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14 out of 15 people found the following review useful: rare, Oscar winner is a forgotten treat, 12 June 1999 Author: marc (beautyboy@aol.com) from New York NY
I finally tracked down Bad Girl. It had been on my list of wanna sees for years as it had won a major Oscar for Best Director- Frank Borzage.It was one of those tantalizing early talkies that had not actually been lost it had merely fell from sight. When I finally saw it last year at a Borzage revival, the film was a revelation.It was a pre-code delight about an ordinary couple, falling in love, struggling financially and having a baby etc.It most reminded me of the great silent film-The Crowd, which dealt with similar matters. What was especially fascinating to me was its depiction of "average" lower middle class types and how they lived and spoke in Depression America. The apartments... the slang, all of it, seemed real. It wouldn't be until the 50's neo realism hit American movies that we would see ordinary people depicted on the screen again, without condescension The movie has all the Borzage trademarks- love surviving against all odds, even an exciting if a little hokey climax.Unfortunately, the film has been slighted often in movie books,most likely, because the authors have never actually seen it. If it is ever shown again, try to see it. It's a wonderful peek at average city folks in Depression America.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Interesting, but Far From Borzage's Best, 7 September 2003 Author: Kalaman from Ottawa
An interesting little Borzage love story set during the Depression, detailing the struggles of young couple (Sally Eilers & James Dunn) with their hopes and dreams. Curiously Borzage won his second Oscar as Best Director for this oddly heady little movie and that's perhaps the only reason to watch it. It works as a timepiece of its era. But I definitely wouldn't call "Bad Girl" one of Borzage's best romances (in many ways it strikes me as turgid and unaffecting in several moments, and I didn't like the ending), but it is definitely worth catching if you are fan or a student of the director's sublime and unheralded oeuvre.
6 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Realistic look at an average couple in Depression time., 11 May 2000 Author: Arne Andersen (aandersen@landmarkcollege.org) from Putney, VT
Director Frank Borzage won an Oscar, as did the Screenplay, for this forgotten film, which depicts daily life in Depression time USA with a realism theretofore unknown in film. It was also nominated for Best Film. The oddity here is where they got the title as there isn't a "bad girl" anywhere in sight. It is almost as if they sat down and said to each other - let's get a catchy title that'll lure people in to see this one! They could have named it King Kong in Brooklyn and been just as accurate in describing the content. It's an enjoyable film, though a little dull for some tastes, especially if you keep wondering when the bad girl is going to show up. Worth a watch.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Slice of Life Depression Era Drama, 14 June 2009 Author: sunlily from Dallas, TX.
Bad Girl is included in the new Murnau/Borzage and Fox collection,and kudos to them for making it available! Though an excellent little slice of life film from the Depression Era, I definitely wouldn't say that it compares with Borzage's timeless silent romances, though Borzage's recurrent theme of love conquering all is here to.The lead actors,Sally Eilers, and James Dunn, both do fine jobs, especially Dunn, who paints a very realistic portrait of a "regular Joe", decent kind of a guy. His performance rings true, and he later made a comeback, winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.(1945) This is the story of a young couple's struggle to make it through marriage, finances, and becoming parents. The background story of what was considered "making it" in a poor economy is especially pertinent today. Dunn's character, Eddie Collins, thought it was opening his own radio shop, providing his wife with an elaborately furnished apartment, and getting her the best doctor for her delivery. Not so different from what young couples are facing today! The film is sometimes a bit too wordy, but the slang of the time is a hoot! As one of Borzage's smaller films, it's worth a watch.
2 out of 4 people found the following review useful: The family way, 6 July 2008 Author: dbdumonteil
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The title is a misnomer :there's no bad girl in the movie,so this Borzage movie might not be what you are expecting.One of Borzage's first talkies,and based on a play,it's often too..talky.But the two principals make up for it with their spontaneity and their talent.The story is very simple;unlike many movies of the great director,the couple here does not have to fight against a hostile world -only the girls parents seem to be enemies but they are given only one scene- ,but actually against themselves.Particularly James Dunn whose dream is to own his radio store and who does not want children probably because he's got bad memories from his childhood.Sally Eilers ,on the contrary ,wants to raise a family,and if she cannot,she intends to work again ,which her hubby cannot stand.Nothing melodramatic here,but an endearing depiction of everyday life of the life of a young couple during the depression years .Excellent scenes: James Dunn ,taking his wife to the brand new apartment he has bought for her ,spending every last cent .The same,crying his heart out in the doctor's office The last scenes at a time -not so long ago- when husbands did not attend the childbirth and this extremely moving moment when Dunn asks to hold the child.All the happiness to become a father is in this scene.
4 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Drama of urban life between World Wars, by great "sob=sister" Vina Delmar., 26 February 2001 Author: Regis Hartdy (bigkids) from Berkeley, California
Unfortunately, this is apparently a very scarce film, not available on VHS or DVD, and seldom if ever broadcast. However, as a fan of Vina Delmar I have read the novel upon which the film is based, and must point out that the story takes place in 1923. This was the flapper era, the roaring twenties, the jazz age . . . and the era of Prohibition!A very different period from that of the Great Depression, which began in 1929, and was two years old when the film was made.Whether the story line was changed to place the story in Depression-era New York instead of Roaring Twenties New York, is interesting to consider.I would dearly love to see this film, and to see how well it lives up to the very fine novel by Vina Delmar, BAD GIRL.Regis Hardy
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