Thumbs (And Other Appendages) Down

I watched a Barbara Stanwyck movie called "Gambling Lady" the other day, and boy was I disappointed! For some reason I thought it was going to be along these lines: Barbara would play a female pit boss who runs an illegal but honest gambling joint, and who don't take no guff from anybody, especially the crooked mobsters who try to put the screws on her clean operation. The story sounds good enough to eat! Unfortunately, the movie was shockingly generic -- which is unusual for Stanwyck's early movies. Even this publicity photo is more entertaining than the film itself ...



Here's what the movie was really about: Stanwyck plays Jennifer "Lady" Lee, the daughter of a universally respected card player who commits suicide after he is pressured to play crooked. Lady Lee then takes a job with the local gambling syndicate, where she upholds her father's reputation for fair play. One night, a cocky playboy (played by Joel McCrea) wanders into the gaming hall and unwittingly lets two undercover police officers in with him. They raid the joint and haul everybody, including Lady, off to jail. Needless to say, Lady isn't happy to see the playboy when he shows up to post her bail, and the playboy isn't happy when he finds out that an old buddy of Lady's (Pat O'Brien) has already put it up.

There is more, but it really isn't worth your time. Suffice it to say that as the movie unfolds, Lady and the playboy get married, suffer misunderstandings, jealousies, a murder, a divorce, and then a reconciliation, all packed blandly into a 68 minute running time. The only high point was when Stanwyck divorced the meatheaded character played by McCrea ... I actually rooted for her when she split with him, but then she wept and ran back to the son of a bitch and that was that. Why the hell did she stick with this dumb schmuck? Women!!!!!

"Gambling Lady" was made at Warner Bros., in 1934, and when you consider just how dull the movie is, it's surprising to learn that in the previous year, Stanwyck was starring in "Baby Face" and "Ladies They Talk About", two of the most entertaining and rollicking melodramas she ever made at the studio. Unfortunately, 1934 was the year that the Hays Code put the clamp on Hollywood, and the Warner studio was probably the biggest sufferer (ironically, they were one of the main reasons the Hays Code was put into effect). But that's a topic for another day.

Naturally, Barbara herself was terrific as always in this movie. She was a real trooper, and put her best foot forward, even though this clunker of a film wasn't at all worthy of her talents.