Bad Girl (1931)

hyped garbage

best movie i've ever seen.

Admirable film.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

I have to admit to low expectations coming into this film and happy to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know if it was the time period this film was made, or just this script, but there were a lot of gender stereotypes reinforced within. Also the forced accents were a bit hard to take as well. Never-the-less I did find this film an interesting take of early films here in America and have to say there is an episode in which the male lead tries out boxing to make a few extra bucks, which I found outright hilarious. Yes, it's a little forced but in general I found it fun.

Borzage is a film-maker whose reputation has ebbed and flowed quite dramatically over time. And perhaps not surprisingly. His work represents, even more clearly than that of Ford or Capra, a combination of all that is the best and all that is the worst about US film.In the late twenties and early thirties, he was looked at as the brightest hope of the US cinema and probably deserves the accolade of being the winner of more undeserved Oscars than anyone else before the advent of Ang Lee. Subsequently his reputation plummeted (as did the quality of his films) but he is now once again riding relatively high in critical esteem, at least in respect of his early films.But even these are a vary mixed bunch. There are Borzage films I greatly admire, there are several which i Find irritating (most of the Gaynor-Farrell films) but this particular 1931 film I absolutely detest.Its reputation for "realism" (in the sense of naturalism, that rare bird in US cinema) is entirely unjustified. Any comparison for instance with King Vidor's excellent The Crowd (1928) reveals immediately how spurious and fake the "realism" is here. One reviewer talks of ordinary people not being treated with "condescension". They are in fact treated here as complete and utter idiots and the entire plot revolves around perfectly stupid misunderstandings that are only possible because of the characters' extraordinary obtuseness. This is in turn set off by a fake naivety which is supposed to be charming but is just cringe-makingly sentimental. I have difficulty in imagining any treatment that could be more condescending...and this makes it, to my mind, not just irritatingly sentimentalised (as in the case of the Gaynor-Farrell films) but virtually a kind of pornography that demeans everybody associated with it.That such a film should be set during an economic depression and, ignoring any of the real problems of the time, should concentrate on such trivialities may in part be due to the fact, as another reviewer points out, to the fact that the original novel was written some eight years earlier but, in the context of 1931, it is absolutely grotesque although typical enough of the US cinema's reaction to the depression.It is in part just the familiar Hollywood problem with "truth". While The Crowd was hated by the studios and unsuccessful with the public (in practice the first tends to condition the second rather than vice versa), this saccharine piece of junk won another Oscar for its director.

Linked to many movies on IMDb are posters or pictures from the movie from which it came. However, in the case of "Bad Girl" you wonder if the artist ever saw the film or had any idea what the plot was! First, the figures on the poster look nothing like the actors (in particular, the guy is not anything like the 'everyman' James Dunn). Second, the poster makes the film look like a sex movie or at least one with a LOT of sexuality! But instead, it's just a nice Depression-era film about a nice couple who are trying to make a lives for themselves. And what it has to do with a bad girl is also anyone's guess!! Sally Eilers is a clothing model who is sick and tired of men always making passes at her or harassing her. So, when she meets Dunn and he is relatively indifferent to her, she is intrigued! Why won't he act like a boorish cad as well?! Eventually, the two begin dating and fall quickly in love. Surprisingly, the supposedly cynical Dunn asks her to marry him and seems happy with exactly the sort of life he said he didn't want. Then, when she becomes pregnant, she is worried, as Dunn wanted to start his own business and didn't want kids--but once again, what Dunn SAID he wanted and how he reacted are quite different and he likes the idea of kids and doesn't mind deferring his dream. Seeing the occasionally tough-acting Dunn show greater depth to his character was pretty enjoyable. There's more to the film, but it's probably best you see it for yourself.While the movie obviously was well-respected back in 1931 (as the director received an Oscar for his direction and it was nominated for Best Picture), it doesn't play quite as well today. This isn't to say it's a bad film--it just seems a little old fashioned and dated...but still very sweet. But despite its age, it is worth seeing and is a decent film--a good showcase for Dunn and a nice little romance.

I finally tracked down Bad Girl. It had been on my list of wanna sees for years as it had won a major Oscar for Best Director- Frank Borzage.It was one of those tantalizing early talkies that had not actually been lost it had merely fell from sight. When I finally saw it last year at a Borzage revival, the film was a revelation.It was a pre-code delight about an ordinary couple, falling in love, struggling financially and having a baby etc.It most reminded me of the great silent film-The Crowd, which dealt with similar matters. What was especially fascinating to me was its depiction of "average" lower middle class types and how they lived and spoke in Depression America. The apartments... the slang, all of it, seemed real. It wouldn't be until the 50's neo realism hit American movies that we would see ordinary people depicted on the screen again, without condescension The movie has all the Borzage trademarks- love surviving against all odds, even an exciting if a little hokey climax.Unfortunately, the film has been slighted often in movie books,most likely, because the authors have never actually seen it. If it is ever shown again, try to see it. It's a wonderful peek at average city folks in Depression America.