Forbidden

US © 1932 Columbia Pictures. P: Harry Cohn. D: Frank Capra. SC: Jo Swerling – from a story by Capra. DP: Joseph Walker. MA: Mont Westmore. Sound: Edward Bernds. ED: Maurice Wright. Starring Barbara Stanwyck (Lulu Smith), Adolphe Menjou (Bob Grover), Ralph Bellamy (Al Holland), 86'. A beautiful Sony Columbia print viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 17 Sep 2005. This neglected film is a deeply felt melodrama with Stanwyck in a strong role. The storyline is Back Street: the woman (Stanwyck) involved with a married man (Menjou) and rejecting the man who loves only her (Bellamy). It's set in the familiar Capra newsroom milieu: Bellamy is an editor-in-chief and Stanwyck is first a newspaper librarian who then becomes the newspaper's love advice expert, "Mary Sunshine", in a funny distancing device. There is also a Stella Dallas storyline as Stanwyck lets her daughter be raised in Menjou's childless household and is herself shut off of her daughter's life. She becomes a lethal mother lion when Bellamy threatens to expose Menjou. Most impressive is the visual form given to this story. The quiet lingering close-ups convey the sense of a lost life. A fine entry for Capra, Stanwyck and the brilliant cinematographer Joseph Walker.