jjnxn-1 High class soap opera with the MGM sheen and a cast of great actors. Joan's a respectable if restless performer who marries Melvyn Douglas on a whim and goes back to his family home where trouble awaits and that's when the fun begins. The story of family animosity and dangerous attraction isn't anything new but as presented here by these super professionals and director Borzage they find ways to make it compelling. Joan is unquestionably the star of this enterprise and she holds her own with the strong cast that surrounds her while looking glamorous and suffering nobly.Fay Bainter turns her usual warm and understanding persona on its ear as a harridan twisted by jealousy and bitterness. Robert Young turns in good work as a bit of a weasel and Melvyn Douglas although Joan titular co-star really doesn't have much to do and is absent from a good deal of the film but he does what is required of him with his usual skill. The marvelous Hattie McDaniel has a tiny role as Joan's maid with the improbable name of Belvedere and injects a small dose of levity into the heavy going dramatics.Good though they may be and Joan is the queen of this little opus they are all outshone by one of their fellow actors. Margaret Sullavan as Young wife gives a performance of such quiet beauty she wipes anyone else off the screen whenever she's on it. An actress of great skill and subtle intensity she makes her Judy a character that seems far more real and relatable than anybody else on screen. Her output was small, only 16 films in total, but she always had a vivid and alive presence on screen. If you enjoy dramas with an adult, if a tad melodramatic, outlook enacted by talented performers this is for you.

Emaisie39 I always wanted to see this movie. It was one that Joan Crawford wanted to do after so many mediocre movies in the mid-30's. But I just did not like it. It was based on Keith Winter's Broadway hit but it was probably overly sanitized for the post-1933 censors that did not allow characters to have real problems unless they were killed for their human indiscretions. The cast is tops. Youthful Joan , the lovely Margaret Sullivan, the excellent Robert Young, the charming Melvyn Douglas and the superb character actress Fay Bainter. The script just does not properly develop why these characters especially Bainter's are so conflicted. And Joan seems too mannered in that way that made it look like she was just walking through the part. Not one of Joan's classics but watchable nonetheless. Bainter walks away with it though her character's sudden change at the end does not make any sense.

whpratt1 Joan Crawford plays the role of Oliva Riley, a dance hall gal who has been around the block quit a few times and meets up with a certain guy. That guy is Melvyn Douglas, (Henry Linden) ,"Once Upon a Tractor",'65, who is very wealthy and falls madly in love with Oliva and brings her into his world of large homes and one very unhappy sister. Hattie McDaniel,(Belvidere),"Gone With the Wind" gives a great supporting role as the maid to Oliva Riley. Oh, yes, Robert Young(David Linden),"The Half Breed",'is married but also seems to have eyes for Oliva along with a teenage boy who plays the trumpet. This is truly a great cast of veteran actors who contributed a great deal to the silver screen of Hollywood.

d1494 This movie is far more interesting than it should be, thanks to the very articulate discussions of feelings or the lack thereof. Good acting by Joan Crawford, who is no favorite of mine and Margaret Sullivan, who is and Hattie McDaniel who always seems to bring some needed reality to any situation with an intelligence not exceeded by anyone in the film. Fay Bainter is good at playing with her claws out.