Sadie McKee

Movie
Original title	Sadie McKee
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1934
length	93 minutes
Rod
Director	Clarence Brown
script	John Meehan
production	Lawrence Weingarten for MGM
music	Arthur Freed
camera	Oliver T. Marsh
cut	Hugh Wynn
occupation
	Joan Crawford : Sadie McKee; Gene Raymond : Tommy Wallace; Franchot Tone : Michael Alderson; Esther Ralston : Dolly; Edward Arnold : Jack Brennan; Leo G. Carroll : "Finnegan" Phelps; Earl Oxford : Stooge; Jean Dixon : Opal; Akim Tamiroff : Riccori;

Sadie McKee is a 1934 American film starring Joan Crawford and directed by Clarence Brown . The film is a fine example of the excellent production values that MGM has available.

action

Sadie McKee works with her mother as a domestic servant for the wealthy Alderson family. Her employer's son, Michael Alderson, has loved Sadie from childhood. The differences in class prevent him from confessing his feelings to her. One day the naive Sadie meets the easy-going playboy Tommy Wallace. They both run away to New York, where it quickly becomes apparent what a windy character Tommy really is. Just as Sadie leaves the house to make an appointment at the registry office, Tommy is seduced by Dolly, a vaudeville artist. When Sadie returns from the registry office beaming with joy, Tommy is already up and away with Dolly. Sadie is badly hit, but life goes on and she takes the job as a dancer in a night club. A short time later, she meets one of the guests, the alcoholic millionaire Jack Brennan, who assists Sadie with a pushy admirer. Brennan falls in love with Sadie and they both get married. The first few months of the marriage go well. Sadie tries to get Jack off his drunkenness. But one evening, in an elegant club, Sadie meets Tommy again, who is performing a revue number with Dolly. There is another spark between the two. Just as Sadie is ready to leave Jack, she learns from Jack's doctor that he only has six months to live if he doesn't stop drinking immediately. Sadie accepts the task and actually manages to cure her husband of his addiction. Michael Alderson suddenly appears in the doorway. He loves Sadie, but she loves Tommy, who has been abandoned by Dolly in the meantime. After some back and forth, Sadie finds Tommy, who immediately dies of tuberculosis in her arms. Sadie is finally bringing order to her emotional life. She leaves Jack and finds happiness and security with Michael.

background

Joan Crawford was still in the silent film days as an actress of exuberant girls, so-called flapper in a series of light romances achieved fame. At the beginning of the 1930s she was able to further consolidate her status as a star by changing roles to becoming a heroine of tearful melodramas. Most of the time Crawford was seen as an ambitious woman who copes with the adverse circumstances on her own and thus creates social advancement and / or stubbornly fights for her happiness with a man against all prejudice. After 1933, the actress specialized in portraying wealthy women who experience romantic entanglements between two men and end up finding true happiness, preferably in the arms of Clark Gable . Sadie McKee is a case in point of these laboriously produced films. Crawford lived through the emotional crises in a never-ending sequence of spectacular costumes by MGM chief designer Gilbert Adrian with constantly changing hairstyles and in front of opulent studio sets, all of which were designed by Cedric Gibbons . The camera work immersed the scenes in a luxurious, softly drawn aura of prosperity and solidity using the soft skylight preferred by MGM.

Sadie McKee was Crawford's third film with Franchot Tone , who starred alongside her in supporting roles in Today We Live and I Dance Just For You . Here he is for the first time the man who ends up standing in front of the altar with Crawford. The two actors were already having an affair at the time, which actually ended in marriage in 1935. In the movie What Really Happened To Baby Jane? from 1962, Joan Crawford sits in front of the television as Blanche Hudson, a former movie star now in a wheelchair and sees one of her old successes on television. The excerpts used are from Sadie McKee . Leo G. Carroll made his screen debut in the film.

The actress was at peace with herself and her portrayal even decades later, as she confessed to Roy Newquist:

"'Everything about" Sadie McKee "was right - Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone, the script, the direction of Clarence Brown, Adrian's costumes."

Theatrical release

The film came into national distribution on May 9, 1934. A cost of $ 612,000 made Sadie McKee an above-average MGM production. At 838,000 US dollars, it grossed significantly less than the previous success I dance only for you or the film In Golden Chains, which was released a short time later . With foreign income of 464,000 US dollars and a cumulative total result of 1,302,000 US dollars, the studio was able to realize a profit of 226,000 US dollars, which is below average for a Crawford film.

Reviews

Most of the critics were benevolent towards the stars, but criticized a certain illogic and banality of the script.

Marguerite Tazelaar reviewed Sadie McKee for the New York Herald Tribune :

"Mr. Brown has used an emotionality in his direction that promotes the film as much as it hinders it. It helps to make the story exciting, lively and stimulating. It hinders by emphasizing the shortcomings of the story in logic, its confusion and artificiality. [...]. Miss Crawford seems a little miscast in the role of naive innocence, but she does an excellent job as Sadie and is also moving in some scenes. "

The industry journal Hollywood Reporter got straight to the point:

"Well-made film [...] perfect for the audience [...] well tailored to Miss Crawford's talents [...] the stuff the fans want [...] a blast for the female fans . "

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

^ Everything about "Sadie McKee" was right - Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone, the script, Clarence Brown's direction, Adrian's costumes.
↑ Mr. Brown has employed an emotional quality in his direction that both helps and hinders the picture. It helps in keeping the story an exciting, vivid, enkindled canvas. It hinders, in exaggerating its artifice, its confusion and its lack of logic. [...]. Miss Crawford seems a bit miscast in the role of girlish innocence, but she does a competent job with Sadie, and in certain of her scenes is genuinely moving.
↑ Swell picture [...] sure-fire audience [...] well-tailored for the talents of Miss Crawford [...] the stuff the fans cry for [...] a humdinger for femme fans.

[1] Everything about "Sadie McKee" was right - Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone, the script, Clarence Brown's direction, Adrian's costumes.

[2] Mr. Brown has employed an emotional quality in his direction that both helps and hinders the picture. It helps in keeping the story an exciting, vivid, enkindled canvas. It hinders, in exaggerating its artifice, its confusion and its lack of logic. [...]. Miss Crawford seems a bit miscast in the role of girlish innocence, but she does a competent job with Sadie, and in certain of her scenes is genuinely moving.

[3] Swell picture [...] sure-fire audience [...] well-tailored for the talents of Miss Crawford [...] the stuff the fans cry for [...] a humdinger for femme fans.