Gloria Swanson is growing up, the apple of her father, Teddy Robert's eye. Wealthy Elliot Dexter offers t send her off to a finishing school. When she comes back, Mr. Dexter is smitten and Mr. Roberts' tells his daughter the man is too shy to express his love because he is a cripple; Dexter had suffered a stroke and his condition was written into the script. So Gloria proposes to him, and all are happy.... except for strapping Monte Blue, who loves Gloria and, it turns out, she loves him. So they run away to New York, Dexter's heart is broken, and Roberts, cursing his daughter, is struck blind.
Gloria and Monte's love is complete when she tells him she is expecting. However, tragedy strikes when Monte is killed in an industrial accident. Gloria cannot hold down a job, and eventually makes her way back home.... to anger and suspicion.
It's not one of DeMille's movies in which everyone has a wild time until they repent in the last reel. People are just people, and it's up to the hand of G*d to set matters aright by heavy-handed coincidence and the constant proselytizing of Claire MacDowall as Dexter's housekeeper. As such, it didn't move me and its tone set my teeth on edge.
Where Demille shows good form is in the small details: Julia Faye et al. as local gossips; the pie Gloria trims as Monte is drowning; and the hangman's noose that Gloria bumps into when she is at her trough in the barn. It shows a master's hand at work, but the master is Demille, and the story lacks the grand visual appeal and the gracefulness of good storytelling in its rush to get its message over. It's excellent visually -- of course it is! It's a Demille film. It's just not one of his best ones from this period.
Gloria and Monte's love is complete when she tells him she is expecting. However, tragedy strikes when Monte is killed in an industrial accident. Gloria cannot hold down a job, and eventually makes her way back home.... to anger and suspicion.
It's not one of DeMille's movies in which everyone has a wild time until they repent in the last reel. People are just people, and it's up to the hand of G*d to set matters aright by heavy-handed coincidence and the constant proselytizing of Claire MacDowall as Dexter's housekeeper. As such, it didn't move me and its tone set my teeth on edge.
Where Demille shows good form is in the small details: Julia Faye et al. as local gossips; the pie Gloria trims as Monte is drowning; and the hangman's noose that Gloria bumps into when she is at her trough in the barn. It shows a master's hand at work, but the master is Demille, and the story lacks the grand visual appeal and the gracefulness of good storytelling in its rush to get its message over. It's excellent visually -- of course it is! It's a Demille film. It's just not one of his best ones from this period.