Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)

1931
Approved
1h 16m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Clark Gable and Greta Garbo in Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931)

Fleeing her cruel uncle and an arranged marriage Susan Lenox falls in love with a kind stranger but circumstances force her to become a woman of easy virtue.Fleeing her cruel uncle and an arranged marriage Susan Lenox falls in love with a kind stranger but circumstances force her to become a woman of easy virtue.Fleeing her cruel uncle and an arranged marriage Susan Lenox falls in love with a kind stranger but circumstances force her to become a woman of easy virtue.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

1.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
David Graham Philllips, the novelist who wrote "Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise" was murdered by a mentally unbalanced reader while walking in Grammercy Park, in New York in 1911. The novel was published posthumously, six years later, in 1917. Its subject matter was initially thought to be too risqué.

Goofs
(around 29 mins 50 seconds) When Susan Lenox uses the horses and buggy to escape from Ohlin, she is in a frenzy driving the horses standing up and behind the seat but when she arrives at the train station she is sitting down.

Quotes
Rodney Spencer: [to Susan] Penthouses and politicians don't last forever, do they?

Connections
Featured in The Happy Ending (1969)

Soundtracks
Overture to Romeo and Juliet
Written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Played over the opening credits
Reprised as background music during Mike's party
Played at the end

User reviews32

Review

Featured review

magnificent photography

This film could be summarized as 'just another Garbo redemption yarn'... well, it is and it isn't. If you're familiar with the Garbo films (silents & talkies), you'll find yourself knowing the script before it happens onscreen, so, yes, indeed, Garbo will fall first then unwillingly rise from the gutter, sit on top of the world, then fall again, willingly or not. Some have written very intelligent lines on the subject (Mick Lasalle in 'Complicated Women' for instance) so I won't ad lib on this.

But this particular film adds another element: its photography. Splendid throughout all of Susan's cahotic life, the images crafted by Bill Daniels are simply amazing and on par with any Sternberg film - yes, that good. I can't remember precisely at the moment but the film was almost entirely redone before being released, either by R.Z. Leonard or by somebody else and R.Z. kept the credit...

Whatever. If script-wise quite predictable, this film should be seen if only for the sake of its images. Also, Garbo gives a performance worthy of the one she had in Grand Hotel - glimpses of eternity perhaps.

Too bad the big guys think this one's not worth more than a crappy VHS - photography on this level IS art... And Garbo's face eludes all possible descriptions.