Anybody watching this is obviously a fan of Stanwyck, George Brent, perhaps William Wellman, and undoubtedly '30s films. Even by the creaky standard of most early '30s films, this one is pretty bad. The storyline is so preposterous that you watch it, even accepting the conceit that the screenwriters are handing out, but still rolling you eyes at its ludicrousness. To escape her life as the moll of a cheap crook, Stanwyck on a whim decides to pay off a maid $1000 (in 1930s dollars, no less!) to switch places with her and become a mail order bride of a hick farmer in North Dakota. That is just the beginning of a storyline that you will not for a minute swallow the entire time you are watching the film. The conditions are appalling, her husband is surly, disrespectful, unloving, judgmental, unforgiving, and sneers at her for a year, but she continues to smile, and falls in love with him. As other reviewers have said, no way would she have moved to ND, no way would she choose this life with this man, no way would she accept continuous abuse when she was so independent a career woman already. I found it also one of the weaker Stanwyck performances, but that could be because the material forces her to act and feel a way that doesn't make any sense, especially for a strong, independent kind of woman that she is, inherently. George Brent is always serviceable, I've always had a soft spot for him, but in this movie he, too, has to act strangely hostile, and maintain that hostility throughout the entire film. Sets are cheap, you never believe it's really subzero weather. The only two decent set pieces are the train ride to ND, and the post-marriage shivaree. Only for die-hard classic movie fans, clearly.
Review of The Purchase Price
