Copyright 28 September 1933 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 28 September 1933 (ran one week). U.S. release: 13 October 1933. U.K release: 7 May 1934. Australian release: 21 March 1934. 9 reels. 72 minutes.
NOTES: Irene Dunne was super-popular world-wide, though Ann Vickers was more successful in cities than the country; and in carriage and middle-class suburbs rather than working-class districts.
COMMENT: Ann Vickers is the sort of movie I really like. Here we have a fast-moving plot, packed with incident; a sympathetic lead and interesting support characters; smart, witty dialogue; all abetted by stylishly inventive, pacy direction and highly polished photography. (Production values only fall down in a couple of minor matters, like the obvious use of models for the Stuyvesant Building and the clumsy superimposition of Irene Dunne's close-up over the prison scenes. Maybe this latter device was designed to disguise the fact that these scenes were extracted from the stock footage library; - but if so, they were darn good).
Two photographers were employed, David Abel doing the bulk of the work like the lovely soft-focus close-ups, the dynamically-framed two-shots and the dramatic reverse angles of Miss Dunne; whilst Eddie Cronjager contributed the more high contrast material, such as the single take with Dunne and Oliver in the taxi.
Dunne carries the bulk of the action. I think she is in every scene, though of course she does take a back seat as a spectator in the trial sequences. Attractively photographed, styled and dressed, Miss Dunne brings Sinclair Lewis' plucky heroine to sympathetic life.
Led by Walter Huston and Edna May Oliver, the support cast is enlivened by a highly skilled array of players, including Bruce Cabot (in a small but meaty role), Gertrude Michael (making the most of her one brief scene), Edwin Maxwell, and especially Mitchell Lewis. It's easy to spot other favorites like Arthur Hoyt and Jane Darwell (both Stuyvesant board members), J. Carroll Naish (a nonspeaking bit as a drunken doctor), Irving Bacon (also no dialogue) as a waiter. Huston himself has only one brief scene in the first half of the film, but comes into his own in the second half where he plays with his usual feisty vigor.
Unfortunately, Huston's self-confident and self-possessed sincerity is not echoed by Conrad Nagel who makes his part as Irene's social worker colleague, a little too prissy (though maybe this is true to Lewis' vision of the character). In any event, his role is small. Also mercifully brief is Rafaella Ottiano's impersonation of Irene's secretary at the Stuyvesant Home. Luckily, she doesn't come on until the latter half of the picture, but she's a bit hard to take, what with her constant facial grimacing that serves no purpose other than plain camera-hogging.
Max Steiner has obliged with a melodic music score, the film editing is exceptionally adroit, the movie is always attractive to look at and often scintillating to hear. Perhaps one or two dull sequences, but all told, a lively and engrossing 72 minutes.
OTHER VIEWS: Packed with incident, the movie seamlessly crosses the boundaries of a number of genres: The brutal prison scenes align with classic film noir, the wronged woman with traditional weepies, the final silver-lined clouds with storybook romance.
NOTES: Irene Dunne was super-popular world-wide, though Ann Vickers was more successful in cities than the country; and in carriage and middle-class suburbs rather than working-class districts.
COMMENT: Ann Vickers is the sort of movie I really like. Here we have a fast-moving plot, packed with incident; a sympathetic lead and interesting support characters; smart, witty dialogue; all abetted by stylishly inventive, pacy direction and highly polished photography. (Production values only fall down in a couple of minor matters, like the obvious use of models for the Stuyvesant Building and the clumsy superimposition of Irene Dunne's close-up over the prison scenes. Maybe this latter device was designed to disguise the fact that these scenes were extracted from the stock footage library; - but if so, they were darn good).
Two photographers were employed, David Abel doing the bulk of the work like the lovely soft-focus close-ups, the dynamically-framed two-shots and the dramatic reverse angles of Miss Dunne; whilst Eddie Cronjager contributed the more high contrast material, such as the single take with Dunne and Oliver in the taxi.
Dunne carries the bulk of the action. I think she is in every scene, though of course she does take a back seat as a spectator in the trial sequences. Attractively photographed, styled and dressed, Miss Dunne brings Sinclair Lewis' plucky heroine to sympathetic life.
Led by Walter Huston and Edna May Oliver, the support cast is enlivened by a highly skilled array of players, including Bruce Cabot (in a small but meaty role), Gertrude Michael (making the most of her one brief scene), Edwin Maxwell, and especially Mitchell Lewis. It's easy to spot other favorites like Arthur Hoyt and Jane Darwell (both Stuyvesant board members), J. Carroll Naish (a nonspeaking bit as a drunken doctor), Irving Bacon (also no dialogue) as a waiter. Huston himself has only one brief scene in the first half of the film, but comes into his own in the second half where he plays with his usual feisty vigor.
Unfortunately, Huston's self-confident and self-possessed sincerity is not echoed by Conrad Nagel who makes his part as Irene's social worker colleague, a little too prissy (though maybe this is true to Lewis' vision of the character). In any event, his role is small. Also mercifully brief is Rafaella Ottiano's impersonation of Irene's secretary at the Stuyvesant Home. Luckily, she doesn't come on until the latter half of the picture, but she's a bit hard to take, what with her constant facial grimacing that serves no purpose other than plain camera-hogging.
Max Steiner has obliged with a melodic music score, the film editing is exceptionally adroit, the movie is always attractive to look at and often scintillating to hear. Perhaps one or two dull sequences, but all told, a lively and engrossing 72 minutes.
OTHER VIEWS: Packed with incident, the movie seamlessly crosses the boundaries of a number of genres: The brutal prison scenes align with classic film noir, the wronged woman with traditional weepies, the final silver-lined clouds with storybook romance.