LADIES MUST LIVE (1940)

A Warners B-film adaptation of a George M. Cohan play, "The Hometowners." Wayne Morris plays a rich farmer; Rosemary Lane is a big city chorus girl whose car gets stuck in a pothole on his property. He helps her out and she thinks he's just another hick until they meet up again in New York City and fall in love. As their wedding day approaches, Morris's best friend, Pighead (Roscoe Karns) and his wife (Lee Patrick) enter the scene. Karns thinks that Lane is just a gold digger and that her entire family will take advantage of Morris's money. Complications, based on prejudices about farmers and city folk, ensue. Generally, this is a fast moving comedy that feels like it's been edited down a bit too much, especially in the set-up. Morris is an attractive cornfed hunk; Lane doesn't register much one way or the other; Karns is amusing, as usual, but best of all is Lee Patrick (Effie in THE MALTESE FALCON) in a Ruth Hussey-type role. She gets the best lines and delivers them well. It's a shame she never had a stronger A-film career. George Reeves is Lane's brother and William Hopper is a jock ex-boyfriend. [TCM]

A LOST LADY (1934)

This is based on a Willa Cather novel, though most reviews say that only the title and character names remain intact. Barbara Stanwyck is on the eve of marrying Philip Reed, but he is shot and killed by the husband of a woman Reed was seeing on the sly. Stanwyck has a breakdown and is convinced that she will never love again. Her family sends her off to a mountain retreat to recover, and while hiking one day, she is injured. Lawyer Frank Morgan finds her and nurses her back to health, both physically and emotionally. She agrees to marry him because she feels in debt to him, but they agree it will be a sexless, non-romantic relationship. She's happy for a while, and even fends off the advances of the handsome Lyle Talbot, who works for Morgan. Then the soap suds start up when she meets obnoxious but rich pilot Ricardo Cortez and, despite his general brashness, falls in love with him. Stanwyck decides to leave Morgan, and he promptly has a heart attack. Will she run off with Cortez or stay and nurse Morgan? A rather bland melodrama; everyone is rich but no one is particularly likeable. Frankly, I was rooting for Talbot to come back at the end and take her away. For all the plot threads, it's very short and doesn't have a strong supporting cast to give it some color. Morgan's Lassie-type dog is as interesting as any of the human characters. [TCM]