Dorothy Dell, the glamorous moll who took a shine to moppet Shirley Temple in 1934's "Little Miss Marker", priced herself to be quite the amazing leading actress in this shocking pre- code drama that makes no hiding of her profession. It's the oldest one, and there's no question that it's helped gee survive. But inside that life is a woman longing for respect, and in fooling wanted rebel Preston Foster, she finds a man she longs to make a home for. But when he gets a job stoking coal on a ship, he meets the tough Victor McLaglen, an old lover of hers and they have no idea that "their girl back home" is the same one. There's more than just a hint of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie" here with the character of "Ma" played by Alison Skipworth, Paramount's answer to Marie Dresser. Dell may lack Garbo's accent, but it's obvious how she's survived, the first half of the film making no bones about that. There's a lot of tension of whether Foster will be caught for the murder he is blamed for (but claims innocence), how McLaglen and Foster will react to being in love with the same girl, and how each of them will deal with the revelation of what she does. Look for Mischa Auer in the part of the stoker whom Foster gets in the fight with. Amazing little sleeper with satisfying performances and a gripping plot.

At 65 minutes, this film seems to have the narrative substance of the fog that surrounds the San Francisco waterfront where a prostitute named Toy (Dorothy Dell) meets a man named Como, accused of murder (Preston Foster). It's love at first sight. But he must flee the cops and so ships out to China with thuggish Victor McLaglen who has eyes for Toy as well. When they return months later, Toy has gone straight in preparation for Como and is waiting for the freighter. But what to do about McLaglen? Interesting if familiar storyline is sparked by a good performance by McLaglen as Turk, who beneath his rough exterior lurks a rough heart. Foster is excellent as the malcontent who spouts political slogans against the world's injustices. Dell, in her feature debut, is also excellent as the gold-hearted tramp who tries everything in an effort to go straight. The scene where she sings in a saloon while the men throw insults and coins at her is a killer.The sleazy bar is called "Mother Bright's" and Mother is played by the wondrous Alison Skipworth, a tough customer who's ready to fight for love. Co-stars include Mischa Auer, James Burke, Frank Sheridan, and David Landau as the cop. Among the horde of saloon girls are Alice Lake and Grace Bradley.This was the first of Dell's three films made in 1934. The others are LITTLE MISS MARKER and SHOOT THE WORKS. She would have been a big star, but was killed in a car crash. She was 19 years old.

Political activist Como Murphy (Preston Foster), on the run from a murder rap, ducks into Mother Bright's (Alison Skipworth) waterfront saloon on the infamous Barbary Coast and forms a fast friendship with Turk (Victor McLaglen), a stoker on a ship bound for Shanghai. When the cops close in, Como's directed upstairs where he stumbles into Toy's room (a sexy Dorothy Dell) and he spends the night there. The next day, he leaves a note for Toy promising to return and signs on with Turk's ship but on shore leave in the Orient, Como learns the gal Turk carries a torch for is none other than Toy. Como doesn't tell Turk he knows Toy and when their ship docks in Frisco, both men make a bee line for Ma Bright's where their romantic triangle comes to a deadly head...Paramount's burly brawler Victor McLaglen had been playing variations on the "love & friendship" shtick ever since WHAT PRICE GLORY? back in '26 and handsome Preston Foster makes a good romantic opponent for him here. Paramount's back lot Frisco, all fog and shadow, was put over with a bit of panache by director William Cameron Menzies, who'd go on to greater fame as one of Hollywood's premiere set designers. Released just before the Production Code crackdown, it's obvious how Dorothy Dell earns her living at Mother Bright's and there's lots of snappy patter, too, such as "No tow-headed jane is gonna make a monkey out of me!" and Dell actually tells McLaglen to "flock off" at one point. The alluring Dottie also warbles a wistful blues ballad and a lean and lanky Mischa Auer makes the most of his role as shifty shipmate Sadik, replete with an earring and a turncoat temper.Things were going great guns for nineteen year-old Dorothy Dell at the time; the former "Miss New Orleans" and "Miss Universe of 1930" was plucked from the Ziegfield Follies by Paramount and groomed as its answer to Fox's Alice Faye. Dorothy had just made her mark in the Shirley Temple starrer, Little Miss Marker, and it looked like she had arrived when it all came to a sudden, tragic end on June 8, 1934. Returning from a party in the Altadena hills, Dottie and her date were killed in a car crash; their automobile went over an embankment, hit a telephone pole, and rammed into a boulder. Dorothy was killed instantly and her escort died a few hours later. Engaged to another at the time of her death, Dell was also romantically involved with crooner Russ Columbo who, along with Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby, was making multitudes of female fans swoon as his velvety voice wafted over the airwaves.

Great, atmospheric images, strong cast, literate dialogue - even if there is too much of it - and we still end up with a dreary movie.Cameron Menzies was the movies' greatest designer but his attempts to direct all went belly up on him - outside THINGS TO COME, where Kordar had control.This one looks for a while as if it will be the exception, with it's opening in Alison Skipworth's fog bound Barbary Coast dive, running to out of true walls and a clientèle of floozies and boozy sailors, into which radical on the run Foster bursts, with David Landau's bobbies on his trail. There's curiosity value in seeing one of the few sympathetic depictions of a communist in a Hollywood movie and watching McLaglan doing a try out for THE INFORMER but the romance and buddy plots are drab and interest only picks up occasionally for atmospheric material like the pier at night or the shovels fight in the stoke hold, where Menzies' hand is evident.