A LADY OF CHANCE
US, 1928, 78 minutes, Black and white.
Norma Shearer, Lowell Sherman, Gwen Lee, John Mack Brown.
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard.
Norma Shearer had been making silent films since the end of 1919 and was soon to become queen of MGM, winning an Oscar for The Divorcee, appearing in such prestige films as Romeo and Juliet and Marie Antoinette.
This film shows some of her versatility, playing a woman who is a professional criminal, seducing men for their money and then leaving them. She has served time in jail. But, there are some tender moments as she begins to fall in love with an earnest young man from the South, John Mack Brown who was to appear in the number of MGM films with Joan Crawford but then became famous as a cowboy star in the movies.
This is MGM at the end of the silent era, stylish filmmaking, sophisticated storytelling and, though very much its time, still entertaining and a showcase for Norma Shearer.
1. A drama of the 1920s? Confidence tricks, professional criminals? The touch of true romance?
2. MGM production values, stylish sets, the American city, the contrast with the poorer home of the South, the plantations? Norma Shearer and her role at MGM?
3. The story of Dolly, seeing her at the phone exchange, her flirting with the millionaire, Brad and Gwen finding her, her hurrying away, in the restaurant, Brad and Gwen taunting her, her phoning the millionaire, his paying over $10,000 and his complaint to the police, Brad hiding the money, Dolly seeing this, being consoled by Gwen but taking the money, Brad and Gwen in pursuit?
4. Dolly going to the social, the telegram, her paying for it, the attraction to Steve, target? His response? Going out with her? The proposal, her acceptance? His dreams, talk of the contract, hopes, the home and the plantation? The decision to go south?
5. Dolly, disillusionment, Steve’s car, the home, cramped, meeting his mother, the plantation next door, the “darkies” and their singing (and the attitude of the filmmakers towards African- Americans at this time, servants, plantations, the emphasis on the honour of white people)?
6. Dolly, wanting to go back to New York, the sudden change and her decision to stay – although the glimpse of her with the veil, the wedding dress, the glimpse of her thinking about marriage?
7. Brad and Gwen, arrival, pressurising her, her giving back the money? The invitation to go to New York?
8. Brad and the false contract, Dolly and her conscience, ringing the police, stopping Steve signing the document, the arrival of the police, the arrests?
9. Her going to jail, farewelling Steve, thinking he was better off without her? Her being called in by the warden? Steve offering to have her and supervising her in her parole? The happy reunion?
