This is technically a precode, although you never see anything happen that is precode, just some precode ideas.I loved Charles Bickford and Kay Johnson in Dynamite, and I guess that's because there you had two people from different worlds thrown together while their feelings for one another slowly build. Here Bickford plays Dan Wallace, a chauffeur, who falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy man, Cassy Pringle (Kay Johnson). When the film opens they are already in love, so there goes the chance to see the chemistry build again. When Cassy's father finds out, he orders Dan out of his house, and Cassy goes with him, with them marrying the next day. Dan has no trade, so the entire family lives in a cheap attic apartment while Dan works as a stevedore and in five years only rises to assistant supervisor of the other stevedores. Meanwhile he and Cassy have had two children who have no place to play in their cramped apartment that has been their home for the entirety of their marriage. Then Dan loses his job at the beginning of the Great Depression. Cassy's cousin is Dulce (Kay Francis), who married a much older but wealthy man whom she does not love, played by Lewis Stone. Dan and family move to a farm that Dulce wanted to give to them five years before on their wedding day, but now Dan's pride is all gone and he accepts the gift for the sake of his family. Dan is a man feeling like a disappointment as a provider and needing a boost to his pride, Dulce is a woman who has plenty of money but no passion in her loveless marriage. Complications ensue. I'll let you watch and find out what happens. Everybody does a splendid job in this film. Kay Francis is great as a spoiled brat who thinks she should get everything she wants without actually coming out and saying that. Charles Bickford effectively portrays a man who is torn and who feels like a disappointment to his family. He often acts because he feels he "owes" people, and in the end his actions just make everybody unhappy. He didn't want material charity, why would he think the women in his life would want emotional charity? Kay Johnson gives a very subtle portrayal as the rich girl just happy to give it all up and stand by the poor man she loves, come what may. Winter Hall plays Cassy's dad, and he doesn't have much time on screen, yet he is a perfect portrait of pre-Depression Calvinism - he believes that rich people are intrinsically better than working people, and looks down upon them. The Great Depression is about to teach them otherwise - for awhile. Zasu Pitts is the comic relief as first Dan and Cassy's landlady and then when they move to the farm, their housekeeper? That is a transition I could never figure out, but she is needed comic relief for what is almost completely a heavy melodrama. Just some background, Charles Bickford hated this film, calling it "melodramatic claptrap" in his autobiography. He felt he had been somewhat baited and switched by MGM, starting with the interesting "Dynamite" and then being forced to make this film instead of being loaned out to RKO, where he was wanted to play the leading role in "Cimarron". Also, the director of this film, William de Mille, brother of the great Cecil B., did not like directing sound films and only did a couple more after this. Also, Kay Johnson had been and maybe still was infatuated with Kay Francis at the time this film was made. So if things seem a bit awkward between the players, and if the direction seems a bit stilted, there is probably good reason. Still, it's a pretty good study in human nature, so I'd recommend it.

When MGM started casting for this movie, its own stars were on other assignments and hence Kay Frances was borrowed from Paramount studios to play the leading role. This movie is one for the ladies, a typical Kathleen Norris romantic novel scripted to fit into a typical Kay Frances movie. Dulce (Kay Frances) falls in love with Dan Wallace (Charles Bickford), the family chauffeur against her father's wishes. When Dan is about to divorce his wife (played by Kay Johnson), he will receive a letter form his wife and have a change of heart. Hit by the memories of his loving wife and family, he goes home for a happy ending. Dulce is heartbroken under several yards of mink. William De Mille directed this drama with Martin Flavin, Laurence Johnson and Edith Fitzgerald screenplay. Lewis Stone and Zasu Pitts are outstanding in supporting roles

I may be a nerd about history, but I have always wondered just how long it took for the jazz age of the '20's to wind down, and for the reality of the oncoming depression to settle in on the minds of the average American. A lot of the movies dated as of the year 1930 that I have seen on TCM have plots and situations that look as though the depression hasn't started yet. In some cases it seems like it's still the 1920's! And I am not talking musicals, either. In this movie, released December 6, 1930, the plot involves the depression, in the fact that Charles Bickford decides to accept Kay Francis' offer to work on her ranch because he has lost his job. Meanwhile, Kay Johnson (the wife) and her landlady played by Zasu Pitts seem to be just waking up to it all as they discuss the state of the economy. Kay says how it has been "dreadful this year." And Zasu Pitts says, "Oh it's bad. I've been trying to collect rent and haven't had much luck." Later when Charles Bickford loses his job his boss tells him, "I may not have a job myself in a couple of weeks." So, perhaps in January 1930 no one noticed a depression yet, but by December 1930, everyone did. This is what I find interesting. Call me a nerd.

The plot of this picture may have been fresh back when Grandma was a girl. Come to think of it, when the picture was made, in 1930, Grandma WAS a girl. But it wouldn't be surprising if HER grandmother had come across it somewhere.It's the one about the rich girl who gives up everything to marry for love - marriage to a poor but independent, honest and reliable man who has nothing but disdain for his wife's glamorous cousin, one of the idle rich who wed a much older man for his money. Unable to escape her wiles, unable to get ahead in the world despite his strong character and earnest efforts, he leaves wife and children to join the sorceress in an aimless pursuit of pleasure here and abroad - until he comes to his senses, returns home and asks his wife's forgiveness.Have I given away the plot? Then I won't tell you whether she takes him back.There are fine performances by Kay Francis, Charles Bickford and Kay Johnson, and a typical featherbrained role for ZaSu Pitts that is out of place in this picture.It is always helpful, from the standpoint of entertainment, for a story to offer a few surprises, something original that will keep the viewer wondering how things will turn out. That is precisely the kind of help this story needs.