The Purchase Price (1932)

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Arthur Stringer (story)
Robert Lord (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 July 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Plot:

Torch singer Joan Gordon, tiring of her relationship with small-time hood and racketeer Eddie Fields...

Plot Keywords:

Mail Order Bride | Singer | North Dakota | Mentally Handicapped | Fistfight

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Joan Gordon
George Brent	...	Jim Gilson
Lyle Talbot	...	Eddie Fields
Hardie Albright	...	Don Leslie
David Landau	...	Bull McDowell
Murray Kinnell	...	Spike Forgan
Leila Bennett	...	Emily - the Hotel Maid
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mae Busch	...	Queenie - Girl on Train (uncredited)
Nick Copeland	...	Skins' Pal at Shivaree (uncredited)
Mike Donlin	...	Tom Buchanan - Man at Shivaree (uncredited)
Harrison Greene	...	Man in Train Station (uncredited)
Crauford Kent	...	A.C. Peters - the Banker (uncredited)
Jack 'Tiny' Lipson	...	Sam Perkins - Man at Shivaree (uncredited)
Matt McHugh	...	Waco - Fields' Henchman (uncredited)
John 'Skins' Miller	...	Skins - the Accordion Player (uncredited)
Carlyle Moore Jr.	...	Hotel Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Edmund Mortimer	...	Dance Extra (uncredited)
Henry Otho	...	Extra in Beer Hall and at Shivaree (uncredited)
Bob Perry	...	Waco's Pal (uncredited)
'Snub' Pollard	...	Joe Atterbury - the Harmonica Player (uncredited)
Victor Potel	...	Clyde (uncredited)
Jed Prouty	...	Elks Crossing Jeweller (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Second Man Joan Sings To (uncredited)
Henry Roquemore	...	First Man Joan Sings To (uncredited)
Anne Shirley	...	Sarah Tipton - the Daughter (uncredited)
Suzanne Talbot	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Kathrin Clare Ward	...	Hotel Lobby Scrubwoman (uncredited)
Lucille Ward	...	Ma - Elmer's Wife (uncredited)
Adele Watson	...	Mrs. Sarah Tipton (uncredited)
Clarence Wilson	...	Elmer, the Justice of the Peace (uncredited)

Directed by
William A. Wellman

Writing credits
Arthur Stringer		(story "The Mud Lark")
Robert Lord		(screenplay)

Cinematography by
Sidney Hickox		(as Sid Hickox)

Film Editing by
William Holmes

Art Direction by
Jack Okey

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dolph Zimmer	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Robert B. Lee	....	sound (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	conductor: Vitaphone orchestra

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1932) (USA) (theatrical)
• Vitaphone Corporation, The (1932) (USA) (theatrical) (as The Vitaphone Corp.)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Vitaphone Orchestra  orchestra

Runtime:

68 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-PG (TV rating)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

During the wheat-burning scene a stand-in was used instead of Barbara Stanwyck, but she didn't think the stand-in acted as the character so Stanwyck decided to play it herself. This resulted in her getting some burns on her legs, but she never complained.

Quotes:

Eddie 'Ed' Fields: Say, when a guy like him marries a doll like you, I'll kiss your... foot... in Macy's window at high noon.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Arkansas Traveler

Stanwyck Triumphs Over Material

After paying THE PURCHASE PRICE for his mail-order bride, a lonely wheat farmer gets more than he bargained for.

Barbara Stanwyck is first-rate, as always, in this pre-Code drama, as a nightclub chanteuse who leaves her East Coast entanglements behind and escapes to the Great Plains and marriage with a stranger. The story is completely inconsequential, but Stanwyck never fails to entertain. Whether she's crooning a sultry song, busheling wheat or jumping into a barroom fight, she's always believable.

George Brent effectively submerges his usually sophisticated mien to play the roughhewn farmer whose simple life and straightforward lovemaking is greatly complicated by Stanwyck's arrival. Brent' s evenhanded performance provides a fine counterpoint to her slightly more flamboyant portrayal.

Lyle Talbot appears as Stanwyck's wealthy former lover who follows her out from New York; David Landau is the rich Dakota landowner who tries to destroy Brent's farm; Hardie Albright as an immature playboy & Leila Bennett as a Montreal hotel maid each make the most of their short appearances.

Movie mavens will recognize brassy Mae Busch (veteran of many a Laurel & Hardy comedy) as the noisy dame seated next to Stanwyck on the train; sour faced Clarence Wilson as a grumpy Justice of the Peace; and young Anne Shirley as the poor farm girl with the new baby brother--all uncredited.

The film does a grave disservice to the good people of North Dakota, making them appear, almost without exception, as drunken louts, imbeciles or scoundrels. Was this really necessary?