Stephanie (January 2006)

Rating:   of 5

Laughing Sinners (1931) is an underrated Joan-film (snappily directed by Harry Beaumont, who also did other early Joan films like Our Dancing Daughters, Our Blushing Brides, and Dance Fools Dance) in the new realistic mode that MGM began featuring Joan in during 1930 and 1931---films like Our Blushing Brides, Paid, Dance Fools Dance, and Possessed that were a decided departure from Joan's string of girlfriend/party girl roles of the late '20s.

Joan is Ivy---a gambling, drinking, loyal nightclub entertainer madly in love with Howard (the rather stiff Neil Hamilton), a seedy, smooth-talking traveling salesman who almost immediately dumps her to marry a rich girl.

The initial nightclub scene of Sinners, before Ivy gets dumped and is still feeling her oats, showcases Joan's versatility as a physical performer. She hoofs it up with a beard and fake nose (!) in a weird hillbilly number, which morphs into a more accessible frisky modern dance, followed by a slower torch song (this last cleverly and sadly interspersed with shots of the regretfully hard-hearted Howard composing a goodbye note...on the back of a menu).

But the best part of the movie is the showcasing of Joan's acting--- As a giddily lovestruck then cast-off then rescued then backsliding showgirl, she manages to be variously a bit crude and sarcastic, as well as hurt and sad and wild and grateful, all without displaying overt dramatics.

The writing for the film is interesting, too: When Ivy gets to know her Salvation Army rescuer Carl (Clark Gable), he tells her he has been in prison for 2 years. She responds, "Did they railroad you or something?" but he honestly (and refreshingly) says, "No...I got what was coming to me." And when a kid at a park cornily asks Ivy to sing "London Bridge," the club-girl Ivy replies, "'London Bridge' is not my specialty. I sing red-hot blues." Sinners has a lot of un-sugarcoated touches like this, including a not-overdone scene of a girl unrevivable after a night of partying, as well as the supporting cast of unapologetically spirited-yet-rough characters (including Marjorie Rambeau, later to co-star as Joan's mother in Torch Song, and the group of wise-cracking salesmen that Howard runs with). The writing and characterizations add color to the picture, showing both the depressing and the exciting aspects of the fast-living lifestyle that Ivy must battle with, without overly moralizing about them.

And that "not moralizing" is a pretty good trick, considering that Ivy's hero is a Salvation Army officer, of all people. Ivy meets Gable's Carl as she's about to jump off a bridge in despair over Howard---The premise seems over-the-top, but the results are handled well. In his second film with Joan, Gable is a good-natured and charismatic preacher who looks sexy yet comforting in both his off-duty sweater and apron as he cooks scrambled eggs for Ivy. Since Gable had just recently appeared on the Hollywood scene in a few gangsterly tough-guy roles (including the Joan-film just prior to Sinners, 1931's Dance Fools Dance), his character here is decidedly against type but well-acted; he definitely makes Ivy's eventual decision to go good believable.

Sinners seems like something of a lighter-weight precursor to 1932's Rain--- In both, Joan plays a realistically world-weary/wary wild-child character who's also genuinely open to sincere alternatives to her former lifestyle that had made her rather unhappy. (Here, Gable's honest Carl provides the impetus that the hypocritical Reverend Davidson obviously could not!)

Favorite Lines:

Ivy to Carl:  Thanks for saving my life. I'll drop a quarter in your tambourine sometime.

Friend to Howard, giving instructions on writing Ivy a goodbye note: Tell her you still love her...No, don't put that in writing!