SCARLET PAGES (1930)

In 1911, we see a matron at the Good Samaritan Orphanage performing intake on the child of Mary Bancroft, and we learn that one of the rules of taking the child is that they will never tell the mother who adopts the child. In 1930, Mary has become a successful lawyer who is being pursued by district attorney John Remington. Though she enjoys his company, she avoids commitment, possibly because of her past. One night at a nightclub, Mary and John see young Nora Mason, a brightly spangled chorus girl, perform. Nora wants to leave the business and is about to elope with a boy named Bob, but her father is essentially trying to pimp her to Gregory Jackson, a theatrical producer who wants to make a star of her (and, of course, wants to force her to marry him). That night, Nora's father is shot dead and Nora has disappeared as the police search for her. The next day, in a very melodramatic scene, Nora's mother brings Nora to Mary's office and asks her to defend Nora in court. Nora admits to killing her father but won't give a reason. After some thought, Mary agrees. When she chats with John about the case, she says she thinks that Nora is protecting someone else, most likely her mother. We eventually learn that on the night of the murder, Mr. Mason was so adamant about the arrangement with Jackson that he had threatened to kill Bob. Something else happened that night as well, as we find out that Mr. Mason may have sexually assaulted Nora. Things come to a head in the courtroom (where John is the prosecutor) when it's divulged that Nora was adopted—and guess who was her birth mother.

(Spoilers follow) This pre-Code melodrama allows Nora to escape legal punishment for murder, and gives most of the characters happy endings by the fadeout, though poor Mary has to suffer through thinking that her shame of unwed motherhood may hurt her career (it probably won't), and that she will lose the love of John (she doesn't). She is also shamed by Nora for giving her up (Nora eventually forgives her). Even Nora and Bob wind up together. This is the only talking picture made by Elsie Ferguson, who plays Mary, and who played her on stage as well. Ferguson was a well known stage actress who made many silent films, but retired from movies after this. She's a bit stiff and artificial, and doesn't generate much natural sympathy for her character. Marian Nixon (Nora) is one-note sullen throughout, which, though it does fit her character, grows boring. Better are John Halliday as John (a bit dashing and always on Mary's side, even when he's fighting her in court) and Grant Withers as Bob (big nice-guy doofus). It's clear to us from the beginning that Nora is Mary's daughter, but the actual revelation is withheld until the end. The court case, however, does generate enough tension to keep us watching. Well, it will keep you watching if you are already aware of the problems of early talkies, and this one has many of them—static shots, stagy performances, an awkward dance number. Still, the vaguely presented themes of female strength and dysfunctional family dynamics may interest some. Pictured are Nixon and Withers. [TCM]