Sinners in the Sun

This 1932 pre-code Paramount Picture, based on a magazine story by Mildred Cram and directed by Alexander Hall, is best remembered today because it contains a bit of Cary Grant in one of the many stiff playboy roles he did before stardom. All in all, it's not much a story, entirely predictable, but as staged expertly by Hall the film does recreate visually the atmosphere of New York and Long Island society that Fitzgerald wrote about in The Great Gatsby a few years before. The actors are all particularly well-cast, down to the smallest part. (Look especially for a few moments with Anderson Lawler as a self-confessing gigolo.) Chester Morris (Boston Blackie) is for once throughly believable in a tough guy up from the streets role, but as usual it's Carole Lombard--she who could do no wrong--who steals the show and carries the picture. She's both lovely and touching and wears many a superb Travis Banton costume. A true star.

Doris (Carole Lombard) and Jimmie (Chester Morris) have been dating for some time and pretty much everyone assumes they'll one day marry. However, when he asks her to marry him, Doris announces that she won't marry him, as she wants a man with money....and Jimmie is just a poor mechanic. They both go their own way...she as a model and he is hired as a chauffeur for a pretty rich woman. Soon BOTH end up with offers of marriage from rich folks...and hers from a man who is already married! Can either be happy without the other or living 'the good life' with the rich and powerful?

Apart from a chance to see Cary Grant in one of his early supporting roles, the film is still worth seeing. Occasionally, it comes off as heavy-handed (such as the scene that obviously telegraphs a suicide to come) and the message seems ironic considering how rich these Hollywood folks are...but it's also enjoyable and the two leads do a splendid job.

While the film only vaguely goes there, the implication is that Doris perhaps has been putting out in order to get rich and famous. Many other Pre-Code films might have made this more obvious and vulgar.

A young couple's relationship is threatened by his lack of success. An enjoyable romantic drama featuring a young Carole Lombard as a fashion model - which, as this is a pre-Code movie, means lots of shots of women in lingerie - and Chester Morris as a garage mechanic who eventually marries a socialite after becoming her chauffeur. It's the kind of story that's usually treated lightly by Hollywood studios, but Sinners in the Sun has a welcome dark edge, although everyone - even a wealthy philanderer - is a little too likeable. A pre-fame Cary Grant gives notice of his star potential in a couple of scenes.

A beautifully written and sometimes magnificently played serious movie. Chester Morris and Carole Lombard love each other, but she is terrified of the corrosive effects of the life of poverty that she foresees with Morris. So they break up and drift into lives as a kept woman and a gigolo.

The two are almost perfect in their roles; Chester Morris plays a character who is almost unable to phrase a clear thought and pulls it off beautifully, for a wonderful payoff scene. Miss Lombard only fails in one scene, towards the end, when she is contemplating suicide: I blame the heavy-handed direction of it rather than her performance. But the movie is riddled with wonderful performances: the always excellent Alison Skipworth as Lombard's supportive mother; Reginald Barlow as the father who gives her no chance; Adrienne Ames and Walter Byron as their likable seducers. Particularly good is Rita La Roy, an actress whom I have never noticed before, as a kept woman who kills herself -- alas, this was her best part in the movies, After her career faded out she sold yachts. Cary Grant is also present in a small role, in his second movie, but if you're not paying attention to the soundtrack you could easily miss him: his voice was far more distinctive than his good looks at this stage of his career.

There is a happy ending, but it feels forced. That is the one flaw in this movie. Otherwise it is well worth your time.

This simple 1930s film seems to have the underlying theme that a person should be happy with their lot in life and shouldn't want more out of life--a reasonable less considering it was the Depression! When the film begins, Doris (Carole Lombard) and Jimmie (Chester Morris) are in love but to Doris there needs to be much more. This is because although Jimmie has a job, he's not exactly wealthy and she wants money and a fancy life. So, she dumps him and goes off on a search for a rich husband. Jimmie is angry and disgusted but eventually he goes looking for a rich wife. However, even though both have a cushy rich life in front of them, neither is happy.

The biggest reason to see this film is to see Cary Grant in one of his first films. He's reasonably good as a nice rich man but nothing more. As far as the story goes, I liked it but felt the fast run-time was a serious detriment. Because it went by so fast, the story felt more like an object lesson than about real people. But it still was modestly interesting and is worth a look.