A woman appears in a new world (it's New York in the 20s) that should be rife with possibility, she has the address of relatives where she's going to live, she could get a job, marry, leave the misery behind. But a showman arranges to take her in as part of his cabaret show - she doesn't know this but is little by little swept in, as we are, into sex, despair, drama. The questions are about the extent of the manipulation in this world - was the customs officer bribed to report a false address, is the sister sick as reported?
But we see everything in the same passive yellow light. The filmmaking itself is unimaginative, but more, the filmmaker isn't trying to sculpt possibility, only arranges the story that will take us into his show.
How much more bold and difficult it would be to have the woman herself manipulate, actively try to carve her own fate? Was the incident on the ship during the voyage really a lie? And would we judge her if it wasn't? And if we did, would we be any different from the bigot uncle?
But see, for the filmmaker this won't be an important lesson unless she's just stood there, pure, tossed about, as two rival men watch her and scheme for her, and we watch them, and there's only a postcard importance between the levels of watching.
But we see everything in the same passive yellow light. The filmmaking itself is unimaginative, but more, the filmmaker isn't trying to sculpt possibility, only arranges the story that will take us into his show.
How much more bold and difficult it would be to have the woman herself manipulate, actively try to carve her own fate? Was the incident on the ship during the voyage really a lie? And would we judge her if it wasn't? And if we did, would we be any different from the bigot uncle?
But see, for the filmmaker this won't be an important lesson unless she's just stood there, pure, tossed about, as two rival men watch her and scheme for her, and we watch them, and there's only a postcard importance between the levels of watching.