Paid

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Movie
Original title Paid
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1930
length 80 minutes
Rod
Director Sam Wood
script Lucien Hubbard , Charles MacArthur
production Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music Jack Yellen , Milton Ager
camera Charles Rosher
cut Hugh Wynn
occupation

Paid is a 1930 American film starring Joan Crawford and directed by Sam Wood . The film was a huge success and enabled Crawford to make the leap into the dramatic field, after having mostly appeared in light romances and flapper comedies in previous years .

action

The young saleswoman Mary Turner has been sentenced to 3 years in prison. Her employer Edward Gilder has falsely accused the girl of theft. She swears vengeance in the courtroom. The harsh conditions in the women's prison make the naive Mary a hardened criminal who, after her release, founds a blackmail ring. Having learned from experience, Mary manages to always stay on the edge of legality in activities.

Her revenge on Edward Gilder comes in the person of Bob Gilder, his somewhat unworldly son. Mary seduces the boy and manages to get him to the altar. The horror in the Gilder house is great and the family does everything in their power to have the marriage annulled. Things take some more dramatic tangles before Mary and Bob find happiness.

background

Joan Crawford had come to fame in the last days of silent film for portraying carefree young women then known as flappers .

Profound changes in society were associated with the economic uncertainty in the wake of the global economic crisis . While musicals , revue films, and salon comedies depicting the problems of the Top Ten Thousands rapidly lost popularity, new genres such as horror films and gangster films established themselves . Increasingly, socially critical films were also produced that cast a concerned look at abuses in society. The changed taste of the audience meant that the role of flappers as a carefree young woman who understands life as a series of amusements without material worries quickly became a thing of the past. Against this background, from 1930 onwards, the studio transformed Joan Crawford's image into an ambitious woman who wants to improve her living conditions on her own. Therefore, at this point in her acting career, she often played working-class girls who make up the social ladder. The change first manifested itself in Our Blushing Brides , where Joan Crawford was a saleswoman. Using three friends as an example, the film raises the question of the extent to which moral standpoints and values ​​such as virtue and integrity can endure in times of economic uncertainty. In addition, it shows how traditional moral concepts about marriage and sexuality must be available under the changed social conditions. This basic pattern was only slightly varied in the next few films.

Paid would be a career milestone for Crawford when it was her first appearance as a dramatic actress. The film is based on the successful play Within the Law by Bayard Veiller, which had already been successfully brought to the screen several times under its original title, for example with Alice Joyce in 1917 and with Norma Talmadge in 1923. The studio had for the role of Mary Turner initially thought of Norma Shearer , but she became pregnant just before filming began. Eventually Crawford convinced those responsible to give her the role. Typically for a Crawford film, the first half of the film portrays poverty and deprivation more or less realistically and does not shy away from pointing out the sometimes scandalous conditions in women's prisons. In the further course of the plot, however, Mary develops more and more into a member of the better society with the corresponding attributes such as fur coats, elaborate evening dresses and expensive jewelry. The film is also a good example of Greta Garbo's influence on her fellow actors. Especially after 1930 it became a real fashion to copy certain outward appearances of Garbo. Many actresses used certain lighting effects to accentuate their eyes and cheekbones. Effects in modulating the voice to evoke a mysterious, thought-lost aura were also popular. Joan Crawford also went through this Garbo period beginning with Paid and consciously adapted her appearance and hairstyle as well as her modulation to Garbo.

While filming, Joan Crawford became friends with Marie Prevost , whose career was rapidly dwindling with the advent of talkies . When the actress was discovered dead in her apartment a few days later in 1937, a check made out by Joan Crawford was among the remains.

Even decades later, the actress was proud of her performance. She told Roy Newquist:

"... my first highly dramatic role and I did a good job, a damn good job."

Theatrical release

The production cost ended up being $ 385,000, which was roughly the average for an MGM film. Paid proved popular at the box office, grossing $ 920,000 more in the US than any Crawford film before. With foreign income of $ 311,000 and a cumulative total income of $ 1,231,000, the studio was able to generate a high profit of $ 415,000 in the end. Joan Crawford established herself as one of MGM's most economically valuable stars.

Reviews

Contemporary critics praised the film.

The New York Times found:

"Miss Crawford and Miss Prevost are very good at their roles."

Photoplay , an influential industry journal at the time, said:

“Wait to see Joan Crawford in this powerful dramatic role! The story is gripping and Joan is just great! "

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography . University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
  • Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ... my first really heavy dramatic role, and I did a good job, a damned good job.
  2. ↑ Miss Crawford and Miss Prevost are very good in their roles.
  3. ↑ Just wait until you see Joan Crawford in this powerful dramatic role! The story is absorbing and Joan is simply grand!