If you want to see a girl twist herself into an obsequious pretzel for a guy, then you may want to watch this movie.
Sylvia Sydney plays Lillie Taylor, a good dame who was stranded after her purse was stolen at a circus. She got a helping hand from a petty criminal, and very unrefined Mace Townsley (Fredric March) and she latched onto him like a puppy. He couldn't beat her away with a stick. She was so incomprehensibly stuck on him.
That tends to happen in a lot of these movies from that era. A guy does a simple nicety for a woman and she latches onto him after that. It's almost as if these women, as pretty as they are, have never had a man do one nice thing for them so the moment they receive some nice treatment, mostly just common courtesy, they don't know how to act. They feel like they must be his property from then on if he treated her well.
Lillie Taylor was auditioning to be Mace's doormat. No matter how gruff, disrespectful, or threatening he was, she smiled and desired him even more. I wish I could say that this behavior was anomalous, but it isn't. Lillie Taylor was just one of several women of that era who loved to be treated poorly, and Sylvia Sidney had the perfect face and demeanor for such a role.
Sylvia Sidney has a perpetual look as though she needs love and attention, or she needs a hug. She has such a weak, homely looking face. I can't stand it. I have not seen her in a single movie in which I thought wow Sylvia Sydney is grand here. Or wow Sylvia Sydney is crushing this role. Or wow Sylvia Sydney is really commanding. No, every time I see her I have a thought of wow this woman is so pathetic. So, in this one, she gets treated like dog spit, and turns around and cleans this guy's clothes!! No pride, no self-worth.
And she wasn't even consistent in her sentiments and her behavior. She was off and on, hot and cold. One moment she's being a bugaboo and the next she was giving him the air. I know that that was the character and not Sylvia Sidney, but I've seen her face in too many similar sappy roles. I'm done with her.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
Sylvia Sydney plays Lillie Taylor, a good dame who was stranded after her purse was stolen at a circus. She got a helping hand from a petty criminal, and very unrefined Mace Townsley (Fredric March) and she latched onto him like a puppy. He couldn't beat her away with a stick. She was so incomprehensibly stuck on him.
That tends to happen in a lot of these movies from that era. A guy does a simple nicety for a woman and she latches onto him after that. It's almost as if these women, as pretty as they are, have never had a man do one nice thing for them so the moment they receive some nice treatment, mostly just common courtesy, they don't know how to act. They feel like they must be his property from then on if he treated her well.
Lillie Taylor was auditioning to be Mace's doormat. No matter how gruff, disrespectful, or threatening he was, she smiled and desired him even more. I wish I could say that this behavior was anomalous, but it isn't. Lillie Taylor was just one of several women of that era who loved to be treated poorly, and Sylvia Sidney had the perfect face and demeanor for such a role.
Sylvia Sidney has a perpetual look as though she needs love and attention, or she needs a hug. She has such a weak, homely looking face. I can't stand it. I have not seen her in a single movie in which I thought wow Sylvia Sydney is grand here. Or wow Sylvia Sydney is crushing this role. Or wow Sylvia Sydney is really commanding. No, every time I see her I have a thought of wow this woman is so pathetic. So, in this one, she gets treated like dog spit, and turns around and cleans this guy's clothes!! No pride, no self-worth.
And she wasn't even consistent in her sentiments and her behavior. She was off and on, hot and cold. One moment she's being a bugaboo and the next she was giving him the air. I know that that was the character and not Sylvia Sidney, but I've seen her face in too many similar sappy roles. I'm done with her.
Free on Odnoklassniki.