vincentlynch-moonoi Yes, this is one of the most tragic stories I have ever seen put to film. A young woman (Barbara Stanwyck) is in love with Ralph Bellamy, but then falls in love with Otto Kruger, a German national who is visiting Bellamy. Stanwyck and Kruger get married, have a child...and a dog...and are living a happy life until World War I breaks out. The community turns against them because of Kruger's former German citizenship, even though before the war he became an American citizen. Their child dies (somewhat unexplained), the dog is tortured to death (also ignore Sara Marie's review on this topic since it is not portrayed, only referred to), and Kruger is fired from his job as a professor. Barely subsisting, Stanwyck goes to live with family, and instead of following her "before Christmas", Kruger returns to Germany a bitter repatriate. There he becomes a spy for the Germans, and by great coincidence Stanwyck (as a worker at a canteen), Kruger, and Bellamy (in the army) all end up at the same place near the front. Kruger is there to spy on troop movements, which will endanger the lives of thousands of Americans including Bellamy and Stanwyck's brother. One last night together, then Stanwyck poisons a last toast of wine between her and Kruger, and they both die before he can pass on his information to the Germans.The problem here is not the story. Yes, you have to suspend belief a bit to imagine the 3 principals would all end up near the front at the same time, but then again, most films require us to suspend belief. The problem is twofold -- the overall pace of the film, and the gaps in the story. Both of these issues are somewhat common in films before what I think of as Hollywood's maturity -- and that maturity took place right around 1932-1933 when this film was made. A couple of years later, I suspect a slightly longer film (this is only 68 minutes long) would have eliminated gaps and filled in the story nicely.Stanwyck is excellent here. Bellamy and Kruger good to very good. Frank Albertson shallow. And, Laura Hope Crews is here as the grandmother (Crews was later Aunt Pittypat in "Gone With The Wind").As indicated, the film has its flaws, but is well worth watching as a reminder that Americans are not always uplifting, kind, and generous people. This is a tragic war story, a paints a sad picture of how our society can behave at times.

Sara Marie I am aware that things like this happened at this time, in fact my own family, which is German in heritage and last name, had things like this happen to them in the UK. I cannot, therefor, argue with the important point this movie is making. However, Viewers should be aware that this movie contains the abuse of an animal (that results in it's death) that belongs to the family in question as the result of the bigotry the movie examines. I found this to ruin the movie for me. If you are the kind of person that doesn't need this sort of thing presented as "entertainment" (even in a good cause) you might want to avoid this film, in spite of the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck.

marcslope Good little Warners soap, up to a point--and at that point it veers off into ridiculous plot coincidence and a rushed, depressing ending. Stanwyck contributes even more expressiveness than her considerable usual, and Kruger is an appealing leading man, until the wild contortions of the plot lead us to hate him, after the movie's spent three-quarters of its time cementing our allegiance to him. Warners, always wanting to be The Socially Conscious Studio, registers some truths about American prejudice that must have rung true and discomfiting a decade after the war. But then it hedges its bets by telling us, see, you never should have trusted this guy in the first place. Bellamy's stuck on the sidelines playing his usual Guy Who Doesn't Get the Girl, and there are tasty contributions from Elizabeth Patterson and the ever-indispensable Ruth Donnelley.

boblipton A well-intentioned but predictable soap opera. Although the script is better than most of Miss Stanwyck's roles of the period, this story, like most of her early roles, creaks, this time with unhappy sincerity and an over-the-top ending. The direction is capably handled and the cast is excellent. Otto Kruger, best known these days for his suave Hitchcockian villains, gets to play her sympathetic co-star.