Kitty Lane isn’t a one-way street though her relationship seems to hit a dead-end. Barbara Stanwyck depicts a Blue-collar working girl whose beauty and independent spirit are more substantial than the glamour and wealth of her paramour’s estate.
The film begins with tragedy: Kitty’s father is a miner who is crushed to death by a landslide. She goes to live with her Aunt Dot (another wonderful performance from Zasu Pitts!) whose husband owns a dingy diner in a college town. She gains quite an undeserved flirtatious reputation before a wealthy student David Livingston becomes smitten with her and pursues her romantically. If you want to see Barbara Stanwyck read the dictionary and excitedly proclaim she knows the meaning of ejaculate, then this film’s for you!! However, David’s widowed mother is possessive and overbearing and has her friend Judge Forbes arrest her for indecency or immoral behavior (was that a title 18 crime is ‘32?). Kitty is locked up in a women’s work farm for 90 days; just enough time for David to leave the country with mother. The film isn’t a confrontation between lovers, David is actually very fond of Kitty and the feeling is reciprocated honestly, but a showdown between mother and son. The story’s weakness may also be considered its strength in that David is ineffectual and so emotionally hamstrung by his domineering mother that it’s difficult to like him. But this plays well against Kitty’s spirited persona, and you love her earnest attempt at romance even more! When Judge Forbes returns and offers Kitty a $5,000 bribe to spurn David, Barbara gets to go Full-Stanwyck on his ass: she throws the wad of bills into his face and screams him into silence. Well, to be more precise, she fucking winds-up and practically punches the money into his jowls!
Kitty, now believing that David has cast her aside, picks herself up by the bootstraps (or garters) and we are treated to a montage of success: in the following months she becomes a burlesque star, earning her own independent living. When David enters the picture once again his mother is going to end the romance permanently. Now the film seems cut as it leads towards the final act, as there is a romance and murder (?) shown briefly in a newspaper headline with Kitty as the mistress: maybe a married-man love triangle that ends in death? This would have given the mother’s near-fatal act more gravitas as the film nears its conclusion: as is, her appearance with a handgun to kill Kitty seems a bit preposterous. But if she actually believes Kitty is a murderess then it makes more sense. Finally, Kitty and Mother come to an understanding and Kitty pretends to scorn David, but the Truth wins out for a happy embrace. I’m sure David is going to learn that ejaculate is not only a transitive verb but a noun.
Final Grade: (C+)