The Madison family is financially prosperous but rotten to the core. When the film begins, you see that the daughter, Marianne, is gosh- darn awful--self-absorbed but vivacious. As for her parents, they don't see any of it and give in to her every whim. Their young son is also a brat, but not as hateful as Marianne. There's also Laura (Bette Davis) and, inexplicably, she seems like a pretty nice young lady but isn't as popular as Marianne.
Through the course of the film, Marianne behaves abominably. When she meets a slick huckster (Humphrey Bogart), she quickly dumps her boyfriend and eventually forges her father's signature on a document that allows the huckster to steal from investors...then runs off with the rogue. Eventually, however, the nice sister gets the nice guy instead of Marianne getting him--proving in a less than subtle way that nice girls finish first.
This heavy-handed morality story has a few strengths and quite a few deficits. Davis is very nice here in her first film and the story is engaging. On the other hand, Marianne is a poorly written character--way too obvious to the point where her parents would have to be practically brain dead to put up with her! Additionally, the film just ends very abruptly and seems almost as if there is a reel missing from the movie! All in all, a very mixed bag...only of interest to Davis fans or perhaps Bogie fans.
