Barbara Stanwyck, like many popular actresses in the '30s and '40s, was busy. I saw her in "Ladies of Leisure," "Ten Cents a Dance," "Illicit," "Night Nurse," and "So Big!" which were all released between 1931 and 1932, and those weren't all of the movies she was in in that span.
In "Ladies They Talk About" she plays Nan Taylor, a bad girl tied to a gang headed by Lefty (Harold Huber). She got into trouble after she aided in a bank robbery. Her role and her silence got her a 2-5 year sentence in San Quentin. The sentence was all but assured until she used some seduction and tears on a big time evangelist type named David Slade (Preston Foster).
He fell for her, and hard.
Having Slade on her side meant she had his clout on her side as well. He was a big enough name that the D. A. refused to prosecute Nan for fear of losing the next election. The D. A. was going to release Nan to Slade except she shot herself in the foot by telling Slade that she was just running game on him to get his help. With that Slade refused to sign her release papers.
I didn't understand the move. She had Slade right where she wanted him and her freedom was assured. Even if she felt she could tell him the truth, she could've just as easily told him AFTER he signed her release papers. Perhaps she loved him deep down and didn't feel right fooling him but again, she could've waited.
Nan did her bid while harboring disdain for Slade for not signing her release papers. Slade, however, was so bewitched that he continued to write Nan in prison hoping that he could see her one day and make her fall in love with him. Apparently, Nan put the works on him so good he couldn't get her out of his mind even though she told him she wasn't "on the level."
Nan used that to her advantage. She used Slade one more time which made me think he was either legitimately in a spell or he was so righteous and holy it made him totally naive and gullible.
She had him mail a letter to her old partner in crime, Lefty. In the letter was a an outline of the key he'd need to help bust his partners out from prison. Slade didn't know the contents of the letter because he never opened it. His firm belief that Nan loved him back was enough for him to trust her and mail the letter sight unseen.
Again I thought, "Slade, you're a fool." But as I thought that I knew that they would become an item eventually. Why? Because he was so good and so in love, and she was the beautiful damsel in need of saving. In this case she needed saving from her wicked ways.
They got together as the movie so telegraphed, and I didn't like it. Not that I wanted Nan to stay incorrigible or that I wanted her to stay single, I just wanted her to shun him. Nan was so tough and smart it was a letdown and almost an insult that she would need saving from a guy like Slade. I wanted her to save herself. Whether that meant going straight or playing Slade to stay out of prison--it didn't matter to me--I just wanted her to show Slade that she could go it alone and choose the man she wanted instead of the goody-two-shoes, pathetic puppy dog that Slade was.
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In "Ladies They Talk About" she plays Nan Taylor, a bad girl tied to a gang headed by Lefty (Harold Huber). She got into trouble after she aided in a bank robbery. Her role and her silence got her a 2-5 year sentence in San Quentin. The sentence was all but assured until she used some seduction and tears on a big time evangelist type named David Slade (Preston Foster).
He fell for her, and hard.
Having Slade on her side meant she had his clout on her side as well. He was a big enough name that the D. A. refused to prosecute Nan for fear of losing the next election. The D. A. was going to release Nan to Slade except she shot herself in the foot by telling Slade that she was just running game on him to get his help. With that Slade refused to sign her release papers.
I didn't understand the move. She had Slade right where she wanted him and her freedom was assured. Even if she felt she could tell him the truth, she could've just as easily told him AFTER he signed her release papers. Perhaps she loved him deep down and didn't feel right fooling him but again, she could've waited.
Nan did her bid while harboring disdain for Slade for not signing her release papers. Slade, however, was so bewitched that he continued to write Nan in prison hoping that he could see her one day and make her fall in love with him. Apparently, Nan put the works on him so good he couldn't get her out of his mind even though she told him she wasn't "on the level."
Nan used that to her advantage. She used Slade one more time which made me think he was either legitimately in a spell or he was so righteous and holy it made him totally naive and gullible.
She had him mail a letter to her old partner in crime, Lefty. In the letter was a an outline of the key he'd need to help bust his partners out from prison. Slade didn't know the contents of the letter because he never opened it. His firm belief that Nan loved him back was enough for him to trust her and mail the letter sight unseen.
Again I thought, "Slade, you're a fool." But as I thought that I knew that they would become an item eventually. Why? Because he was so good and so in love, and she was the beautiful damsel in need of saving. In this case she needed saving from her wicked ways.
They got together as the movie so telegraphed, and I didn't like it. Not that I wanted Nan to stay incorrigible or that I wanted her to stay single, I just wanted her to shun him. Nan was so tough and smart it was a letdown and almost an insult that she would need saving from a guy like Slade. I wanted her to save herself. Whether that meant going straight or playing Slade to stay out of prison--it didn't matter to me--I just wanted her to show Slade that she could go it alone and choose the man she wanted instead of the goody-two-shoes, pathetic puppy dog that Slade was.
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