Film Review
Frank Capra's third collaboration with rising star Barbara Stanwyck is
generally considered his weakest and is often dismissed as a poor
quality woman's picture. The film does have its faults - the most
apparent being its trite and horribly contrived plot - but it also has
many good points. First and foremost there are some
fine performances. Stanwyck, whilst not at her best, gives a
sympathetic portrayal of a woman who is driven to sacrifice herself to
save the man she loves. Adolphe Menjou conveys the guilt and
hopelessness of a man who, through societal constraints and personal
ambition, ruins not only his own life but that of the person most
dearest to him. And Ralph Bellamy is convincing as an odious
self-serving newspaper hack, who is keen to marry but who has no idea
what love really is.
Whilst writing the screenplay for this film (a loose adaptation of
Fannie Hurst's novel
Back Street),
Capra was almost certainly influenced by his own experiences. The
love triangle depicted in the film had its real-life equivalent
involving Capra, Stanwyck and the latter's unsympathetic husband Frank
Fay, a vaudeville comic who had become violently resentful of his
wife's success. Fay caused ructions when he visited the set,
increasing tensions between Capra and his leading lady. Capra
even proposed to Stanwyck, but the actress turned him down and stuck
with her increasingly sadomasochistic marriage until 1935.
Forbidden is far from being
Frank Capra's best film, but despite its flaws it does have an immense
emotional power, which comes partly from the performances, but also
from Joseph Walker's moody chiaroscuro cinematography. Yes, the
story is far-fetched and egregiously over-sentimental in places, but
there are some moments of genuine heart-wrenching poignancy. Who
can fail to be moved by the sequence in which Lulu is driven to give up
her child, condemning herself to a life of barren solitude? It's
pure soap, perhaps not as effective at jerking the tears as some of the
later Hollywood classic weepies, but still quite moving. However,
the main reason for watching this and other early Capra films is to
see the director developing his technique, in preparation for the
timeless masterpieces that would follow.
© James Travers 2009
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Next Frank Capra film:
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Film Synopsis
Tired of her life as a dowdy spinster librarian in a dull provincial
town, Lulu Smith withdraws all her savings from her bank and books a
luxury cruise to Havana. She hopes to catch a man who will whisk
her off her feet and make her his wife. Sure enough, she does
meet a man, a lawyer named Bob Grover, with whom she falls passionately
in love, even if he is several years her senior. The holiday
over, Lulu returns to her humdrum life and is delighted when Bob shows
up one day and says that she is the love of his life. But then
Bob makes a terrible revelation. He is already married and is no
position to divorce his wife. Devastated by this news, Lulu
insists that Bob stays away from her. She even changes her
address and her job so that he cannot find her. Some months
later, Lulu learns that she is pregnant with Bob's child. When,
five years later, Bob discovers that he has a daughter, Lulu has no
choice but to hand the infant over to him. Bob tells his wife
that he found the child through an adoption agency. The years
pass, and Bob's career progresses in leaps and bounds and he looks set to
become the state governor. Meanwhile, Lulu is pursued by
newspaper editor Al Holland, who is determined to marry her. When
she learns that Al is looking for dirt to ruin Bob's reputation, Lulu
finally agrees to marry him, hoping that she can save her former
lover. She hasn't banked on Al's ruthlessness...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.