The Woman in Red

Goodness, it's said, is very hard to make interesting--or even sympathetic. Not in the case of Barbara Stanwyck. When, in this movie, a petulant woman says she doesn't like Barbara's character, a man defends her, saying she is "a square shooter." That could describe Barbara in all the parts she played--even when she was a crook, she was fair to everyone.

In this case, the fairest thing she can do to most of the rich, horsey people she finds herself among is to tell them to take a long walk off a short pier, and Barbara doesn't disappoint us. The plot of this movie is just a combination of cliches (working girl rejected by society husband's family and man who will be convicted of murder unless missing witness is found), and the leading man is Gene Raymond, the male Kewpie doll, but Barbara makes it work, with her bravura honesty and energy. Genevieve Tobin also is outstanding as a socialite of breathtaking bitchiness; midway through the film Barbara tells her off, but Genevieve just brushes her off and continues her one-woman class war. (Oddly, she doesn't get her come-uppance at the end, as films of this type have led us to expect; it may be corny, but I felt really cheated when she wasn't stripped of her social status or at least pushed into a horse pond.)

Orry-Kelly contributes, as always, great gowns--but poor Barbara! Genevieve gets the glamorous creations, but Barbara's evening clothes have to make the point that she's a good girl.