Sweepings

Lionel Barrymore plays a man who builds a successful department store business and hopes to pass it on to his children. But they have grown up to want nothing to do with running the family business. Actually, they've grown up to be spoiled jerks! Barrymore is excellent in the kind of sympathetic fatherly role he was born to play. He's not playing a total hero here, though. His character mistreats a longtime employee played by Gregory Ratoff. It's actually a fascinating part of the film, particularly the scene where Barrymore belittles and subtly threatens the man solely out of spite because he feels hurt by his children.

Alan Dinehart is good as Barrymore's brother. The sons are played by William Gargan, George Meeker, and Eric Linden. They're all fine. Gloria Stuart, on loan from Universal, is very pretty but does nothing to impress as the daughter. This is at least in part because she's the daughter and her importance is diminished because, given the era it was made, the idea of a girl running the business wasn't even considered. Her character seems too flighty to have interest in it, anyway, but because she's left out of this part of the plot she's really given little to do. Cutie Helen Mack has a smaller part that has more meat on it.

A good drama from RKO, similar to many other dramas like this from the early to mid '30s. Usually about kids wanting something different than their parents and basically being disrespectful and unappreciative. A theme that resonates across generations I'm sure.

Quite good film about a shop-owner who lives to see his little business flourish into a major department store; unfortunately, his angry, ungrateful children want no part of the business once dad passes over. Melodrama loses focus in the last half, but until then is excellently acted, surprisingly interesting. Best scene: the mental breakdown of the harried store clerk. **1/2 from ****

I guess if you're not going to offer Depression audiences pure escapism (i.e. Andy Hardy/James Cagney/Ruby Keeler) then the next best thing is to make a movie about rich people being miserable. Certainly this somber, bleak offering from director John Cromwell, with somber, bleak cinematography from Ernest Cronjager., more than fits the bill. Not only is it a film wherein all the main characters are, to a greater or lesser degree, wealthy, selfish and/or weak buttholes but they are unhappy, suffering, wealthy, selfish and/or weak buttholes into the bargain. In other words, this is rather one note, repetitive stuff and were it not for Cromwell's pacing skills, Cronjager's aforesaid moody camera, and a veritable cornucopia of fine performances from messers Barrymore, Gargan, Mack, Linden and especially, as a previous reviewer has noted, Ratoff it would be hard to sit through. As it is I found it quite interesting and think that you will too. Give it a B minus.

PS...The way Barrymore said "window trimmer" when his middle son Bert announces what he wants to do leads me to suspect that Bert might be in the closet. Maybe I'll get Lester Cohen's novel, upon which his screenplay is based, to find out. Maybe not.

After the Great Chicago Fire, a fiercely determined man slowly builds his business into the city's mightiest department store. However, the dreams he has for his children's success become as worthless as the SWEEPINGS off the dirty floors, destroyed by the young people's willful & wanton lives.

Lionel Barrymore dominates this fine, neglected character study which serves as a showcase for his talents. Less flamboyant than his celebrated younger brother John, Lionel was a marvelous actor, as well as a true eccentric (not long before this film was made he began living in a loft above one of MGM's sound stages and, according to the rumor which circulated around the studio, had completely stopped bathing). With his fascinating voice & stage-engendered mannerisms, Lionel was always worth watching. And so he proves here, playing a man who could be warmly loving & completely ruthless by turns.

Kudos should also extend to Ninetta Sunderland as Barrymore's faithful, tragic wife; George Meeker as his cheery brother; and Gregory Ratoff as Barrymore's shrewd store manager. They each flesh out a small role and make it notable. Young Gloria Stuart, who would have a resurgence of fame more than 60 years later in TITANIC, plays Barrymore's daughter.

Movie mavens will recognize Mary Gordon as Mrs. O'Leary (with cow) and Franklin Pangborn as a nervous photographer, both uncredited Look fast in the early train station scene for champion athlete Jim Thorpe, unbilled, playing a passing Indian; he was reduced to making appearances like this to pay the bills.

RKO gave the film excellent production values; Slavko Vorkapich, a true master of what was termed `transitional effects,' supplied montages which are especially noteworthy.

Max Steiner composed the full-bodied score.

Any parent who ever became disappointed with his children and any child who felt parental pressure will surely enjoy this drama. Lionel Barrymore is terrific as the father of four children, nicely played as adults by Eric Linden, William Gargan, George Meeker and Gloria Stuart, who cause him great embarrassment and grief and want little or nothing to do with the very successful department store he founded in Chicago after the great fire of 1871. The rest of the supporting cast all do well with Gregory Ratoff a standout as Barrymore's faithful manager, who feels he is not appreciated. Director John Cromwell gets the right feel of the period and handles the crowd scenes (with 300 extras used in the frenzied sale scenes) very well. This was an enjoyable movie.

Interesting tidbits: Barrymore had the flu and a fever of 103°F through some of the production but kept filming despite the doctor's order to rest. Special makeup applied by uncredited Mel Berns and Ern Westmore made the 55-year-old Barrymore look 25 at the start of the film. William Gargan was also in the 1939 remake "Three Sons," but played the part that Alan Dinehart played in this film.