User Reviews

If you want to see Joan Crawford in fake nose and beard dancing up a storm, then banging a drum to collect sinners a la Sarah Brown in "Guys and Dolls", then this is your movie. She goes from nightclub performer involved with "Batman's" Neil Hamilton to the very religious Clark Gable for no apparent reason other than the fact that he is a hunk. Hamilton dumps her to become respectable then comes back when she apparently finds salvation. Who would you choose? Of Crawford and Gables' many pairings together, this is the poorest of the lot. Marjorie Rambeau is somewhat amusing as a hardboiled pal of Crawfords, and Cliff Edwards and Guy Kibbee offer alright performances in underdeveloped roles, but the whole story (what there is) is simply no laughing matter.

Such a low rating... only a 4.9 as of today. Opens with Ivy (Joanie Crawford) running to catch the train when it comes in. She spends five minutes smooching her guy, and then shows up late for her show at the theater. Crawford had started as a "hoofer", and we get to see plenty of it in the silly show they put on. Some big names in here, in the early days... Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon!) is "Howard" and a 30 year old Clark Gable (Rhett Butler, Gone with the Wind) had started in the silent films, and easily moved into talkies. You can see all the heavy make-up on Crawford, left over from the "silents"... Supporting Guy Kibbee and Rosceo Karns were in everything in the early days. Joan C. sings a couple times in this one, but clearly singing warn't her thang! She receives a telegram one night, and faints. She runs off, and bumps SMACK into Carl (Clark Gable) and they tell each other their stories. He is with the salvation army, and she is intrigued. naturally. who wouldn't be?? and about halfway through, we get the vaudeville act from Kibbee and his cronies... some old time humor. We cover a lot of ground in 72 minutes. Directed by Harry Beaumont, who had done a bunch of precode Crawford films. It's okay, but i can see why its rated pretty low. She spends the whole film running back and forth from Howard and Carl. takes a long time to get anywhere. Sound and picture quality are pretty good, considering its age.

This film is so much more than "the first film Joan Crawford and Clark Gable made where they played love interests instead of him being a slimy gangster in a small part and her being a working woman like what happened in Dance Fools Dance". It's dull in spots, the plot is rather stupid, Crawford looked like she was having more fun as the sinner than as the Salvation Army worker, Gable is never quite convincing as a Salvation Army savior (he does a better job than Johnny Mack Brown could have ever done), but it's a short film and you never notice most of these things.

Crawford plays Bunny/Ivy, a young woman who is in love with whatshisname (forgot it, but the actor who plays him is Neil Hamilton). When whatshisname dumps her by letter, she is distraught and tries to commit suicide, but Clark Gable is there and he tries to get her to join the Salvation Army.

He tells her that the Salvation Army are having a picnic in the park tomorrow, and would she like to come. She initially doesn't want to, but she shows up anyway.

So Crawford joins the Salvation Army, and finds salvation (pardon the pun) in helping people and being with Gable. However, former loverboy who dumped her by letter finds the hotel where she is staying at and tries to get back with her. She is torn (Joan Crawford cliché- she's always torn between two or more men) between being noble with Gable or going back to being bad with whatshisname. She goes into whatshisname's hotel room and gets drunk (alcohol is illegal in the Salvation Army- one must be noble) and makes a fool out of herself, but Gable convinces her that the Salvation Army is the right place for her to be. Cut to a slightly glib shot of Crawford in her Salvation Army bonnet, holding hands with Gable as they walk through the park while everyone else involved with the Salvation Army saves people and feeds children.

Despite not kissing once (or even her falling into an awkward grip with him), the two leads light up the screen. They have more *** making eggs than most modern on-screen couples do while actually having...you know... (and they don't actually touch each other.)

Joan Crawford is extremely naturalistic in this film, to the point where I forgot she was acting. Heck, I almost forgot that she was Joan Crawford. She's sweet when she needs to be, convincing when she's not, and utterly heartbreaking when she's upset. Whatshisname was a jerk and she didn't deserve it.

Like I mentioned before, Gable is never quite convincing as a nice-guy Salvation Army worker, but he handles it well. This role may have been a step back for him, as other reviews have suggested, but his breakout would be this same year. Also this year, he made Possessed, again with Joan, which is even better than this film.

While the film itself is uneven, the leads will have you forget that. If you don't believe that Joan Crawford could act, watch one of her earlier films. As an added bonus, she's a lot easier to stomach when she's younger- and she's a sweetheart, as well.

Five stars for the choppy film, and added two for Crawford and Gable, bringing my rating up to seven, which seems to be the average for this title.

Laughing Sinners (1931)

This is your typical Joan Crawford vehicle, but she brings on a relative new actor into her movie, Clark Gable. This is before Gable gets typecast as the ultra-masculine and sexual gigolo (and many times bad guy). So, it's a refreshing portrayal.

Ivy 'Bunny' Stevens (Crawford) is a night club dancer and singer (with a heart of gold), but has it bad for her traveling salesman boyfriend, Howard Palmer (Neil Hamilton). When Howard dumps poor Ivy for his rich bosses daughter, Ivy takes it hard and is about to jump off of a bridge when a very friendly Salvation Army man, Carl Loomis (Clark Gable) stops her and gives her something else to live for.

Good-hearted Carl isn't preachy. He's fallen far from grace himself and can't judge anybody. When Ivy meets back up with Howard, who puts the moves on her, she regrets falling for his lines the next morning and doesn't feel worthy.

Carl, true to form, doesn't blame Ivy, telling her that if she wants to go back with Howard and that will make her happy, that he's all for that, but she shouldn't feel like she's not worthy to come back to the Salvation Army, because we all fall from grace sometimes. Naturally, Carl doesn't feel the same for Howard and gives him a nice sock on the jaw.

Even before he was typecast as a Hollywood he man Clark Gable found work playing toughs and gangsters in secondary roles with the exception of this role against type before or after stardom as a sincere Salvation Army worker trying to save good time cabaret girl Bunny Stevens from the wages of sin. Toned down from the macho self assuredness that would carry his career he gives a more than adequate performance supporting leads Joan Crawford and Neil Hamilton (yes, Inspector Gordon).

Bunny (Crawford) is a modern flapper out for a good time when she get's the gate from her married traveling salesman boyfriend Howdy Palmer (Hamilton). Thunderstruck she attempts to toss herself in the river but is prevented by Salvation Army officer Carl Loomis (Gable) who after a long walk and talk and a night to think it over gets her to sign up. Rewarding as it is she runs into Howdy a year later who wears her resistance down.

The blonde Crawford does her usual solid desperate depression era every-woman sch tick with her tremulous voiced struggle with the world while letting her piercing eyes and delicate toned figure fill in the rest. Neil as the heel (couldn't resist) wears the moustache in this film as he fast talks Bunny into bed. Loathsome and unctuous as he is he does not kid himself he is anything else and in doing so attains a scintilla of dignity in a role that is all sleazy creep.

Scene stealers Guy Kibee ( a mortician salesman who deals in "underground novelties") and Roscoe Karns along with Hamilton do yeoman work in perpetuating the traveling salesmen stereotype while Gert Short buying an O'Henry candy bar has a brief but hilarious center stage moment. It's Crawford's vehicle from start to finish but with 20/20 hindsight Gable's toned down soul saver shows him gaining fast.