This peculiar but interesting drama has Barbara Stanwyck as a weary nightclub torch singer with a "who cares?" attitude. To escape her underworld boyfriend, she decides to hide out in the bleak plains of North Dakota as a mail-order bride. As her shy farmer husband, the normally debonair George Brent is almost unrecognizable in a pair of overalls, but gives a sensitive characterization. The bulk of the plot follows the growing feeling between the reserved country mouse' and the tough city mouse', complicated by several villains. Tough guy director William Wellman keeps things moving at a clip, and uses his low budget wisely to stage several good set-pieces, including a drunken shivaree for the happy couple. In the supporting cast, Leila Bennett stands out as a plain-talking maid.
44 Reviews
Interesting roles for Stanwyck and Brent in offbeat saga...
Doylenf13 December 2007
BARBARA STANWYCK is a city gal fed up with the sophisticated life of a nightclub singer and her lecherous boyfriend (LYLE TALBOT) and who sees an "escape" by fleeing to the country for a more bucolic existence and more wholesome environment. She gets more than she bargains for when her mail order husband turns out to be shy farmer (GEORGE BRENT), whom she at first repulses when he comes on too strong with his lovemaking and then spends the rest of the film trying to make it up to him.
The unusual domestic drama gives both Stanwyck and Brent offbeat roles which they handle beautifully. Brent is a surprising revelation as the shy, bumbling country guy with no understanding of Stanwyck's softer feelings and holding off loving her until the final reel, after the two of them have to save their crop of wheat from burning to the ground.
Only weak point in the story is the overdone nature of the wild party scene shortly after their wedding and Stanwyck's reaction to the crudeness of the country bumpkins. It seems a bit of a stretch to believe the way this scene unfolds.
But otherwise, an interesting look at Stanwyck who excels in showing both sides of her character--tough and tender--and Brent, who is usually the more debonair, sophisticated man showing us another side of his personality (and with some nice touches of humor too) as the shy groom. They both get excellent support from LYLE TALBOT as "the other man" in a rather thankless role that he makes believable.
Well worth watching and nicely directed by William Wellman.
The unusual domestic drama gives both Stanwyck and Brent offbeat roles which they handle beautifully. Brent is a surprising revelation as the shy, bumbling country guy with no understanding of Stanwyck's softer feelings and holding off loving her until the final reel, after the two of them have to save their crop of wheat from burning to the ground.
Only weak point in the story is the overdone nature of the wild party scene shortly after their wedding and Stanwyck's reaction to the crudeness of the country bumpkins. It seems a bit of a stretch to believe the way this scene unfolds.
But otherwise, an interesting look at Stanwyck who excels in showing both sides of her character--tough and tender--and Brent, who is usually the more debonair, sophisticated man showing us another side of his personality (and with some nice touches of humor too) as the shy groom. They both get excellent support from LYLE TALBOT as "the other man" in a rather thankless role that he makes believable.
Well worth watching and nicely directed by William Wellman.
Stanwyck's in It, So You Know It's at Least Worth Watching
evanston_dad17 December 2012
The appeal of this somewhat run-of-the-mill film is Barbara Stanwyck in an early display of her mega-watt star power and her ability to turn mediocre material into something special.
Her character doesn't make much sense: a nightclub singer from the city who wants to get away from the bootlegger boyfriend hounding her and so agrees to an arranged marriage with a farmer up in the wilds of North Dakota! The bootlegger (played by Lyle Talbot) isn't threatening or abusive, so one wonders why Stanwyck needs to go to such great lengths to avoid him -- keep wondering, because the movie never explains it. But if you can swallow that, then you can easily swallow the fact that this urban good-time gal seems to know all about how to run a farm.
Which brings me back to Stanwyck. The movie's premise isn't remotely plausible, but Stanwyck somehow makes it so through the confidence of her performance. I really think she could make anything worth sitting through just for the pleasure of watching her.
The film does provide an interesting look at what farm life in the early days of the 1930s was like, a lifestyle I've only seen recreated in more modern-day movies.
Grade: B-
Her character doesn't make much sense: a nightclub singer from the city who wants to get away from the bootlegger boyfriend hounding her and so agrees to an arranged marriage with a farmer up in the wilds of North Dakota! The bootlegger (played by Lyle Talbot) isn't threatening or abusive, so one wonders why Stanwyck needs to go to such great lengths to avoid him -- keep wondering, because the movie never explains it. But if you can swallow that, then you can easily swallow the fact that this urban good-time gal seems to know all about how to run a farm.
Which brings me back to Stanwyck. The movie's premise isn't remotely plausible, but Stanwyck somehow makes it so through the confidence of her performance. I really think she could make anything worth sitting through just for the pleasure of watching her.
The film does provide an interesting look at what farm life in the early days of the 1930s was like, a lifestyle I've only seen recreated in more modern-day movies.
Grade: B-
See Stanwyck rocket from hard-bitten Sardi's sophisticate to Dakota farmhand!
dennis411 April 2000
Of course this delicious tour-de-force is totally incredible... but WOW! You can't take your eyes off the screen in case Wellman gives his heroine whiplash as she moves from plushly-kept woman in Manhattan to mail-order farmer's bride in North Dakota. From take-out at Tiffany's to hauling coal nuggets 20 miles through a blizzard. From igniting the lust in men with her daring chanteusing to putting out the fire villains set to her and hubby George Brent's last-hope crop of wheat. All in just over 60 minutes!
Farming in the Raw.
rmax30482326 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Barbara Stanwyck is a singer in Montreal who is mixed up with a small-time hood, Lyle Talbot. Tired of the louche life, she becomes the mail order bride of George Brent and moves to his North Dakota farm. She gradually adapts to the hardships of hardscrabble farming in a brutal climate but Brent, a pessimist, doesn't think she can shake off her old identity. Well, if she's going to give it all up, he reckons, no sense developing an emotional bond with her, so he is curt and doesn't bother her at night, not even when she's laying out her sexiest nightie in his view.
Brent may be making a mistake here, strictly from a hedonistic point of view. This is early Stanwyck and she's terribly cute -- delicate and winsome, and always smiling.
Even from a practical standpoint, she pitches in and helps him with all the chores, and she takes care of their nearly destitute neighbors as well. In the climactic scene, a fire threatens to consume their crop and she is at his side beating the flames until the fire is out and she collapses from exhaustion -- still smiling. This woman could look like an aardvark and still be of value.
The general atmosphere of the farm is pretty ragged and it's in pecuniary straits. This probably is a reflection not on Brent's ability to manage his acreage but on the Great Depression itself, when just about every farmer was in a similar bind.
It's almost all told from Stanwyck's point of view, which suggests a soap opera, but it's rather better than that. Obviously it was shot on a modest budget by director William Wellman, but within the strict financial limits imposed by circumstances, it's a nice job. Yes, the snow is studio snow and all that, but there's something disarming about old-fashioned effects like that. And if Wellman isn't The Great Innovator, he's a sensible and sensitive guy, and this effort deserves a little respect.
Brent may be making a mistake here, strictly from a hedonistic point of view. This is early Stanwyck and she's terribly cute -- delicate and winsome, and always smiling.
Even from a practical standpoint, she pitches in and helps him with all the chores, and she takes care of their nearly destitute neighbors as well. In the climactic scene, a fire threatens to consume their crop and she is at his side beating the flames until the fire is out and she collapses from exhaustion -- still smiling. This woman could look like an aardvark and still be of value.
The general atmosphere of the farm is pretty ragged and it's in pecuniary straits. This probably is a reflection not on Brent's ability to manage his acreage but on the Great Depression itself, when just about every farmer was in a similar bind.
It's almost all told from Stanwyck's point of view, which suggests a soap opera, but it's rather better than that. Obviously it was shot on a modest budget by director William Wellman, but within the strict financial limits imposed by circumstances, it's a nice job. Yes, the snow is studio snow and all that, but there's something disarming about old-fashioned effects like that. And if Wellman isn't The Great Innovator, he's a sensible and sensitive guy, and this effort deserves a little respect.
She's just a "daffy little tamata"!!!
kidboots11 June 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Barbara Stanwyck always made her portrayals gritty and believable even when working with mediocre material - and believe me some of her films were not out of the top drawer!!!
In this film she plays a sexy (what else) singer in a "naughty night club" (her words). "I've heard all the questions and I know all the answers". She is giving it up at a chance of happiness with a society boy (Hardie Albright) - but he has heard she has been playing house with bootlegger Eddie Fields (Lyle Talbot) and wants out. She starts again, under an assumed name in Montreal, but is found, so she convinces her maid (with the help of $100) to let her go to Dakota as the mail order bride, in place of her maid (Leila Bennett). The maid has used Joan's photo instead of her own!!!
Joan arrives in Ellis Crossing and meets Farmer Jim Gilson (I have never seen George Brent as a farmer before - I like him better as a city slicker). As another reviewer remarked, the most depressing wedding ever!!!What with Jim's sniffle, beating down the jeweller to $3.50 for the wedding band that is too big for Joan anyway and a simple minded wedding witness who is more interested in a dog fight out in the garden. The farm is not much better - let's just say it needs a woman's touch. There is a shivaree - where all the farming families come by to celebrate the wedding - Jim is not impressed. He is still smarting from Joan's slap, when she objected to his "cave man tactics" and she spends the rest of the film trying to make it up to him.
The bank then forecloses on the farm, which is mortgaged to the hilt, but even though he wants to send her back to Montreal Joan has decided that her future is with Jim. When she comes back after helping with a new born baby (Anne Shirley has an uncredited part as a frightened child) she is surprised to see Eddie at the house - he has never stopped looking for her. After the usual misunderstandings, including a realistic fight at the saloon, Joan secures a loan from Eddie (who is really a very nice guy) for the amount owed on the farm. She organises the bank to forward it to Jim (who never finds out who it is really from) and together they set about to sow the wheat. Of course there are villains - Bull McDowall (David Landau) and Spike (Murray Kinnell) have been lusting after Joan from the start but when they realise she is standing by her man they decide to burn their crops.
Not a lot happens in this movie and when it does - the big fight and then the fire in the fields, the film is over so fast. Barbara Stanwyck is, as usual excellent as the night club singer out of her element among the wheat fields in Dakota. Lyle Talbot is good as a "nice guy" boot- legger. George Brent is okay as the shy farmer but he does look better in a dinner suit. He had already made "So Big", again with Stanwyck, which also had a country setting but the studio must have realised that he was more in his element in the big city. The weird thing was at the beginning of the credits when pictures of the actors are shown with their names underneath - George Brent's picture is shown of him in evening clothes - something he didn't wear in the film.
Recommended.
In this film she plays a sexy (what else) singer in a "naughty night club" (her words). "I've heard all the questions and I know all the answers". She is giving it up at a chance of happiness with a society boy (Hardie Albright) - but he has heard she has been playing house with bootlegger Eddie Fields (Lyle Talbot) and wants out. She starts again, under an assumed name in Montreal, but is found, so she convinces her maid (with the help of $100) to let her go to Dakota as the mail order bride, in place of her maid (Leila Bennett). The maid has used Joan's photo instead of her own!!!
Joan arrives in Ellis Crossing and meets Farmer Jim Gilson (I have never seen George Brent as a farmer before - I like him better as a city slicker). As another reviewer remarked, the most depressing wedding ever!!!What with Jim's sniffle, beating down the jeweller to $3.50 for the wedding band that is too big for Joan anyway and a simple minded wedding witness who is more interested in a dog fight out in the garden. The farm is not much better - let's just say it needs a woman's touch. There is a shivaree - where all the farming families come by to celebrate the wedding - Jim is not impressed. He is still smarting from Joan's slap, when she objected to his "cave man tactics" and she spends the rest of the film trying to make it up to him.
The bank then forecloses on the farm, which is mortgaged to the hilt, but even though he wants to send her back to Montreal Joan has decided that her future is with Jim. When she comes back after helping with a new born baby (Anne Shirley has an uncredited part as a frightened child) she is surprised to see Eddie at the house - he has never stopped looking for her. After the usual misunderstandings, including a realistic fight at the saloon, Joan secures a loan from Eddie (who is really a very nice guy) for the amount owed on the farm. She organises the bank to forward it to Jim (who never finds out who it is really from) and together they set about to sow the wheat. Of course there are villains - Bull McDowall (David Landau) and Spike (Murray Kinnell) have been lusting after Joan from the start but when they realise she is standing by her man they decide to burn their crops.
Not a lot happens in this movie and when it does - the big fight and then the fire in the fields, the film is over so fast. Barbara Stanwyck is, as usual excellent as the night club singer out of her element among the wheat fields in Dakota. Lyle Talbot is good as a "nice guy" boot- legger. George Brent is okay as the shy farmer but he does look better in a dinner suit. He had already made "So Big", again with Stanwyck, which also had a country setting but the studio must have realised that he was more in his element in the big city. The weird thing was at the beginning of the credits when pictures of the actors are shown with their names underneath - George Brent's picture is shown of him in evening clothes - something he didn't wear in the film.
Recommended.
Pre-code slog
MissSimonetta16 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
While Barbara Stanwyck is great as the singer turned farmer's mail-order bride, everything else in The Purchase Price (1932) is not up to par in terms of quality. The plot is a slapdash effort at conflict and titillation, and the characters haven't a brain cell to their name, doing things because they serve to move the plot forward, not as a natural extension of their personalities and thought process.
George Brent has next to no chemistry with Stanwyck, and also no charisma or charm. You have a hard time believing she'd ever grow fond of this guy.
There are a few interesting scenes here and there, but overall, The Purchase Price feels twice as long as its seventy minute run time. No need to bother with it unless you're a completionist for any of the cast and crew involved.
George Brent has next to no chemistry with Stanwyck, and also no charisma or charm. You have a hard time believing she'd ever grow fond of this guy.
There are a few interesting scenes here and there, but overall, The Purchase Price feels twice as long as its seventy minute run time. No need to bother with it unless you're a completionist for any of the cast and crew involved.
A precode with an odd setting
AlsExGal19 November 2022
This film deals with Stanwyck, who works as a singer in New York. She has been working the nightclub circuit since she was a teenager and is romantically involved with the leader of the underground crime world. Fixture of the pre-code world, Lyle Talbot, portrays the underground kingpin. Because breaking up with such a powerful man, like Talbot, may prove to be difficult, Stanwyck opts to escape to Montreal. In Montreal, she resumes her career under a new name. Stanwyck is spotted by one of Talbot's henchmen. In lieu of returning to Talbot, Stanwyck hatches a scheme with the maid at her apartment building. It seems that the maid has been corresponding with a North Dakota farmer, George Brent, who is looking for a mail order bride. In one of her letters, the maid mails Stanwyck's picture instead of her own, because she finds the youthful Stanwyck more attractive than herself. Sensing the perfect plan, Stanwyck offers to pay the maid two month's worth of wages if she can go to North Dakota in her place. The maid agrees.
Stanwyck and Brent marry and soon it's Stanwyck's turn to learn about life on a farm during the Great Depression. On their wedding night, Brent tries to make advances on new wife Stanwyck to consummate their relationship, but she turns him down and forces him to sleep elsewhere. I know they're married and all, but I don't blame her, she literally just met and married him that same day. I imagine however, that sex probably comes with the territory as a mail order bride. But I digress.
For most of the film, Brent is aloof to Stanwyck and keeps his distance. She genuinely begins to embrace life on the farm and learns how to sew, cook, clean, etc. She is friendly with the neighbors and even helps a neighbor who has recently given birth. Stanwyck helps out with the baby and even instructs a young Anne Shirley how she can help her mother who is recuperating from the birth.
The main conflict in the film, aside from Brent's unhappiness with Stanwyck, is that he is broke and will lose his farm if he cannot pay his back bills. His saving grace however is that he owns a strain of wheat that grows well and is of high quality. He's sure to sell his wheat if he grows and harvests it. Brent and Stanwyck are finally on the same page and work together to save the farm.
This was an okay film, definitely not among one of Stanwyck's best. It definitely doesn't rank up there with my favorite Stanwyck pre-code, Ladies They Talk About. She gives the part her all, even though the plot is somewhat absurd. Brent is just there. He doesn't do much except give Stanwyck the silent treatment. But then this strong silent type was probably Brent's interpretation of a farmer of Scandinavian ancestry living on the Great Plains.
There were definitely some pre-code elements in the film, like Stanwyck walking around the bedroom clad in only a short slip and knee high stockings. She also lays a negligee out on the bed for George Brent to see and get excited, but he's mad at Stanwyck, and won't take the bait.
Stanwyck and Brent marry and soon it's Stanwyck's turn to learn about life on a farm during the Great Depression. On their wedding night, Brent tries to make advances on new wife Stanwyck to consummate their relationship, but she turns him down and forces him to sleep elsewhere. I know they're married and all, but I don't blame her, she literally just met and married him that same day. I imagine however, that sex probably comes with the territory as a mail order bride. But I digress.
For most of the film, Brent is aloof to Stanwyck and keeps his distance. She genuinely begins to embrace life on the farm and learns how to sew, cook, clean, etc. She is friendly with the neighbors and even helps a neighbor who has recently given birth. Stanwyck helps out with the baby and even instructs a young Anne Shirley how she can help her mother who is recuperating from the birth.
The main conflict in the film, aside from Brent's unhappiness with Stanwyck, is that he is broke and will lose his farm if he cannot pay his back bills. His saving grace however is that he owns a strain of wheat that grows well and is of high quality. He's sure to sell his wheat if he grows and harvests it. Brent and Stanwyck are finally on the same page and work together to save the farm.
This was an okay film, definitely not among one of Stanwyck's best. It definitely doesn't rank up there with my favorite Stanwyck pre-code, Ladies They Talk About. She gives the part her all, even though the plot is somewhat absurd. Brent is just there. He doesn't do much except give Stanwyck the silent treatment. But then this strong silent type was probably Brent's interpretation of a farmer of Scandinavian ancestry living on the Great Plains.
There were definitely some pre-code elements in the film, like Stanwyck walking around the bedroom clad in only a short slip and knee high stockings. She also lays a negligee out on the bed for George Brent to see and get excited, but he's mad at Stanwyck, and won't take the bait.
Stanwyck Triumphs Over Material
Ron Oliver10 August 2004
After paying THE PURCHASE PRICE for his mail-order bride, a lonely wheat farmer gets more than he bargained for.
Barbara Stanwyck is first-rate, as always, in this pre-Code drama, as a nightclub chanteuse who leaves her East Coast entanglements behind and escapes to the Great Plains and marriage with a stranger. The story is completely inconsequential, but Stanwyck never fails to entertain. Whether she's crooning a sultry song, busheling wheat or jumping into a barroom fight, she's always believable.
George Brent effectively submerges his usually sophisticated mien to play the roughhewn farmer whose simple life and straightforward lovemaking is greatly complicated by Stanwyck's arrival. Brent' s evenhanded performance provides a fine counterpoint to her slightly more flamboyant portrayal.
Lyle Talbot appears as Stanwyck's wealthy former lover who follows her out from New York; David Landau is the rich Dakota landowner who tries to destroy Brent's farm; Hardie Albright as an immature playboy & Leila Bennett as a Montreal hotel maid each make the most of their short appearances.
Movie mavens will recognize brassy Mae Busch (veteran of many a Laurel & Hardy comedy) as the noisy dame seated next to Stanwyck on the train; sour faced Clarence Wilson as a grumpy Justice of the Peace; and young Anne Shirley as the poor farm girl with the new baby brother--all uncredited.
The film does a grave disservice to the good people of North Dakota, making them appear, almost without exception, as drunken louts, imbeciles or scoundrels. Was this really necessary?
Barbara Stanwyck is first-rate, as always, in this pre-Code drama, as a nightclub chanteuse who leaves her East Coast entanglements behind and escapes to the Great Plains and marriage with a stranger. The story is completely inconsequential, but Stanwyck never fails to entertain. Whether she's crooning a sultry song, busheling wheat or jumping into a barroom fight, she's always believable.
George Brent effectively submerges his usually sophisticated mien to play the roughhewn farmer whose simple life and straightforward lovemaking is greatly complicated by Stanwyck's arrival. Brent' s evenhanded performance provides a fine counterpoint to her slightly more flamboyant portrayal.
Lyle Talbot appears as Stanwyck's wealthy former lover who follows her out from New York; David Landau is the rich Dakota landowner who tries to destroy Brent's farm; Hardie Albright as an immature playboy & Leila Bennett as a Montreal hotel maid each make the most of their short appearances.
Movie mavens will recognize brassy Mae Busch (veteran of many a Laurel & Hardy comedy) as the noisy dame seated next to Stanwyck on the train; sour faced Clarence Wilson as a grumpy Justice of the Peace; and young Anne Shirley as the poor farm girl with the new baby brother--all uncredited.
The film does a grave disservice to the good people of North Dakota, making them appear, almost without exception, as drunken louts, imbeciles or scoundrels. Was this really necessary?
kind of liked it
blanche-29 April 2012
Sometimes I think you just have to be in the mood for certain films. This may have been one of those times. "The Purchase Price" from 1932, largely thanks to Barbara Stanwyck, is actually a very sweet film.
Stanwyck plays Joan, a torch singer, unhappy with her present life and the racketeer, Eddie Fields (Lyle Talbot) with whom she's involved. When she finds out that someone has used her photo and sent it off to be a mail-order bride, Joan decides to show up in person and takes off. She ends up in farm country with Jim Gilson (George Brent) who's in debt up to his eyebrows. However, over the years, he has developed an excellent grain seed - if he can stave off the creditors until the next planting season, he'll be okay.
To Joan's credit, she settles in, determined to make him a good wife and to be a good neighbor, and she falls in love with Jim. When her ex-beau shows up, Jim jumps to some wrong conclusions.
Barbara Stanwyck is great in this, giving a warm, sincere performance. She is glamorous in the first few scenes (though boy, she can't sing), and she remains sexy and pretty even plainly dressed on the farm, causing a lot of men to notice her and make dumb old Jim jealous. This is a different kind of role for George Brent, who soon would be well-dressed, mustached, and sophisticated as he played opposite Bette Davis. Here he's an oaf.
The movie is short and moves quickly. Stanwyck's performance helps give a freshness to a story that was old even back in 1932.
Stanwyck plays Joan, a torch singer, unhappy with her present life and the racketeer, Eddie Fields (Lyle Talbot) with whom she's involved. When she finds out that someone has used her photo and sent it off to be a mail-order bride, Joan decides to show up in person and takes off. She ends up in farm country with Jim Gilson (George Brent) who's in debt up to his eyebrows. However, over the years, he has developed an excellent grain seed - if he can stave off the creditors until the next planting season, he'll be okay.
To Joan's credit, she settles in, determined to make him a good wife and to be a good neighbor, and she falls in love with Jim. When her ex-beau shows up, Jim jumps to some wrong conclusions.
Barbara Stanwyck is great in this, giving a warm, sincere performance. She is glamorous in the first few scenes (though boy, she can't sing), and she remains sexy and pretty even plainly dressed on the farm, causing a lot of men to notice her and make dumb old Jim jealous. This is a different kind of role for George Brent, who soon would be well-dressed, mustached, and sophisticated as he played opposite Bette Davis. Here he's an oaf.
The movie is short and moves quickly. Stanwyck's performance helps give a freshness to a story that was old even back in 1932.
Warner Bros. Programmer with Yet Another Excellent Stanwyck Performance
HarlowMGM21 January 2012
THE PURCHASE PRICE is one of ten films Barbara Stanwyck for Warner Bros. in the early 1930's when she was under non-exclusive contracts to the studio and Columbia Pictures. The Columbia films are often quite good, several of them directed by Frank Capra, but most of the Warner Bros. she made in this period are little more than potboilers, films rarely running over 70 minutes with few ambitions. This title is among Stanwyck's weakest films although it is raised immensely by a typically fine Stanwyck performance making it much more interesting and appealing than it should be.
Stanwyck stars as Joan Gordon, a sexy nightclub torch singer who is the mistress of married bootlegger Lyle Talbot. This duo apparently have quite an open relationship as Talbot isn't too bothered by the fact that Stanwyck is also seeing society boy Hardie Albright who wants to marry her. When Albright finds out about Stanwyck's relationship with Talbot he dumps her, crushing Barbara's dream of a quiet life as somebody's wife. Wanting to get away from Talbot's lair, she skittles to Montreal and begins performing under a new name. While in Canada, she befriends hotel maid Leia Bennett whom she later learns is about to become a "mail order bride" - and has used Stanwyck's picture to net her fiancée! When Stanwyck sees some of Talbot's associates she knows it's only a matter of time before he comes up to Canada to get her so she offers Bennett $100 in exchange for letting her take her place as the wife-to-be ("Wow, a $100" Leia exclaims, "I can get a city husband for that!") Stanwyck then travels to North Dakota to meet "her" groom, poor farmer George Brent. They are married but the wedding night proves to be a disaster with Barbara brushing off George's crude attempt at love making. Infuriated, Brent refuses to have anything to do with after this on a personal level, Stanwyck simply becomes a wife on all levels except romantically.
This little film moves quickly and is entertaining but incredibility is all over the film. One little forgotten tidbit is that while Leia Bennett passed off Stanwyck's photo as her own she apparently used her own name but Barbara uses her real name of Joan while in North Dakota! And just why Stanwyck would so harshly reject Brent after no doubt having been pawed by scores of men far more rougher and less attractive? It makes about as much sense as Brent's willful refusal to forgive her for this one night of rejection (wouldn't many a man in this era have found a new bride less than at ease their first night together?) when it's clear she soon wants to make amends. There's also the little fact that Stanwyck is portrayed as a straight shooter, early in the film she insists to Albright she would have told him about Talbot - yet she doesn't give Brent a clue about the relationship or her past until Talbot shows up unannounced sometime into their marriage!
Barbara Stanwyck fully earns her reputation as an outstanding actress, she always seems sincere and real even in this silly little story. She's also stunningly beautiful in scenes where she is presented "naturally" without city artifice and heavy makeup. The big surprise for me was George Brent's excellent performance. Not known for being one of the more expressive of actors, Brent seems perfectly cast as the inexpressive, reserved farmer and was seldom more attractive (although being cast as about the only non-coarse hick caricature among the North Dakotans perhaps helps). He is terrific here and I can't remember him giving a better film performance. Lyle Talbot is also very good looking and so good-natured one has to wonder just why Stanwyck keeps running away from him unless she really DOES want to be just a typical housewife. Most of the supporting roles are fairly small and in bits one can see silent favorites Snub Pollard (as one of the locals) and Mae Busch (as an earthy blonde on the train with Stanwyck also in route to her mail-order man).
Stanwyck stars as Joan Gordon, a sexy nightclub torch singer who is the mistress of married bootlegger Lyle Talbot. This duo apparently have quite an open relationship as Talbot isn't too bothered by the fact that Stanwyck is also seeing society boy Hardie Albright who wants to marry her. When Albright finds out about Stanwyck's relationship with Talbot he dumps her, crushing Barbara's dream of a quiet life as somebody's wife. Wanting to get away from Talbot's lair, she skittles to Montreal and begins performing under a new name. While in Canada, she befriends hotel maid Leia Bennett whom she later learns is about to become a "mail order bride" - and has used Stanwyck's picture to net her fiancée! When Stanwyck sees some of Talbot's associates she knows it's only a matter of time before he comes up to Canada to get her so she offers Bennett $100 in exchange for letting her take her place as the wife-to-be ("Wow, a $100" Leia exclaims, "I can get a city husband for that!") Stanwyck then travels to North Dakota to meet "her" groom, poor farmer George Brent. They are married but the wedding night proves to be a disaster with Barbara brushing off George's crude attempt at love making. Infuriated, Brent refuses to have anything to do with after this on a personal level, Stanwyck simply becomes a wife on all levels except romantically.
This little film moves quickly and is entertaining but incredibility is all over the film. One little forgotten tidbit is that while Leia Bennett passed off Stanwyck's photo as her own she apparently used her own name but Barbara uses her real name of Joan while in North Dakota! And just why Stanwyck would so harshly reject Brent after no doubt having been pawed by scores of men far more rougher and less attractive? It makes about as much sense as Brent's willful refusal to forgive her for this one night of rejection (wouldn't many a man in this era have found a new bride less than at ease their first night together?) when it's clear she soon wants to make amends. There's also the little fact that Stanwyck is portrayed as a straight shooter, early in the film she insists to Albright she would have told him about Talbot - yet she doesn't give Brent a clue about the relationship or her past until Talbot shows up unannounced sometime into their marriage!
Barbara Stanwyck fully earns her reputation as an outstanding actress, she always seems sincere and real even in this silly little story. She's also stunningly beautiful in scenes where she is presented "naturally" without city artifice and heavy makeup. The big surprise for me was George Brent's excellent performance. Not known for being one of the more expressive of actors, Brent seems perfectly cast as the inexpressive, reserved farmer and was seldom more attractive (although being cast as about the only non-coarse hick caricature among the North Dakotans perhaps helps). He is terrific here and I can't remember him giving a better film performance. Lyle Talbot is also very good looking and so good-natured one has to wonder just why Stanwyck keeps running away from him unless she really DOES want to be just a typical housewife. Most of the supporting roles are fairly small and in bits one can see silent favorites Snub Pollard (as one of the locals) and Mae Busch (as an earthy blonde on the train with Stanwyck also in route to her mail-order man).
Story doesn't make much sense, but Stanwyck is terrific
morrisonhimself25 July 2009
This is sold as "pre-Code," as if there will something risqué or shocking, but certainly by today's standards -- or lack thereof -- and even by those of the era, there is nothing to bother your grandma or even your (reasonable) preacher.
There is something, though, to excite the movie-lover: Barbara Stanwyck's performance.
Apparently in real life she was a pretty tough cookie, and certainly she played some hard women in many of her films.
In "The Purchase Price" her character refers to herself as having maintained some sort of a reputation and in fact she comes across as a very nice, even admirable person.
She certainly looked good, with a gentle strength, or strong gentleness, poking out of the chorus girl/mistress persona.
The story, though, never does make much sense, and why the people did what they did, except for the character played by Lyle Talbot -- in a great role for him, and excellently played -- is not clear.
One more glaring error: North (brrrr) Dakota doesn't have any hills, and the shots of snow-capped peaks showed that wherever this film was shot, it sure wasn't North (brrrr) Dakota, you betcha.
One scene of plowing showed the genuine agoraphobic look of that state, where neither hills nor even trees are native. Except for cottonwoods along the creeks and rivers, what trees there are in North (brrrr) Dakota have had to be brought in from the real world.
Plus North (brrrrr) Dakota drunks and brawlers are not Irish and Scots, as this movie implies, but Poles and Czechs and Germans, sometimes even Norwegians, unless they are Lutherans then, of course, they don't drink or brawl. And if you don't believe me, ask their preachers.
Anyway, watch this for Stanwyck and suspend your disbelief about all the rest. She is worth spending your time.
There is something, though, to excite the movie-lover: Barbara Stanwyck's performance.
Apparently in real life she was a pretty tough cookie, and certainly she played some hard women in many of her films.
In "The Purchase Price" her character refers to herself as having maintained some sort of a reputation and in fact she comes across as a very nice, even admirable person.
She certainly looked good, with a gentle strength, or strong gentleness, poking out of the chorus girl/mistress persona.
The story, though, never does make much sense, and why the people did what they did, except for the character played by Lyle Talbot -- in a great role for him, and excellently played -- is not clear.
One more glaring error: North (brrrr) Dakota doesn't have any hills, and the shots of snow-capped peaks showed that wherever this film was shot, it sure wasn't North (brrrr) Dakota, you betcha.
One scene of plowing showed the genuine agoraphobic look of that state, where neither hills nor even trees are native. Except for cottonwoods along the creeks and rivers, what trees there are in North (brrrr) Dakota have had to be brought in from the real world.
Plus North (brrrrr) Dakota drunks and brawlers are not Irish and Scots, as this movie implies, but Poles and Czechs and Germans, sometimes even Norwegians, unless they are Lutherans then, of course, they don't drink or brawl. And if you don't believe me, ask their preachers.
Anyway, watch this for Stanwyck and suspend your disbelief about all the rest. She is worth spending your time.
a not bad example of pre-code movies
didi-513 May 2009
Found on 'Forbidden Hollywood Part 3', this tale of mail order bride Barbara Stanwyck and her farmer husband George Brent meanders a bit but is a typical example of a pre-code drama. There is liquor, sex, semi-nudity, suggestions of slavery ... and that's just for starters.
Let down a bit by its weak ending and a lack of focus amongst its clichéd minor characters (all of which seem taken from the 'stereotypes manual'), 'The Purchase Price' stands as an OK film, but nothing special.
George Brent here plays something of a muttonhead who doesn't really deserve the luminous Stanwyck (who'd been in the chorus line before turning farmer's wife); but Stanwyck is very good and well worth watching.
Let down a bit by its weak ending and a lack of focus amongst its clichéd minor characters (all of which seem taken from the 'stereotypes manual'), 'The Purchase Price' stands as an OK film, but nothing special.
George Brent here plays something of a muttonhead who doesn't really deserve the luminous Stanwyck (who'd been in the chorus line before turning farmer's wife); but Stanwyck is very good and well worth watching.
standard, with some nice touches
mukava99122 April 2009
The Purchase Price is an entertaining , if hit-and-miss, potboiler directed by the always reliable William Wellman. It starts off deliciously with Barbara Stanwyck crooning torch songs (using her own voice), in a New York nightclub. When she is dumped by her Social Register fiancé (Hardie Albright) because of her underworld connections, she in turn dumps her own gangster boyfriend (Lyle Talbot in one of his better efforts), flees to Montreal where she attempts to start a new life under an assumed name, is almost tracked down by Talbot but escapes by switching identities with her hotel maid who has just negotiated a deal to be a mail order bride for a struggling wheat farmer (George Brent!) in North Dakota! At this point we are whisked to a dusty farmhouse in the Great Plains where Stanwyck resists the marital ardor of Brent while milking cows, cleaning house, and tending to needy neighbors in a most unconvincing and sudden transformation from pampered chantoozie to faux-earthy farm wife. The below-zero Dakota winters are poorly recreated but a certain crude and rowdy atmosphere is achieved by Wellman and his technical team.
Stanwick Bears Up
dougdoepke19 July 2015
She may be dressed down for the farm wife's part, but this is Stanwyck at her youthful loveliest. So, can Joan (Stanwyck) adjust to the rigors of rural life after the glamor of big city nightclubs. If you can buy her becoming a mail-order bride as an alternative, you might buy the rest. Seeing her city girl alone on the vast Canadian prairie, suitcase in hand, waiting for her intended, does present a stretch. Nonetheless, now she's got purpose in life, no longer just a meaningless rich man's ornament. I do wish Brent as her mail-order hubby showed a little charm, something that would help us believe she would stick with her new life. Instead, he's overly dour and insensitive, wanting to manhandle her on their wedding night. Getting the two in step with each other makes up the movie's main part.
The movie's quite good at showing the rigors of farm life—the primitive farm house, the constant grubby toil, the relative isolation. I expect Dust Bowl audiences could identify with these demanding aspects, especially when the bank threatens to repossess Jim's (Brent) farm. That Joan manages to stick it out and thrive suggests that behind city decadence lies a common humanity and hidden grit-- a good message for that time and maybe any.
Anyway, pre-Code doesn't disappoint as Stanwyck gets to show off fancy and not-so-fancy underwear. Then too, sleeping arrangements leave little in doubt. Note too, how little is done to prettify either the rough-hewn people or their lives, even though most are stereotypes. Also, I could have done without the barking idiot as comedy relief. All in all, this Warner Bros. antique (1933) remains a fairly interesting little programmer, with a humane underlying message.
The movie's quite good at showing the rigors of farm life—the primitive farm house, the constant grubby toil, the relative isolation. I expect Dust Bowl audiences could identify with these demanding aspects, especially when the bank threatens to repossess Jim's (Brent) farm. That Joan manages to stick it out and thrive suggests that behind city decadence lies a common humanity and hidden grit-- a good message for that time and maybe any.
Anyway, pre-Code doesn't disappoint as Stanwyck gets to show off fancy and not-so-fancy underwear. Then too, sleeping arrangements leave little in doubt. Note too, how little is done to prettify either the rough-hewn people or their lives, even though most are stereotypes. Also, I could have done without the barking idiot as comedy relief. All in all, this Warner Bros. antique (1933) remains a fairly interesting little programmer, with a humane underlying message.
Great Classic 1932 Film
whpratt113 December 2007
This is a great film mainly because of the famous Director, William Wellman and the great acting of Barbara Stanwyck, (Joan Gordon) and George Brent, (Jim Gilson). Joan Gordon is a cabaret singer who is involved with a small town hood and racketeer named Eddie Fields, (Lyle Talbot) and Joan decides to answer an add for a mail order bride and she finds Jim Gilson, (George Brent) as a husband. They get married by a Justice of the Peace in a local town where Jim lives which is way out in the sticks of no where. Jim has a farm and lives in very rough conditions. Jim seems to have trouble trying to consummate his marriage and they both act like total stranger with each other and sleep in separate rooms. Howsever, Jim does make an occasional peek at Joan when she undresses for bed. There is many twists and turns in this film which will keep you glued to your seats to the very end of the film.
They Knew What They Wanted
writers_reign16 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
The idea of mail-order brides is one that would pop up time and time again in movieland - Wellman himself explored it again much later in Westward The Women around the time that Loretta Young, Bill Holden and Robert Mitchum added a little spin in Rachel And The Stranger. This time around Wellman puts his own spin by the 'substitute photo' ploy and it's just possible that Sydney Howard 'borrowed' this for his Broadway play They Knew What They Wanted two years later. With only five and a half reels to tell his story Wellman speed-reads us from hard-boiled chanteuse Stanwyck) in New York then Montreal before winding up on the prairie in North Dakota as a farmer's wife. Of course it's no surprise that she takes to this gruelling life like a duck to water and falls head-over-heels for new husband George Brent and it's no coincidence that the first words out of her mouth in the opening minute are 'take me away', the title of the song she is warbling in the night club. Wellman is able to knock most of the rough edges off and Stanwyck and Brent give the audience their money's worth.
nice forgettable film
funkyfry7 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Nothing too special here, but worth a viewing for Stanwyck fans, as it presents her in a less melodramatic vehicle than most of her 30s programmer fare. She plays a nightclub singer who agrees to become a mail-order bride in order to escape an aggressive mobster suitor (Lyle Talbot, who seems extraordinarily gentle for a gangster). Her new husband (George Brent) is offended when she spurns him on their wedding night, and it takes the remainder of the film for Stanwyck's character's inexplicable fascination with him to bear fruit.
I found the pace perfect, I thought the fight scenes were interesting, but not much else about the direction or the film-making in general are noteworthy. There's a decent supporting cast, and Snub Pollard has a nice moment as a drunk harmonica player.
I found the pace perfect, I thought the fight scenes were interesting, but not much else about the direction or the film-making in general are noteworthy. There's a decent supporting cast, and Snub Pollard has a nice moment as a drunk harmonica player.
Good-natured but plain
brchthethird11 April 2024
I have absolutely no memory of watching this before, but here I am. Barbara Stanwyck plays a chorus girl/torch singer who becomes a farmer's mail-order bride in order to escape her life in the big city. What follows is mostly a fish-out-of-water story where the newlyweds struggle to accustom themselves to each other, peppered with some colorful townsfolk. In other words, there wasn't really a lot of dramatic stuff going on. By the time a couple things do happen, when a man from Barbara's recent past shows up, it almost feels a little too late. This was well-presented with good performances and technical aspects, and in line with Warner Brothers' more working-class focus, it portrayed that part of society in a very considerate, nuanced manner. The problem for me is that much of the middle section of the film was kind of boring. Not bad, but also not the best thing I've seen from any of the talent involved. And towards the end, it reminded me of the better Murnau film, City Girl. Good-natured, but plain.
Underrated. And did I mention Stanwyck is awesome?
gbill-748772 April 2016
Barbara Stanwyck had me from the beginning, as she crooned "Take Me Away" so seductively in the movie's first scene, and she could do no wrong from then on. Those eyes, that voice. She's so beautiful, and so natural as an actor. She plays a nightclub singer who becomes a mail-order bride to a farmer (Jim Gilson) in the middle of nowhere after wanting to get away from city life. It all moves a little too quickly for her as she has a rapid civil ceremony practically after stepping off a long train ride, and that evening she rebuffs her new husband's advances. He's the sensitive sort and can't forget it, even after she comes around and makes it clear she wants to consummate their marriage, talking to him sweetly and sincerely, and later beckoning him with lingerie. The movie is not all that well regarded, but I found it sweet, and Stanwyck captivating.
A Heartfelt And Enjoyable Story, With Stanwyck Shining In The Lead Role.
meddlecore20 June 2021
Barabara Stanwyck plays Joan, a bawdy nightclub singer who's trying to land a rich man as her husband.
But she messes things up when she has an illicit affair with a bootlegger, and the man's family finds out.
Feeling stuck in a life that's going nowhere, she sets off to Montreal, to get away from the bootlegger, who won't take the hint and leave her alone.
He's already married, and she doesn't just want to be someone's mistress.
However, he gets his cronies to track her down.
So she has to go on the lamb again.
This time, choosing to take the place of her maid, who has sold herself to a wheat farmer in North Dakota as a mail order bride.
The whole situation gets off on the wrong foot.
But he doesn't force himself on her, and his rejection only acts to make her love him more.
Despite life being crude compared to what she's used to, she grows accustomed to it...and is truly happy with her life on the farm.
Ultimately, she's presented with the choice to go back to her old life, or stick it out, and try and save a man who's barely holding on.
Making the whole story one about a woman being forced to decide between love and convenience.
With the heart winning out, above all odds.
Stanwyck shines in her role as Joan, with the supporting cast being competent, but not overshadowing her.
The highlights of the film include the raucous wedding party, with all the antics of the country drunkards, and a rough and tumble fight scene between Jim (her farmer husband) and Eddie (the bootlegging gangster who tries to lure her back to her old life).
But what really stands out is that Stanwyck seems to do her own stunts, as she helps Jim battle a blaze with blankets, to save the crops they worked so hard to sow together.
Which, itself, acts as a metaphor for their whole situation, as it comes around in the conclusion of the film.
The whole thing is rather short, being just over an hour.
But that is typical for pre-code talkies.
And it really manages to keep your attention, as you become invested in seeing how it all plays out in the end.
It's certainly not the best film ever made, or any sort of cinematic feat, but it's a heartfelt, and enjoyable, little story that manages to keep you engaged throughout.
6.5 out of 10.
But she messes things up when she has an illicit affair with a bootlegger, and the man's family finds out.
Feeling stuck in a life that's going nowhere, she sets off to Montreal, to get away from the bootlegger, who won't take the hint and leave her alone.
He's already married, and she doesn't just want to be someone's mistress.
However, he gets his cronies to track her down.
So she has to go on the lamb again.
This time, choosing to take the place of her maid, who has sold herself to a wheat farmer in North Dakota as a mail order bride.
The whole situation gets off on the wrong foot.
But he doesn't force himself on her, and his rejection only acts to make her love him more.
Despite life being crude compared to what she's used to, she grows accustomed to it...and is truly happy with her life on the farm.
Ultimately, she's presented with the choice to go back to her old life, or stick it out, and try and save a man who's barely holding on.
Making the whole story one about a woman being forced to decide between love and convenience.
With the heart winning out, above all odds.
Stanwyck shines in her role as Joan, with the supporting cast being competent, but not overshadowing her.
The highlights of the film include the raucous wedding party, with all the antics of the country drunkards, and a rough and tumble fight scene between Jim (her farmer husband) and Eddie (the bootlegging gangster who tries to lure her back to her old life).
But what really stands out is that Stanwyck seems to do her own stunts, as she helps Jim battle a blaze with blankets, to save the crops they worked so hard to sow together.
Which, itself, acts as a metaphor for their whole situation, as it comes around in the conclusion of the film.
The whole thing is rather short, being just over an hour.
But that is typical for pre-code talkies.
And it really manages to keep your attention, as you become invested in seeing how it all plays out in the end.
It's certainly not the best film ever made, or any sort of cinematic feat, but it's a heartfelt, and enjoyable, little story that manages to keep you engaged throughout.
6.5 out of 10.
Wacky without being screwball, but one dramatic moment after another falls flat
secondtake20 January 2013
The Purchase Price (1931)
There are two great actors here--Barbara Stanwyck of course, a great young star in the young talkie era, and George Brent is excellent in his steady, manly way, a good counterpoint to Stanwyck's lively edge. Then there is a clever twist of a plot, where one woman switches places with another, kind of (I'll let you find out how), and so the movie is a funny dramatic farce. It's quite funny in small ways all long, little excesses (the woman in their fancy coats pigging out in the train is a treasure).
Too bad the plot is so thin it couldn't be rescued.
What starts in New York and makes a pitstop in Montreal eventually ends up in North Dakota. (Maybe this is where Stanwyck got the idea that she liked doing westerns!) You might get tired of the hick clichés after awhile, but Stanwyck, of course, is no hick, and she more than anyone keeps it going through all the quacks and country idiosyncratic.
How then does a sophisticated and somewhat wayward city girl, a singer and philanderer, get along on a wheat farm in the hinterlands? You might only guess too easily.
Director William Wellman has to struggle a bit to make this one work, and he doesn't seem to have a feel for this kind of comedy (though he would later pull off "Nothing Sacred"). For one thing he leads Brent astray into an exaggerated type that doesn't suit him. The situation is practically a pre-screwball comedy with an unlikely couple at odds from the start, and some sexual tension turned to madcap comedy. It just isn't madcap enough--the weird location is meant to supply some of the absurdity. And the so-called tensions between Brent and his rivals (there are lots of them for the attractive Stanwyck, is seems) don't add up to much.
This one isn't much worth the trouble with so many fabulous Stanwyck dramas from this same period to go to first.
There are two great actors here--Barbara Stanwyck of course, a great young star in the young talkie era, and George Brent is excellent in his steady, manly way, a good counterpoint to Stanwyck's lively edge. Then there is a clever twist of a plot, where one woman switches places with another, kind of (I'll let you find out how), and so the movie is a funny dramatic farce. It's quite funny in small ways all long, little excesses (the woman in their fancy coats pigging out in the train is a treasure).
Too bad the plot is so thin it couldn't be rescued.
What starts in New York and makes a pitstop in Montreal eventually ends up in North Dakota. (Maybe this is where Stanwyck got the idea that she liked doing westerns!) You might get tired of the hick clichés after awhile, but Stanwyck, of course, is no hick, and she more than anyone keeps it going through all the quacks and country idiosyncratic.
How then does a sophisticated and somewhat wayward city girl, a singer and philanderer, get along on a wheat farm in the hinterlands? You might only guess too easily.
Director William Wellman has to struggle a bit to make this one work, and he doesn't seem to have a feel for this kind of comedy (though he would later pull off "Nothing Sacred"). For one thing he leads Brent astray into an exaggerated type that doesn't suit him. The situation is practically a pre-screwball comedy with an unlikely couple at odds from the start, and some sexual tension turned to madcap comedy. It just isn't madcap enough--the weird location is meant to supply some of the absurdity. And the so-called tensions between Brent and his rivals (there are lots of them for the attractive Stanwyck, is seems) don't add up to much.
This one isn't much worth the trouble with so many fabulous Stanwyck dramas from this same period to go to first.
The Cost Of Adulthood
boblipton8 September 2021
This old friend of mine is definitely a pre-code movie, with its hints of rape, a casual attitude towards marriage, and the drunken charivari that accompanies the unconsummated marriage. Barbara Stanwyck's past with gangster Lyle Talbot puts the kibosh on her upcoming marriage to Hardie Albright. She can't go back to being Talbot's mistress, so she heads up to the back end of nowhere: Canada. Even that isn't far away enough for Talbot not to have her spotted, so she flees as a mail-order bride to Canada's wheat belt, and George Brent with a perpetual head cold. But Brent is so casual and insistent, that she repulses him. Yet just as she can't go back to her old life, Miss Stanwyck comes to take an interest in Brent's work, the rough-hewn town, and eventually Brent himself.
Brent is not so good in his role, but Stanwyck really shines as a woman finally growing up. The charivari is amusingly done, and the hardscrabble life of a farmer is well indicated, with a slam-bang fire to end the proceedings. With a script that borrows liberally from THE WIND, Miss Stanwyck offers something thst Lillian Gish could not: the portrait of a woman who has lived as a sexual creature, but has tired of it.
Brent is not so good in his role, but Stanwyck really shines as a woman finally growing up. The charivari is amusingly done, and the hardscrabble life of a farmer is well indicated, with a slam-bang fire to end the proceedings. With a script that borrows liberally from THE WIND, Miss Stanwyck offers something thst Lillian Gish could not: the portrait of a woman who has lived as a sexual creature, but has tired of it.
WAIT, HOLD ON, WHERE'S PART 2???
ukoutlaw-9246529 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
OMG! I was so INVESTED in this film and the characters of Jim and Joan Gilson. But the film has just ENDED, right in the middle of the story!
Where is the conclusion of the story? Was this story serialized? Was the film too long for early sound features and they cut it in half? If so, what is the title of the second half? Did Warner Brothers just run out of money for this film? I seriously want to know!!!
I checked the trivia on IMDB to see if the abrupt ending was mentioned and why it occurred. Nothing.
So WHAT HAPPENED? Did the arsonists get caught and punished? Did Eddie recover from the fight and go to Vancouver? Or did he stick around to cause more trouble? Do the Gilsons get to keep their farm, or does the bank foreclose? And for goodness sake, do Jim and Joan finally fall in love and learn to trust each other???
I really liked the film and would have given it a couple more stars, but it's only half a movie.
Where is the conclusion of the story? Was this story serialized? Was the film too long for early sound features and they cut it in half? If so, what is the title of the second half? Did Warner Brothers just run out of money for this film? I seriously want to know!!!
I checked the trivia on IMDB to see if the abrupt ending was mentioned and why it occurred. Nothing.
So WHAT HAPPENED? Did the arsonists get caught and punished? Did Eddie recover from the fight and go to Vancouver? Or did he stick around to cause more trouble? Do the Gilsons get to keep their farm, or does the bank foreclose? And for goodness sake, do Jim and Joan finally fall in love and learn to trust each other???
I really liked the film and would have given it a couple more stars, but it's only half a movie.
Ridiculous minor film
HeathCliff-210 July 2009
Anybody watching this is obviously a fan of Stanwyck, George Brent, perhaps William Wellman, and undoubtedly '30s films. Even by the creaky standard of most early '30s films, this one is pretty bad. The storyline is so preposterous that you watch it, even accepting the conceit that the screenwriters are handing out, but still rolling you eyes at its ludicrousness. To escape her life as the moll of a cheap crook, Stanwyck on a whim decides to pay off a maid $1000 (in 1930s dollars, no less!) to switch places with her and become a mail order bride of a hick farmer in North Dakota. That is just the beginning of a storyline that you will not for a minute swallow the entire time you are watching the film. The conditions are appalling, her husband is surly, disrespectful, unloving, judgmental, unforgiving, and sneers at her for a year, but she continues to smile, and falls in love with him. As other reviewers have said, no way would she have moved to ND, no way would she choose this life with this man, no way would she accept continuous abuse when she was so independent a career woman already. I found it also one of the weaker Stanwyck performances, but that could be because the material forces her to act and feel a way that doesn't make any sense, especially for a strong, independent kind of woman that she is, inherently. George Brent is always serviceable, I've always had a soft spot for him, but in this movie he, too, has to act strangely hostile, and maintain that hostility throughout the entire film. Sets are cheap, you never believe it's really subzero weather. The only two decent set pieces are the train ride to ND, and the post-marriage shivaree. Only for die-hard classic movie fans, clearly.
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