While there were many actresses who shone in pre-Code films and were inhibited by the shift to stricter censorship (Barbara Stanwyck and Jean Harlow, among others), Claudette Colbert may not have been one of them, if this film is any indication.
Colbert was a warm presence, a sly comedienne, a likable and brittle by turns actress who always filled out every scene. What she was not - to me anyway - was brazen or bawdy or hysterical. And too much of this film is an attempt to give her that type of material. I also don't think some of the songs suited Colbert's voice. I can't help wondering if other actresses turned the part down.
The best parts of the film are Lyda Roberti as the woman she lives with during the brief period where they are raising their out of wedlock children (Roberti sadly disappears early on), a scene of Colbert singing a lullaby to a baby, and a startling scene, one that does show the strengths of the pre-Code era, where a little girl who is the same age and has the same name as the daughter Colbert gave away contacts her radio show. Colbert goes to the girl's neighborhood, she walks out...and it's a little black girl. Rather than being treated as a joke, or an excuse for eye-popping stereotypes, Colbert has a sweet, short conversation with her and gives her some candy. It's a nice moment.
Colbert was a warm presence, a sly comedienne, a likable and brittle by turns actress who always filled out every scene. What she was not - to me anyway - was brazen or bawdy or hysterical. And too much of this film is an attempt to give her that type of material. I also don't think some of the songs suited Colbert's voice. I can't help wondering if other actresses turned the part down.
The best parts of the film are Lyda Roberti as the woman she lives with during the brief period where they are raising their out of wedlock children (Roberti sadly disappears early on), a scene of Colbert singing a lullaby to a baby, and a startling scene, one that does show the strengths of the pre-Code era, where a little girl who is the same age and has the same name as the daughter Colbert gave away contacts her radio show. Colbert goes to the girl's neighborhood, she walks out...and it's a little black girl. Rather than being treated as a joke, or an excuse for eye-popping stereotypes, Colbert has a sweet, short conversation with her and gives her some candy. It's a nice moment.