It's soap opera, but it is good soap opera, with several good performances in it.
Joan Crawford is a Broadway dancing star, helped on her way up by Allan Joslyn. Joslyn would like it to be the start of a marriage, but his cynical frame of mind is not what Crawford can accept (outside of friendship). She meets wealthy Wisconsin gentleman farmer Melvin Douglas, and he gets her to agree to marry him (Joslyn is uncertain about the wisdom of the move, not only from self-interest but from concern that Crawford will be a fish out of water). Another party who is troubled by the marriage is Douglas's brother Robert Young, who thinks Crawford will be too like her friends. Despite this Young and Douglas marry, and soon are in Wisconsin. They bring with them Hattie MacDaniel, Crawford's smart maid.
(A small point about the film - MacDaniel had not gotten her Oscar yet for GONE WITH THE WIND but there are moments when the camera is concentrating on her, and when she is involved in scenes, where any other African-American actress of the period (say Louise Beavers) playing a maid would not have gotten camera time - I wonder if this was because Hattie was photogenic and the movie crews were noticing this, or because David Selznick may have noticed her and requested some additional footage for her. She handles the role with customary humor and spice.)
Crawford finds (although she has had hints) that Douglas' older sister (Fay Bainter) is cold and hostile. More about this later. Young's wife (Margaret Sullivan) is very friendly and sweet. But although Crawford warms up to Sullivan, Young (who had been initially cold to the marriage) begins showing a different attitude: he is falling in love with Crawford. Bainter takes an "I told you so!" attitude to this, and Sullivan becomes increasingly miserable. Only Douglas seems oblivious - in particular because Crawford is making every effort to remain faithful.
The climax concerns the dream house that Douglas and Crawford were planning to build a few miles from Bainter's home. Instead of being a solution to the twisted mess, it becomes a magnet for the coming disaster. It is only with the disaster that the relations are sorted out.
Now about Bainter: This film was made within three years of the renewal (and new teeth) to the Hollywood Production Code. As such, certain things could be said and certain things couldn't. In terms of the code, the film fits properly. But with Bainter, they managed (or that fine actress did) to push the envelope a little. In a confrontation scene with Douglas, Bainter reveals something about her private feelings. She hates Crawford, and tells Douglas to get rid of her, eventually saying, "I'm your sister and I love you!" Her character is a repressed spinster type (she is the oldest of the siblings), and she has never really been close to Sullivan (although the latter grew up in the area). One gets the impression Bainter has certain incestuous feelings for Douglas and even Young (and that the former chooses to overlook these, and the latter resents them). This seems to be the first time this kind of situation arises in a film prior to Geraldine Fitzgerald's performance as George Sanders' possessive sister in THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF UNCLE HARRY, but that at time was slightly more explicit.
With Frank Albertson in a supporting part as a rustic with jazz trumpet ambitions (who momentarily makes the situation for Crawford get a bit murkier).
Joan Crawford is a Broadway dancing star, helped on her way up by Allan Joslyn. Joslyn would like it to be the start of a marriage, but his cynical frame of mind is not what Crawford can accept (outside of friendship). She meets wealthy Wisconsin gentleman farmer Melvin Douglas, and he gets her to agree to marry him (Joslyn is uncertain about the wisdom of the move, not only from self-interest but from concern that Crawford will be a fish out of water). Another party who is troubled by the marriage is Douglas's brother Robert Young, who thinks Crawford will be too like her friends. Despite this Young and Douglas marry, and soon are in Wisconsin. They bring with them Hattie MacDaniel, Crawford's smart maid.
(A small point about the film - MacDaniel had not gotten her Oscar yet for GONE WITH THE WIND but there are moments when the camera is concentrating on her, and when she is involved in scenes, where any other African-American actress of the period (say Louise Beavers) playing a maid would not have gotten camera time - I wonder if this was because Hattie was photogenic and the movie crews were noticing this, or because David Selznick may have noticed her and requested some additional footage for her. She handles the role with customary humor and spice.)
Crawford finds (although she has had hints) that Douglas' older sister (Fay Bainter) is cold and hostile. More about this later. Young's wife (Margaret Sullivan) is very friendly and sweet. But although Crawford warms up to Sullivan, Young (who had been initially cold to the marriage) begins showing a different attitude: he is falling in love with Crawford. Bainter takes an "I told you so!" attitude to this, and Sullivan becomes increasingly miserable. Only Douglas seems oblivious - in particular because Crawford is making every effort to remain faithful.
The climax concerns the dream house that Douglas and Crawford were planning to build a few miles from Bainter's home. Instead of being a solution to the twisted mess, it becomes a magnet for the coming disaster. It is only with the disaster that the relations are sorted out.
Now about Bainter: This film was made within three years of the renewal (and new teeth) to the Hollywood Production Code. As such, certain things could be said and certain things couldn't. In terms of the code, the film fits properly. But with Bainter, they managed (or that fine actress did) to push the envelope a little. In a confrontation scene with Douglas, Bainter reveals something about her private feelings. She hates Crawford, and tells Douglas to get rid of her, eventually saying, "I'm your sister and I love you!" Her character is a repressed spinster type (she is the oldest of the siblings), and she has never really been close to Sullivan (although the latter grew up in the area). One gets the impression Bainter has certain incestuous feelings for Douglas and even Young (and that the former chooses to overlook these, and the latter resents them). This seems to be the first time this kind of situation arises in a film prior to Geraldine Fitzgerald's performance as George Sanders' possessive sister in THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF UNCLE HARRY, but that at time was slightly more explicit.
With Frank Albertson in a supporting part as a rustic with jazz trumpet ambitions (who momentarily makes the situation for Crawford get a bit murkier).