*Contains spoilers* This is a great example of a pre-code "Woman's Picture." Although Joan Crawford's character starts out baldly and brazenly out for a rich man (Clark Gable), she ends up with one she loves dearly and begins to chafe at the tramp label. She sacrifices that love, and the money, for Gable's sake. And throughout, she's never cheap or vulgar but has an honesty and kindness about her.
I think it's beside the point to call this picture "dated" -- it is almost 75 years old after all. Rather, it's a movie that came out of a very specific period in cinema. Crawford is fantastic -- as others have noted, you understand why she was such a big star when you see pictures like this. This is well before she descended into melodrama and camp...instead, she is remarkably naturalistic. Gable is virile and charismatic as always. And the ending is romantic, too.
I think it's beside the point to call this picture "dated" -- it is almost 75 years old after all. Rather, it's a movie that came out of a very specific period in cinema. Crawford is fantastic -- as others have noted, you understand why she was such a big star when you see pictures like this. This is well before she descended into melodrama and camp...instead, she is remarkably naturalistic. Gable is virile and charismatic as always. And the ending is romantic, too.