Common clay
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Common clay |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1930 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Victor Fleming |
| script | Jules Furtham |
| production | William Fox for Fox Film Corporation |
| music | Arthur Kay |
| camera | Glen Mac Williams |
| occupation | |
| |
Common Clay is an American film drama from 1930 starring Constance Bennett .
action
Ellen Neal is arrested at the beginning of the involved and by today's standards more than implausible plot during a raid on a bar that serves alcoholic beverages despite prohibition. She is charged with immoral behavior and the judge admonishes her that if she continues to work in such a poor environment, she would end up as a prostitute. Ellen withdraws and takes a job as a domestic servant with the Fullertons, a respectable family of the so-called Better Society . Soon, however, she is sexually harassed by the male family members. Especially the eldest son of the Fullertons, Hugh, believes in Ellen that he is looking at a girl with an easygoing lifestyle and lax morals. Both have a violent argument and sooner or later they fall in love. Hugh goes back to college and Ellen discovers she is pregnant.
After Ellen returns home to her family, she learns that she is the illegitimate daughter of a previous relationship with her mother. Ellen then wants justice from the Fullertons and demands that her unborn child be recognized. The Fullertons treat Ellen like a blackmailer and ask their friend, Judge Filson, to settle the matter with money and as discreetly as possible. Filson is surprised, however, to find in Ellen a well-behaved young woman with upright morals. He quickly feels sympathy for her and suggests that the Fullertons recognize the child. Meanwhile, Hugh has heard of the matter and wants to see Ellen again. However, this does not suit the head of the family and he refuses any amicable solution.
Ellen becomes a mother and then goes to court. There were some surprising revelations in the course of the turbulent negotiations. So Mrs. Neal confesses on the witness stand that she is not Ellen's mother at all. In truth, Ellen was the child of a good friend with a young law student who was prevented from marrying by his family. The friend died out of shame and Mrs. Neal raised the child as her own. During the testimony, the camera pans to Judge Filson's face, who suddenly recognizes Ellen as his daughter. Father and daughter embrace. The Fullertons are ready to take them in now that Ellen is one of their own. But Ellen gives a passionate speech in court in which she exposes the double standards and the bigotry of the so-called better society . In the end, Ellen and Hugh find each other.
background
With revenues of $ 1,700,000 and a profit of $ 885,000, the film was the financially most successful production of the year for Fox Film Corporation, which was increasingly gripped by the deepening economic crisis. At the same time he established Constance Bennett as a major star. With the role, Bennett created a type that she was to portray often in the following two years: the single young mother who finds a husband and her place in society with charm, discipline and wit: Born to Love , The Common Law and She ended up taking Rockabye to the altar at Joel McCrea's side . She was looking for her true father in other variations: Bought and Bed of Roses depict her struggle for the truth.
In addition was Common Clay the style for the genre of confession movie , which during the Great Depression mainly attracted the female audiences. Most of the films revolve around the problems of women who get into trouble through a love story with a man of weak character. In the end, the women end up on the streets to support themselves and their children and / or family. Helen Hayes in The Sin of Madelon Claudet or Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus varied the subject matter. Often the women also became the lovers of older men or pursued unworthy occupations in order to survive: Barbara Stanwyck in Shopworn , Constance Bennett in Herz at the crossroads . Most women tried to hide the illegitimate origin of their children: Kay Francis in I Found Stella Parrish and Give Me Your Heart , Irene Dunne in The Secret of Madame Blanche , Ruth Chatterton in Madame X, and Frisco Jenny or Ann Harding in The Life of Vergie Winters . For women, the path back to having their own child often led through marriage to the adoptive father: Ruth Chatterton in Lullaby , Ann Harding in Devotion and Gallant Lady , Barbara Stanwyck in Always Goodbye , the remake of Gallant Lady .
The Common Clay was made into a film again in 1936 under the title Private Number with Loretta Young and Robert Taylor in the leading roles.
Web links
- Common Clay in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Literature on the subject
- Mark A. Viera: Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood . Abrams, New York 1999, ISBN 0-8109-4475-8 (English).
- Mick LaSalle: Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood . 2002, ISBN 0-312-28431-4 (English).
- Thomas Doherty: Pre-Code Hollywood . Columbia University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-231-11095-2 (English).
- Lea Jacobs: The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film 1928-1942 . University of California Press, Berkeley 1997, ISBN 0-520-20790-4 (English).