This is a Pre-Code film that by no means is perfect, but that I've always considered overall good and quite well done. There's major convincing sense of atmosphere and environment, and definitely of being stranded in place.
Joan Crawford gives an excellent very strong performance, that I think serves her and the character well. But I think Walter Huston pours his character on too thick; maybe it's the nature of the stifling character in and of itself that largely is why Huston's performance has never been one that I've taken to or cared for.
A dud in the movie is, in my opinion, usually excellent Beulah Bondi, as Rev. Davidson's holier-than-thou wife. I don't care for Miss Bondi's one-note "canned" feeling performance or the grating characterization; I think another middle-age actress could and would have gone about it via a different approach that would have worked much better.
It's mostly Joan Crawford and the compelling sense of atmosphere, also Guy Kibbee's and Matt Moore's (he as the doctor) performances, that have long made and kept me a fan of this film.
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Reply by DonGable
on July 21, 2021 at 3:22 PM
I think Crawford performed better in films like Possessed (1931) and Dancing Lady and Chained. It was okay here, but she didn't really pull of the tramp convincingly. I absolutely agree with you on both Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi, it was just too much and did not help the picture. It's interesting with these pre-code films because I definitely do not think this would have been done later in the '30s. It should've spent more time in the oven.
Reply by genplant29
on July 23, 2021 at 5:34 AM
Those are good movies you mentioned.
1931's Possessed is my fave of Joan Crawford's early-'30s films, and my fave of her co-starring vehicles with Gable.
Reply by DonGable
on July 23, 2021 at 12:53 PM
It would certainly be among my favourites as well. I was positively surprised by the other two films, and I am just a sucker for Clark Gable. What are some of your definitive favourites of Crawfords? I am quite enamoured with her in some of her roles, going through most of her starring pictures. :)