PRIMROSE PATH (1940)

Twenty-nine year-old teenager Ginger Rogers has a family ain't nobody jealous of.  Her mom's a hooker with a good heart, her grandma's a hooker with a heart made of fossilized rat poison, her little sister is a hooker in-training and her dad's a pants-shitting drunkard.  She lives in a rundown shack with her shitty family and she doesn't go to school since nobody makes her.  One day she decides to get some crabs (the crustacean kind) for her shitfaced dad, so she hitches a ride down to the beach from a kindly old man who offers her some free food at his hamburger stand.  The cook (McCrea) takes a liking to her and she (secretly) to him.  Things happen and they hook up, but she lied about her family.  What's gonna happen when he finds out the truth?

Ginger Rogers ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for the same years KITTY FOYLE directed by Frank Capra, but according to Joel McCrea: "I think they really gave it to her for PRIMROSE PATH but they were afraid of the subject matter in those days.  Even Frank Capra said it was a better film than KITTY FOYLE."  That's very interesting.  I haven't seen KITTY FOYLE, but I was surprised at Rogers outstanding performance in PRIMROSE PATH especially when you compare it to her terrible performance in 1942's ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON.  It's asking a lot of an 29-year-old actress to play a teenager in a serious role, but Rogers pulls it off.  Yeah, she looks too old, but her portrayal all the way down to the smallest mannerisms was spot on.  Very impressive.  The story on the other hand is interesting, but there wasn't enough tension and the abrupt ending was completely unsatisfying. 

Worth a watch for fans of McCrea and Rogers, but overall I was hoping for better.

UNION DEPOT (1932)

Wow.  This was a interesting picture.  Released a few months before the film version of GRAND HOTEL, but with a similar theme: set entirely in and around a central location the story revolves around the employees/visitors and all their various interactions.  There's even a 'bad guy" with a heart of gold that sacrifices himself for love.

Opening with an very impressive crane shot, UNION DEPOT is set in an unnamed metropolitan train depot.  It's busy and busting at the seams with interesting characters.  At first we get a stream of short tidbits introducing various people and giving us a feel of the joint.  Finally the action centers in on a dashing hobo (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) who, along with his buddy (Guy Kibbee), steal an employees uniform in an attempt to get some food.  Stuff happens and next thing you know Fairbanks has himself in the possession of a ton of cash!  Around the same time his kind heart/horniness gets the best of him when he spots a sad looking Joan Blondell who he mistakes as a prostitute! 

Alan Hale as a gun toting bad guy, George Rosener as a massive pervert, two women kissing, some dangerous looking train stunts, a quick pace, numerous lesser known actors, Joan Blondell getting slapped, talk of promiscuous sex and a story that comes off as surprisingly pessimistic.  UNION DEPOT isn't for everybody, but I think fans of classic Hollywood, especially Pre-Code Hollywood, will get a kick out of it.