Primrose Path (1940)
Directed by Gregory La Cava

Film Review

The third and least successful of Ginger Rogers' collaborations with director Gregory La Cava is something of mixed bag, seemingly unsure whether it is a straightforward melodrama or an off-kilter romantic comedy.  The film is certainly less memorable than the two previous films Rogers made with La Cava - Stage Door (1937) and 5th Ave Girl (1939) - but it benefits from a superb supporting cast and, in common with many of La Cava's films, weaves some important social concerns into an engaging human drama.   The central theme of Primrose Path is the difficulty of escaping one's personal milieu, a theme that is as relevant today as it was in America in the late 1930s.
 
Here, Ginger Rogers is effectively partnered with Joel McCrea, their second and final pairing, having first worked together on William A. Seiter's Chance at Heaven (1933).  McCrea's moody screen persona makes him an unlikely romantic sparring partner to someone as naturally vivacious as Rogers, but their coupling works surprisingly well.  Some enjoyable contributions from Henry Travers and Marjorie Rambeau compensate for one or two shortcomings in the screenwriting, although the star of the film is unquestionably Queenie Vassar, who steals just about every scene she is in as Rogers' cantankerous and manipulative grandmother, a character who manages to be both funny and terrifying.  Primrose Path hardly qualifies as a classic, but it is an entertaining diversion, and proof (if it be needed) that Ginger Rogers was an accomplished actress as well as a great dancer.

Film Synopsis

To say that Ellie May Adams is ashamed of her family is putting it mildly.  Her father, a failed Greek scholar, has become a drunken layabout, forcing her mother to support the family by working as a prostitute.  Ellie May has no intention of following in her mother's footsteps, despite her grandmother's insistence that prostitution is a noble profession.  One day, the young woman hitches a lift from an oldster named Gramp, who takes her to the beach so she can collect clams for supper.  Here, Ellie May meets up with Ed Wallace, a wisecracking womaniser who runs a beachside restaurant with Gramp.  Ellie May persuades Ed to take her on as a waitress, insisting that she cannot return home because her parents have been too strict with her.  In a short time, the two fall in love and marry.  How will Ed react when he discovers the truth about Ellie May's unsavoury homelife...?