Copyright 21 October 1931 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. New York opening at the Capitol, 30 October 1931. 8 reels. 74 minutes. U.K. release title: The LULLABY.
SYNOPSIS: Woman becomes a streetwalker to support her illegitimate son.
NOTES: 1931 award winner, Best Actress, Helen Hayes (in her sound film debut) (defeating Marie Dressler in Emma, and Lynne Fontanne in The Guardsman). Number 10 in the 1931 Film Daily poll of U.S. film critics.
COMMENT: Here's a film which, despite its Best Actress tag, doesn't seem any too promising for a 2018 audience, but actually holds up extremely well. True, this happy surprise can partly be laid to the credit of Helen Hayes who is uterly sympathetic and totally charismatic in the role of the more-sinned-against-than-sinning heroine. And, having seen both Emma and The Guardsman, I can wholeheartedly declare that Hayes way outclasses both Marie Dressler and the legendary Lynne Fontanne.
However, both script and direction, are also qualities to be reckoned with. MacArthur has cleverly taken the gist of Knoblock's rather old-fashioned play and so brilliantly updated it, that its dialogue still reads well in 2018. The only feature I don't like is the now passé framing device.
But don't be put off. Once the flashback starts, the too studiously overburdened-in-charity Hersholt disappears for most of the action, and Hayes takes center stage. She is well supported too, firstly by Lewis Stone, and later by Robert Young. I love the scene in which Stone is introduced in which he himself is supported by that marvelous character actor, Lennox Pawle. MacArthur has provided him with such heartily astringent lines that he makes an indelible impression in this, his one scene.
Director Edgar Selwyn doesn't figure in any books about Hollywood's masters of the cinema, but this film and Men Must Fight (1933) are so striking, it seems to me about time his career was re-examined.
SYNOPSIS: Woman becomes a streetwalker to support her illegitimate son.
NOTES: 1931 award winner, Best Actress, Helen Hayes (in her sound film debut) (defeating Marie Dressler in Emma, and Lynne Fontanne in The Guardsman). Number 10 in the 1931 Film Daily poll of U.S. film critics.
COMMENT: Here's a film which, despite its Best Actress tag, doesn't seem any too promising for a 2018 audience, but actually holds up extremely well. True, this happy surprise can partly be laid to the credit of Helen Hayes who is uterly sympathetic and totally charismatic in the role of the more-sinned-against-than-sinning heroine. And, having seen both Emma and The Guardsman, I can wholeheartedly declare that Hayes way outclasses both Marie Dressler and the legendary Lynne Fontanne.
However, both script and direction, are also qualities to be reckoned with. MacArthur has cleverly taken the gist of Knoblock's rather old-fashioned play and so brilliantly updated it, that its dialogue still reads well in 2018. The only feature I don't like is the now passé framing device.
But don't be put off. Once the flashback starts, the too studiously overburdened-in-charity Hersholt disappears for most of the action, and Hayes takes center stage. She is well supported too, firstly by Lewis Stone, and later by Robert Young. I love the scene in which Stone is introduced in which he himself is supported by that marvelous character actor, Lennox Pawle. MacArthur has provided him with such heartily astringent lines that he makes an indelible impression in this, his one scene.
Director Edgar Selwyn doesn't figure in any books about Hollywood's masters of the cinema, but this film and Men Must Fight (1933) are so striking, it seems to me about time his career was re-examined.