Nan Taylor is no one’s Patsy; her badge of honor is Loyalty. Barbara Stanwyck as Nan is a force of nature, an emotional tsunami whose riptide drowns those who she believes cheats or takes advantage of her.
The film begins with an extreme close-up of Stanwyck making an emergency call to the police. As she jumps into a car with three tough-looking men inside we quickly discover her ruse: it’s a distraction so they can rob a bank. Unfortunately, the hold-up goes awry, and Nan is left holding the rap. But she remains loyal to her partners-in-crime and doesn’t give them up to the DA. Even her childhood friend, the reform-minded Evangelical David Slade, can’t change her mind...or attitude. He confesses his love for her, but she finally admits her part in the crime and assertively, with head held high, walks down her time. Interestingly, she remains stoic about her cohorts but not out of love or passion for them, at least not in a purely physical way. The story doesn’t reveal any of them as a typical love interest and Nan isn’t objectified as the “dame” or “Femme Fatale” (a term not coined yet in ‘33) for their minor syndicate: they are equal partners and seem to respect one another. This was an attribute to be admired during the Depression as tough circumstances make tough families, blood be damned.
The next two Acts depict Nan serving her time in San Quentin. Our introduction to the prison seems typical at first: hard men marching in orderly lines overseen by even harder men, the guards! Not a word is muttered, just the stomp of work-boots upon cement. This cuts to: women bustling down a tight corridor, walking and talking freely. Welcome to the Women’s side of San Quentin! DP John Seitz (see Note at end of review) truly captures the empty faces and steely eyes of the other women starring down Nan as she enters. But she is up to the task and puts her bully in her place: she eventually knocks her out cold! We soon learn that the women have much more liberty in their incarceration and when Nan’s partners are sentenced for an old crime, it’s used to their advantage in an escape attempt. We even get a short musical number from Lilian Roth as she sings to a picture of actor Joe. E. Brown (of all people)!
But Slade hasn’t forgotten about Nan. He visits her nearly every month though she isn’t much interested. He even unwittingly helps in her escape attempt, but Nan mistakenly believes he betrayed her. True to her code, she will kill him the first chance she gets. After the death of her compatriots during the ill-fated escape, Nan’s limited involvement leads to a longer sentence, but she doesn’t complain. She bides her time until she can be paroled and hunt down that scum David Slade. Wasting no time, she makes her way to one of his Revivals on the first night or her release! In a heated argument that rivals Edward G. Robinson’s tormented soliloquy in the great film TWO SECONDS, Stanwyck bursts apart, angry tears and spittle flying, screaming into Slade’s face inches away. His confusion only torments her, and she shoots to kill but only wings him. Realizing her mistake that Slade didn’t betray her, and Slade still loving her for her moral consistency (I suppose) he proposes amid the chaos. It’s a happy yet somber ending because neither Nan nor David had to rearrange their moral reasoning to seek redemption. Sometimes fruit falls far from the poisonous tree.
FINAL GRADE: (A)
NOTE: Cinematographer John Seitz is a legend! Look at his filmography online but I’ll name a few of my favorites: SUNSET BOULEVARD, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THIS GUN FOR HIRE, THE BIG CLOCK, INVADERS FROM MARS. No wonder this film looks so good.