Spoiled New Yorksocialite Carol Morgan, romping through the Depression with her lavish lifestyle, breaks off her engagement with Bill Wade over her refusal to live on his comparatively modest salary rather than her own wealth. To make matters worse, she expresses scorn for his career as an advertising executive. An unplanned sexual encounter seems to resolve their differences, until Carol refuses Bill's offer for an expedited wedding at city hall, and again they are unable to come to terms. The impasse ends with Bill leaving her at her opulent home.
Later, when Carol's lawyer and financial manager inform her that she has lost everything, she tentatively reconciles with Bill only to learn from him that he has lost his job the same day. He then informs her that he is going to Chicago with hopes of finding another position there. Further arguments about living together on whatever "meager" income Bill can earn dashes their wedding hopes once again. Disgusted by Carol's pampered personality and lifestyle needs, Bill's younger brother Tony tells her she is a "useless good-for-nothing". To his brother, Tony denounces her as a "courtesan" and predicts, "She'll end up in the street." The forgiving and tolerant Bill responds that she is a good person who just does not know it yet.
Carol now finds herself reduced to living off wealthy social climbers she visits and borrowing money from them, but soon the prestige formerly associated with her name dissipates. She then becomes the mistress of Peter Blainey, whose wife had tried to evict her as a disgraced house guest, thus fulfilling part of Tony's cynical prediction. Bill eventually traces Carol to an elegant apartment, one paid for by Blainey. There he finds her with her rich but brutish benefactor. Feeling disgusted with herself after Bill departs, she ends her relationship with Blainey and leaves the apartment, telling him that if she cannot win Bill's forgiveness, she hopes to at least "square it with myself".
On her own, virtually penniless and unable to find a job, Carol becomes desperate for food and temporarily avoids being evicted from her shabby one-room apartment by selling her shoes to the landlady. She is near collapse from hunger and exhaustion when Bill finds her and asks her once more to marry him, telling her that the past is done and the slate is clean between them. Bill also tells her that he is now a truck driver, but the company folds, leaving him jobless again; nevertheless, the couple finally marry. As newlyweds they continue to struggle through more hard times, until Bill is offered another driving job as a strikebreaker. Strikers, however, threaten him when he arrives for work and later ram his truck with another vehicle as he tries to begin work on his first day.
Another color-enhanced lobby card depicting scene in Faithless when Carol comforts Bill after he is injured.
With Bill severely injured in the wreck, Carol is forced into prostitution to pay his medical bills and their living expenses as she nurses him back to health. She accidentally solicits Tony on the street as he arrives in town, much to his disgust and Carol's humiliation. A policeman arrests her, but takes pity on her and helps her get a job as a waitress by strong-arming the owner of a small diner.
Bill is just on his feet again when his brother Tony arrives at the apartment for a visit, with news that his prediction for Carol had been fulfilled, which he delivers with great contempt, before learning to his shock that Carol has indeed become his sister-in-law. Carol then comes in and tells Bill that she had intended to confess and leave as soon as he was well again, adding that she would do it all again given their dire circumstances. After a moment of sadness, Bill embraces Carol and thanks her for saving his life, wiping the slate clean again.
Tallulah Bankhead in 1932 was under contract with Paramount Pictures, but after making five unsuccessful films for the studio, Paramount loaned her to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to co-star in Faithless. Hoping to refine her appearance to increase the film's potential at the box office, MGM in the early "wealthy" scenes in Faithless dressed Bankhead in glamorous gowns by Adrian and gave her a new stylish Garbo-type hairdo.[2]
Reception
Film critic Mordaunt Hall, in his 1932 review in The New York Times, described Faithless as a "lumbering species of drama", although he did appreciate the "capable performances" of the two leads.[3] Unlike The New York Times, the influential trade paperVariety found virtually nothing in Faithless to compliment or to recommend to prospective ticket buyers. Variety asserted that Tallulah Bankhead's talents were wasted in the film and the production's storyline was far too heavy-handed and depressing for audiences who were seeking escapism entertainment from their own economic woes:
It wasn't enough that Paramount didn't do right by Tallulah Bankhead; they had to lend her to Metro for a picture pointing out the sorrows of the depression and what it did to one wealthy and glamorous heroine. What it did was plenty.
...The whole [plot] invites spoofing. They pile on the suffering so thick any but the most naive theatergoers are going to revolt and scoff, instead of reacting in tears. To start with, public reaction to the Big Slump of 1929-32 isn't favorable. It has done things to the fans, too, and they'd like to forget it when they spend 85c. and amusement tax.
...[Bankhead] struggled valiantly with the role, but it was too much for her, even with a new hair comb that makes her look very much like Garbo from certain angles. Garbo herself couldn't do much with this number, even with a sympathetic cop and a big-hearted Jewish landlady.[4]
Another popular entertainment trade paper in 1932, The Film Daily, agreed with Variety's review of Faithless as being excessively gloomy and a poor vehicle for showcasing the co-stars' acting abilities:
A pretty bad story again handicaps Tallulah Bankhead, and it doesn't help Robert Montgomery either. Plot is a rehash of the obvious sort. ...Motivation is weak, especially that of the hero, who forgives the girl's waywardness repeatedly, and the succession of trials and tribulations for the most part are unwholesome and depressing. The action rambles considerably. Every time the happy ending seems around the corner, some new disappointment turns up and turns on the gloom again.[5]
Faithless did, though, have its enthusiastic supporters and promoters in the media during its run in 1932. The Motion Picture Herald, for example, praised both the story and cast, particularly Bankhead's performance. In the opinion of the Herald, the film's "theme makes it possible for Tallulah Bankhead to turn in an outstanding performance, more vivid than her previous screen appearances."[6]
↑ "Rush." (1932). "Faithless", film review, Variety, November 22, 1932, page 17. Digital copy of original issue, Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
↑ "FAITHLESS", review, The Film Daily, November 19, 1932, page 4. Internet Archive. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
↑ "Faithless (MGM) Dramatic Romance", Motion Picture Herald, Quigley Publishing Company, New York, N.Y., October 15, 1932, pages 64-64. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
Grand Hotel is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay by William A. Drake is based on the 1930 play of the same title by Drake, who had adapted it from the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum. To date, it is the only film to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture without being nominated in any other category.
Ninotchka is a 1939 American romantic comedy film made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch and starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. It was written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and Walter Reisch, based on a story by Melchior Lengyel. Ninotchka marked the first comedy role for Garbo, and her penultimate film; she received her third and final Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1990, Ninotchka was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2011, Time also included the film on the magazine's list of "All-Time 100 Movies".
Twentieth Century is a 1934 American pre-Code screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, and Roscoe Karns. Much of the film is set on the 20th Century Limited train as it travels from Chicago to New York City. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur adapted their 1932 Broadway play of the same name—itself based on the unproduced play Napoleon of Broadway by Charles Bruce Millholland—with uncredited contributions from Gene Fowler and Preston Sturges.
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944). She also had a brief but successful career on radio and made appearances on television. In all, Bankhead amassed nearly 300 film, stage, television and radio roles during her career. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1981.
Lifeboat is a 1944 American survival film directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a story by John Steinbeck. It stars Tallulah Bankhead and William Bendix, alongside Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn and Canada Lee. The film is set entirely on a lifeboat launched from a passenger vessel torpedoed and sunk by a Nazi U-boat.
Robert Montgomery (; born Henry Montgomery Jr.; was an American actor, director, and producer. He began his acting career on the stage, but was soon hired by MGM. Initially assigned roles in comedies, he soon proved he was able to handle dramatic ones, as well. He appeared in a wide variety of roles, such as the weak-willed prisoner Kent in The Big House, the psychotic Danny in Night Must Fall, and Joe, the boxer mistakenly sent to Heaven in Here Comes Mr. Jordan. The last two earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Blonde Venus is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall and Cary Grant. It was produced, edited and directed by Josef von Sternberg from a screenplay by Jules Furthman and S. K. Lauren, adapted from a story by Furthman and von Sternberg. The original story "Mother Love" was written by Dietrich herself. The musical score was by W. Franke Harling, John Leipold, Paul Marquardt and Oscar Potoker, with cinematography by Bert Glennon.
Forsaking All Others is a 1934 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, and starring Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. The screenplay was written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, which was based upon a 1933 play by Edward Barry Roberts and Frank Morgan Cavett starring Tallulah Bankhead.
Dewey Robinson was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 250 films made between 1931 and 1952.
The Little Foxes is a 1941 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1939 play The Little Foxes. Hellman's ex-husband Arthur Kober, Dorothy Parker and her husband Alan Campbell contributed additional scenes and dialogue.
Girls About Town is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Kay Francis and Joel McCrea.
Tarnished Lady is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Cukor and starring Tallulah Bankhead and Clive Brook. The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart is based on his short story, A Story of a New York Lady.
Devil and the Deep is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Marion Gering, based on Maurice Larrouy's novel, and starring Tallulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant. It follows a naval commander who has alienated his wife due to his insane jealousy over every man she speaks to. After his obsessive behavior drives her to the arms of a handsome lieutenant, tragic drama ensues.
The Kiss is a 1929 American synchronized sound drama film directed by Jacques Feyder, starring Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, and Lew Ayres in his first feature film. The film has no audible dialogue but featured a synchronized musical score and sound effects. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric Sound System sound-on-film process. The soundtrack was also transferred to discs for those theatres that were wired with sound-on-disc sound systems.
The Scarlett O'Hara War is a 1980 American made-for-television drama film directed by John Erman. It is based on the 1979 novel Moviola by Garson Kanin. Set in late 1930s Hollywood, it is about the search for the actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in the much anticipated film adaptation of Gone with the Wind (1939). This film premiered as the finale of a three-night TV miniseries on NBC called Moviola: A Hollywood Saga.
The Cheat is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Abbott and starring Tallulah Bankhead and Harvey Stephens. The film is a remake of the 1915 silent film of the same title, directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
My Sin is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Abbott, and written by Abbott, Owen Davis, Adelaide Heilbron. It was adapted from the play, Her Past, written by Frederick J. Jackson. The film stars Tallulah Bankhead, Fredric March, Harry Davenport, Scott Kolk, and Lily Cahill. The film was released on October 3, 1931, by Paramount Pictures.
Thunder Below is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Richard Wallace, written by Sidney Buchman and Josephine Lovett, and starring Tallulah Bankhead, Charles Bickford, Paul Lukas, Eugene Pallette, Ralph Forbes and Leslie Fenton. It was released on June 17, 1932, by Paramount Pictures.
Dark Victory is a 1934 Broadway play written by George Brewer Jr. and Bertram Bloch starring Tallulah Bankhead. It premiered on November 9 at the Plymouth Theatre and ran until December 19.
Anna Appel (1888–1963), was a Romanian-born American stage and film actress, known for her works in the Yiddish language. She was active in New York City for over 50 years in Yiddish theatre, and Yiddish cinema.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
