Frank Capra sure knew how to use his leading ladies. In the case of two of them (Jean Arthur and Barbara Stanwyck), he took them out of the less than memorable films they had been making prior to their first films with him and found ways to utilize their talents and personalities to great effect. With Stanwyck, he got her early on after a few dogs, and brought out a side of her that otherwise might have remained untapped for years. In this film, he takes an oft-made theme (unwed mother involved with a married man) and adds subtle qualities that bring both humour and tears.
Stanwyck is first seen as a frumpy librarian in a small town who suddenly stands up for herself and decides to find life no matter what she does. Then, decked out in early 30's clothes horse fashions, Stanwyck attracts the pity of the staff of an upscale restaurant by asking for a table for one. Behind this well-dressed beauty (shades of Bette Davis's "Now Voyager" character) is a woman still traumatized by her earlier plain Jane persona (and obvious rejection by men) and determined to find romance.
She does find a different kind of love with a drunken man who mistook her room (66) for his (99). That man is none other than the dashing Adolph Menjou, a powerful attorney whom she is unaware is married. She leaves him when she learns the truth, but is pregnant and gives the name "Jane Doe" as her name on the babies' birth certificate. By chance, Menjou finds her, and she is unable to resist him. Then, twists put the child's custody in Menjou's hands which brings about much despair for the fragile Stanwyck. Toss in an aggressive newspaper editor (Ralph Bellamy, playing one of his few unlikable characters) who is enamored of Stanwyck (and is out to destroy Menjou), and the plot twists into melodrama that 30's women audiences craved.
There is a playful relationship between Stanwyck and Menjou that is adorable on screen and lightens up the harsher aspects of the plot. Everybody is excellent, and with the exception of Stanwyck's first scene where she wants to watch her town burn while playing a ukulele, everything is fine. While Stanwyck was still yet on the verge of super-stardom here, it is obvious that there were great things down the pike for her, and she is simply magnetic. Menjou proves why he is still regarded as one of the most dashing leading men of the 1930's and 40's.
Stanwyck is first seen as a frumpy librarian in a small town who suddenly stands up for herself and decides to find life no matter what she does. Then, decked out in early 30's clothes horse fashions, Stanwyck attracts the pity of the staff of an upscale restaurant by asking for a table for one. Behind this well-dressed beauty (shades of Bette Davis's "Now Voyager" character) is a woman still traumatized by her earlier plain Jane persona (and obvious rejection by men) and determined to find romance.
She does find a different kind of love with a drunken man who mistook her room (66) for his (99). That man is none other than the dashing Adolph Menjou, a powerful attorney whom she is unaware is married. She leaves him when she learns the truth, but is pregnant and gives the name "Jane Doe" as her name on the babies' birth certificate. By chance, Menjou finds her, and she is unable to resist him. Then, twists put the child's custody in Menjou's hands which brings about much despair for the fragile Stanwyck. Toss in an aggressive newspaper editor (Ralph Bellamy, playing one of his few unlikable characters) who is enamored of Stanwyck (and is out to destroy Menjou), and the plot twists into melodrama that 30's women audiences craved.
There is a playful relationship between Stanwyck and Menjou that is adorable on screen and lightens up the harsher aspects of the plot. Everybody is excellent, and with the exception of Stanwyck's first scene where she wants to watch her town burn while playing a ukulele, everything is fine. While Stanwyck was still yet on the verge of super-stardom here, it is obvious that there were great things down the pike for her, and she is simply magnetic. Menjou proves why he is still regarded as one of the most dashing leading men of the 1930's and 40's.