sweet and, most importantly, a powerful screen presence. And she can show you all those sides of herself in the same scene.
Gable too, while playing a somewhat subservient role, gets to strut his stuff. He is at once, a "man's man" and "ladies man." Neat trick. Try it sometime.
One aspect of this film that you'll appreciate is its lack of moralizing. The story is out there for all to see, but we don't get it rubbed in our faces. Also, along the lines of Philip Barry ("The Philadelphia Story") we are allowed to see that money and power does not necessarily make a man bad, while struggle and poverty doesn't make him good, either.
As with all movies of this era, you have to allow for the changing morals and attitudes that have interceded in the following 70 years, but it's a testament to the writer and director that this still holds up.
Crawford is strong and likable as she moves from factory girl to "kept woman," apparently without missing a beat.
It's in these early Crawford films that you really see what the shouting was all about. She is beautiful, vulnerable, strong, sweet and, most importantly, a powerful screen presence. And she can show you all those sides of herself in the same scene.
Gable too, while playing a somewhat subservient role, gets to strut his stuff. He is at once, a "man's man" and "ladies man." Neat trick. Try it sometime.
One aspect of this film that you'll appreciate is its lack of moralizing. The story is out there for all to see, but we don't get it rubbed in our faces. Also, along the lines of Philip Barry ("The Philadelphia Story") we are allowed to see that money and power does not necessarily make a man bad, while struggle and poverty doesn't make him good, either.
As with all movies of this era, you have to allow for the changing morals and attitudes that have interceded in the following 70 years, but it's a testament to the writer and director that this still holds up.