PAID (1930)

Wasted opportunity.  Taken from an old play by Bayard Veiller, whose TRIAL OF MARY DUGAN gave Norma Shearer her Talkie debut in ‘29, here Joan Crawford stars since Norma was on maternity leave.*   And compared to later Joan, she’s an untrained revelation; her look a bit unsettled and all the better for it.  That hard Crawford mask not yet in place in makeup or acting.

 If only the film stayed on course.  Lively for an M-G-M Talkie of the period, director Sam Wood drops the ball after an Act One which sees Joan serving three-years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit; vowing revenge on the wealthy business exec who put her there.  Continuing with a series of sharp scenes in prison to show Crawford, purged of any makeup, waiting with dozens for the communal shower (unsegregated, that’s Louise Beavers at her side), in nothing but small towels.  This ‘lost’ Crawford something to see.  And once out, joining old pal Marie Prevost (a delight) and new pal Robert Armstrong to put together a sweet little scam golddiging rich old guys thru compromising letters & gifts.  Now, with legal payoffs, Joan sets her eye on the man who sent her up the river.  And he’s got just the naive son to make it all happen.  If only Crawford didn’t fall for the kid . . . for real.  And things turn even soggier when platonic pal Armstrong gets involved with lowlife burglars to steal a copy of the Mona Lisa at the kid's home.  Shots are fired; lights go out; a man is dead; Armstrong goes on the lam; Joan takes the blame; then the kid takes the blame; cops relentlessly (and endlessly) interrogate; the film stops dead in its tracks.  Puerile stuff, M-G-M story-editing micro-management at its worst.  Remade as a 1939 programmer under the play’s original title, WITHIN THE LAW/’39, maybe they fixed some of the problems.  Too bad, that first act’s a beauty.

DOUBLE-BILL: Crawford hits her early peak under director Clarence Brown in next year’s POSSESSED/’31 against Clark Gable.  Here, Douglas (Kent) Montgomery is just too goony to match up with Joan.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Shearer was married to M-G-M ‘boy wonder’ Production Head Irving Thalberg, giving rise to Crawford’s famous lament about being unable to compete for roles against a main rival who was sleeping with the boss.