"Jennie Gerhardt" is a Pre-Code film with story elements that simply wouldn't have been allowed once the tough Production Code was put in place in mid-1934. While the film often implies things instead of saying them outright, this still would have not been enough to allow it to be made only a year later.
Jennie (Sylvia Sidney) is a poor girl who has a rich Senator (Edward Albert) fall for her. He is an incredibly decent man and he does a lot to help her and her family and put no conditions on this. But feeling grateful (and perhaps in love) she sleeps with the man. Though the film never actually says it, she's soon pregnant and it's pretty certain it's not a virgin birth! This is a problem, as the man soon dies and their marriage never materializes.
Jennie is sent to Ohio to have the baby and spare her family the embarrassment. After the baby is born, Jennie takes a job as a servant in the home of a very rich family. However, she hides that she has a baby...especially because the son of her employer falls for her. She's afraid he'll dump her and for several years the child is cared for by another. When he does find out, Lester (Donald Cook) doesn't want to leave her but continues keeping her as his mistress. But he bows to pressure from his family and marries a woman of higher social standing. What's next? See the film and see what happens to Jennie and the baby...as well as Lester.
The author of the story, Theodore Dreiser, was impressed with the film, as he apparently felt the studio did his novel justice. They certainly didn't sanitize it nearly as much as it would have been had the film been made later. So is it worth seeing? Yes and no. I really disliked Jennie as a character. She seemed to have little in the way of personality and was very easily swayed by anyone...so it was hard to really care about her. I don't think Sidney's performance helped any...as she seemed almost comatose at times in this role. But the story itself wasn't bad and kept my attention. Not a great film but very watchable...and an interesting example of the sort of fare that folks watched before July, 1934...it could be a bit more racy than folks today might suspect.
Jennie (Sylvia Sidney) is a poor girl who has a rich Senator (Edward Albert) fall for her. He is an incredibly decent man and he does a lot to help her and her family and put no conditions on this. But feeling grateful (and perhaps in love) she sleeps with the man. Though the film never actually says it, she's soon pregnant and it's pretty certain it's not a virgin birth! This is a problem, as the man soon dies and their marriage never materializes.
Jennie is sent to Ohio to have the baby and spare her family the embarrassment. After the baby is born, Jennie takes a job as a servant in the home of a very rich family. However, she hides that she has a baby...especially because the son of her employer falls for her. She's afraid he'll dump her and for several years the child is cared for by another. When he does find out, Lester (Donald Cook) doesn't want to leave her but continues keeping her as his mistress. But he bows to pressure from his family and marries a woman of higher social standing. What's next? See the film and see what happens to Jennie and the baby...as well as Lester.
The author of the story, Theodore Dreiser, was impressed with the film, as he apparently felt the studio did his novel justice. They certainly didn't sanitize it nearly as much as it would have been had the film been made later. So is it worth seeing? Yes and no. I really disliked Jennie as a character. She seemed to have little in the way of personality and was very easily swayed by anyone...so it was hard to really care about her. I don't think Sidney's performance helped any...as she seemed almost comatose at times in this role. But the story itself wasn't bad and kept my attention. Not a great film but very watchable...and an interesting example of the sort of fare that folks watched before July, 1934...it could be a bit more racy than folks today might suspect.