Synopsis
David Slade, an evangelist (Foster), professes to be in love with criminal Nan Taylor (Stanwyck). However, after she confesses her part in a bank robbery to him, he rejects her, and she ends up in a women’s prison. David truly loves Nan and wants to visit her, but she refuses to see him. Her confederates in the bank robbery have also been jailed. To aid them Nan agrees to see David knowing that he will mail a letter that she slips into his pocket. The letter concerns the prison escape plans of her confederates. Through no fault of David, the letter reaches the police, and her friends are killed in the break out attempt. Nan believes that David looked at the letter and gave it to the police. After her release from prison, Nan stalks David intending to kill him, but after wounding him she is remorseful. Their love overcomes their differences and they are united.
Discussion
This Pre-Code film was made to showcase the dramatic talents of Barbara Stanwyck. She plays a tough girl adjusting to prison life. Her changing emotions relative to Preston Foster's character allow her to display love, anger, softness, and toughness. The story line, however, is confused and illogical. The best moments are some amusing incidents that would not have been allowed under the Production Code. For instance, Stanwyck and Lillian Roth, who plays another prisoner, are in the smoking room, and Stanwyck sees a cigar stub on the floor and says men must be getting in. In response, Roth points to a very butch woman with short hair, a firm walk, who wears a suit and smokes cigars. Later, Maude Ebern indicates a prisoner who quit her job as one of Ebern’s girls, because, Ebern says, she got tired of walking up the stairs. Preston Foster plays the evangelist with sincerity, but without much flair or impact. He makes a weak partner for Stanwyck.
Other films produced during the brief Pre-Code Hollywood period from 1930-34 (before enforcement of the the Motion Picture Production Code restricting profanity, violence, sexuality and cynical content from films) include The Bachelor Father, Blondie of the Follies, Employee's Entrance, Hat Check Girl, A House Divided, The Kiss Before the Mirror, Laughter in Hell, The Maltese Falcon, Safe in Hell, She Had to Say Yes and Ten Cents a Dance.