UNASHAMED

US, 1932, 77 minutes. Black and white.
Helen Twelvetrees, Robert Young, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt, Monroe Owsley, Robert Warwick.
Directed by Harry Beaumont.

Unashamed is a curiosity piece from 1932. It was directed by Harry Beaumont, prolific director of silent films from 1914 and maker of many small-budget features. Helen Twelvetrees was a star during the 1930s. Robert Young was at the beginning of a very long career. Lewis Stone played a lawyer, very similar to the roles he usually played, especially Judge Hardy. Humanitarian Jean Hersholt appears as the father of the murdered man.

The film was made before the Motion Picture Code, is rather explicit in premarital relationships, but also highlights the ‘unwritten law’ code of avenging the dishonouring of a woman in the family. Robert Young, playing Helen Twelvetrees’ brother, is protective of her and actually shoots her fiancé. He is a cad – a fortune hunter.

The first part of the film shows the relationship between the daughter and the cad. The second part of the film is a court case where Lewis Stone as the lawyer tries to save Robert Young from the electric chair – with perjury abounding in practically all of the testimonies for the defence. There seems to be no criticism of this – although the cook, played by black actress Louise Beavers, is asked about perjury and she mistakes it for bigamy.

The film seems to indicate that crime does pay, especially for the wealthy. The audience, in the Depression times, may have envied the life of the rich but there is a most peculiar attitude towards the rich in this particular film. However, there are some declamations against the rich at the end of the film.