A Little Girl in a Big City

The story behind the story is more interesting than the one that appears on screen -- which is about how sweet small-town girl Gladys Walton comes to New York City for a magazine competition and excitement, only to fall prey to the big bad Wolf of Broadway. It's a carefully calculated piece of work, something to suggest the wickedness of the big city to appeal to the prurient interests, like a DeMille picture, and yet have it small town values win out in the end -- the United States only shifted to an urban population in the 1920s, so there was a lot of nostalgia for small town values. The direction by Burton King is decent, the acting is good and the production values are okay. It's pretty much what you expect.

The story behind the story is that Gladys Walton was Al Capone's girl friend -- cue Cloris Leachman in BLAZING SADDLES screaming "Yes! He was mein boyfriend! -- This got her knocked out of her contract with Universal Studios for violation of the morals clause. I don't think it was any great loss to the cinematic arts, but it does add a certain piquancy to the entire picture.