La donna proibita

This Stahl weeper stars Irene Dunne as John Boles' kept woman, whom George Meeker wants to marry, although I thought that Meeker might be the 6th Marx Brother, judging by his look and voice.

It's from a Fanny Hurst opus, but even though the script is not as intelligent as yesterday's Seed, it's a much better movie. It's tighter -- ten minutes shorter -- with a beautiful set-piece opening which purports to be Cincinnati in 1907, complete with band shell, no automobiles and plenty of horses -- spotless streets, despite the horses. Was you ever in Cincinnati, Charlie?

I still don't like soapers, but Irene's oh-well-it-is-what-it-is attitude when she can't help lovin' dat man o' someone else's is far more affecting than the typical overwrought attitude.

At our recent film society screening of this film (we very luckily have a 16mm print in The National Film and Sound Archive here in Australia) it was very apparent of the skill of director and his star in what is an subtle and underplayed telling of this Fannie Hurst tearjerker. There is an absence of musical underscore very typical for the period prior to 1934, and this added to the potency of the effect of Dunne's absorbing and masterful performance, illustrating her as not just a star but an actress as well. Overall this film has a very gentle feel with slow fade-outs used frequently in giving this effect. Dunne is wonderful in her playing earlier in a lighter fashion and makes a skillful transformation into the section of the film where she is older and more serious. I had sympathy for her character in spite of the sacrifices she makes for John Boles, remaining in the "back street" of his life. I see director Stahl as a sort of predecessor to Sirk in his handling of solid fare such as this and "Leave her to Heaven" (1945).

"Your memory has followed me day and night, like a shadow."

As sympathetic a portrayal of adultery as I think you're going to see, obviously only possible pre-Code, and with a fine performance from Irene Dunne. She plays a character who helps tend to an emergency with her sister one day, and is thus too late to meet a man (John Boles) and his mother in the park, losing her chance to become his fiancée. They've met each other too late, you see, and he continues on with his plan to marry the woman he's engaged to. Flash forward five years and they meet again, becoming lifelong lovers despite his marriage. She gives up her career to be set up in an apartment close to him, a "kept woman," frustrated at times by only getting a slice of his time, but so deeply in love that she stays with him, despite the attentions of a decent, kind guy who's always been crazy about her (George Meeker).

It's a little tough to see just how much Dunne's character sublimates her own life for her lover, as devoted as a puppy dog, but it was refreshing to see the affair not portrayed moralistically, and the two of them as protagonists we empathize with (well, her more than him, but still). Of course, it's an overly idealistic scenario for such an affair: the two are genuinely in love and not doing it because of some damage in their lives, the wife never finds out, and Dunne's character, while sad at times, is content to be the mistress and doesn't create trouble for him. She's certainly not in it for the money, accepting only what's needed to get by. Later in life, we get moral outrage from his adult son directed at both of them, but when the chips are down, he's incredibly kind to her. In the years of the Production Code his moral outrage would have been that of Joseph Breen, and he would never have extended such sympathy. There is tragedy in the story, but it's the natural tragedy of life, not moral comeuppance for having sinned.

At the same time, the film is a cautionary tale about the emotional toll of such an arrangement, and the message seems to be directed more at women than men. In an odd bit of drama, a neighbor has an explosion in her kitchen and is set on fire. As Dunne's character tends to her and consoles her with the fact that her husband will surely nurse her back to health, the other woman confides in her that the man she's seen around isn't really her husband - he's married and carrying on an affair with her, just as in the main storyline. The point is to show that in such an emergency, such a relationship is a disaster, and she will lie there, lonely.

The early voice of wisdom in the film is her father (Paul Weigel), who tells her "I wouldn't fiddle around waiting for something better than Kurt, when it's just like life to hand you something worse. Kurt is a fine, steady boy. He won't ever surprise you maybe, but don't you care. The trouble with most marriages is they've got too many surprises."

We also have the subplot with her sister Freda (June Clyde), who has come into sexual maturity and thinks it's a pathway to marriage. "Say, mama, Katie Shendler says you can make a man marry you if you..." she says, before getting slapped in the face. Later, it's clear she's had some kind of physical relations with a guy named Hugo and he plans to leave town, making her suicidal. This is the emergency that Dunne's sister sticks around for, to force Hugo into staying, causing her to miss the meeting in the park. We do find out later that Freda did indeed marry Hugo and is now raising a family, clearly the "right path" in the eyes of the film.

Irene Dunne is marvelous here, as we see her strength in fending off unwanted advances from men early on, her flirtation and joy ("Paris always brings out the beast in you"), and her sadness, like those tears in her eyes when her lover goes off to Europe, played with perfect restraint. Director John M. Stahl is mostly workmanlike in telling the story, but does get in a fantastic zoom out shot when she's standing there at the pavilion while the crowd disperses, and he's not there. Also, look for that funny little bit in the beginning, where before Prohibition, the family, including three kids, are all drinking beer.

Lastly, another nice quote from the father: "Ever since I can remember, the younger generation has been 'going to the dogs,' yet somehow it always manages to come out on top."

Rae Schmidt (Irene Dunne) is a free spirited girl in the early 20th century who meets dapper Walter Saxel (John Boles) one day when she is seeing off an acquaintance on a train trip. Walter is engaged, but this marriage is his mother's dream more than his own, and he and Rae quickly fall for one another. Walter gets the idea that he might get his mother to come around to him marrying Rae instead if they could meet. They plan to have a "chance" meeting at a band concert the next day that Walter will be attending with his mother. But fate intervenes and Rae doesn't get there until after everyone has left because of a family emergency that she must attend to. Walter thinks he's been stood up.

Five years pass and Walter and Ray meet again, this time in New York. Walter married his fiancée and now has two children. But that doesn't stop them from starting a long running affair since both have loved one another all of these years. He rents an apartment that she lives in, and she gives up her job so she can be available when he needs her. She also gives up her friends because she can't risk anybody finding out about this arrangement as Walter is the member of a prominent family and has a prominent job with a prominent bank. What does he give up - Zilch, Zip, Nada.

This is a creaky soap opera to be sure, but well-acted and very well directed by Stahl. The episodic story left some plot points dangling (what did the car inventor think of Rae dumping him and running back to Walter? And what did daddy think of Rae's lifestyle? He's dropped, too, after the early scenes) I thought this was the best of the three versions. The second is well acted, but Boyer comes off as a cad overall. Boles, in this version, is more sincere and nicer (though still selfish). The 60s remake is pretty bad, saved in part by Vera Miles as the shrewish wife (which is a minor part in the first two versions). Dunne is good, as always. She played the same kind of part in The Secret of Madame Blanche shortly after this.

I wondered why Walter didn't at some point divorce his wife as apparently his marriage was just something he did to make his mother happy. I thought he was staying just to protect his career, and then I found out something about the source material. In the novel, Walter was Jewish and under pressure from his mother to marry a Jewish girl. Given the times, it's not too surprising this was dropped in the film versions, even in the precode era. It does dilute the man's motivations in the story considerably.

Three of the best actresses around, Irene Dunne, Margaret Sullavan, and Susan Hayward all played the lead role of Rae Schmidt in three different versions of Back Street. It's a timeless tale and can be adapted to any time and place in history. The novel by Fannie Hurst was written in 1931 and most of the action takes place in the pre-World War I years and then jumps to the present day of 1932 reflecting the time she's been a Back Street woman.

Back Street the story is once again an affirmation of the heart having its own reasons. In this first film version Irene Dunne meets John Boles who is an upwardly mobile young man in the banking business. That's it for her she's in love. But Boles is about to get married to Doris Lloyd. Still when Boles goes to New York where he becomes successful he sets Dunne up in an apartment there and she's his kept woman for over 20 years.

Reading the Wikipedia article on Back Street one crucial component is missing from this adaption. The fact that Boles is Jewish and much under his mother's thumb to marry within the faith. Maude Turner Gordon plays the mother and she's formidable. But Boles is the weakest thing in this adaption. Without the religious component he comes across like a Mama's boy.

Like it or not Dunne is stuck on him. She even passes up an opportunity to marry boy next door George Meeker who makes it big with those new fangled contraptions, the horseless carriage.

Back Street both book and film version and take your choice set a standard for tales of romance on the side and sly. This one set the mark for the other two to follow.