Beyond the simple structure of its boy-meets-girl theme, this film explores the rampantly popular socialism that swept the US in the early 1930s, a massive reaction to a crushing economic depression. Heflin plays an ultra-liberal college professor who despises capitalism. He meets and falls
in love with Stanwyck, the daughter of wealthy tycoon Coburn. She's impressed with his intellect and his political philosophy. Without letting him know about her wealthy father, she marries him. Problems soon arise in the marriage when everything Heflin attempts, from lectures to writing, ends in
failure. Stanwyck secretly uses her father's wealth and power to further his career, and when Heflin learns of the deception he's furious, particularly since he has prospered due to the intervention of a man he despises. Only when the independent Stanwyck later admits that she needs Heflin--by
then the terrible 1930s have melted into the war-torn 1940s and he is in uniform--does the self-styled, too-righteous intellectual forgive her.
The script is gutsy, terse, and to the point, especially when Stanwyck and Heflin pit one lifestyle against another. Keenan Wynn is a standout in a role he always played to perfection, a sleazy opportunist, in this case a radio commentator who builds his career by slashing wealthy businessmen to
pieces; he lives to regret his empty iconoclasm. Coburn is wonderful as the industrialist. Director Leonard's guiding hand is firmly in control throughout and he wastes no time in boiling down and telling the difficult Marquand story. leave a comment