“Either your education or your spanking has been neglected.”

Melsa Manton (Barbara Stanwyck) is a spoiled wealthy debutante who leads a high society life that includes a gaggle of twittery friends. Melsa is famous for staging pranks, and she’s gained a reputation as a wastrel. After Melsa discovers a dead body in an empty house, she calls the police. When the body disappears, the police chalk up the incident to yet another of her infamous tricks. Since Melsa is a news item all by herself, the newspapers pick up the story stating that Melsa created a hoax to waste valuable police time.

Newspaperman Peter Ames (Henry Fonda) is outraged when he hears that a society woman played a hoax on the police. He writes a disparaging column about Melsa in his newspaper. Melsa immediately threatens a million dollar lawsuit, and with her friends in tow, she sets out to investigate the crime and clear her reputation.

The Mad Miss Manton is a delightful madcap 30s comedy, and it allows Stanwyck a light, comedic role. Melsa and her fur-clad friends are all airheads–some are worse than others. One friend is constantly eating (even at the scene of a break-in) and another friend considers any joint task is a sign of communism. But in spite of their collective dinginess, these women somehow or another manage to solve the crime. This frustrates the dyspeptic Police Lieutenant Mike Brent (Sam Levene), and wins grudging admiration from Peter Ames. Melsa’s tactics aren’t always clean, but they originate in a native consumerism, and Melsa’s knowledge of hair dye, for example, helps track down a suspect. In many ways, the film Legally Blonde could present an updated version of Melsa’s character.

The great actress Hattie McDaniel plays the role of Melsa’s maid, Hilda, and she provides some acidic, disapproving commentary on the silliness of Melsa’s friends. Directed by Leigh Jason, the smooth action never stops, and with a sparkling dialogue, The Mad Miss Manton is a delightful 1930s comedy.

“Marriage is disastrous for love.”

The pre-code film Illicit stars a very young Barbara Stanwyck in one of her earliest roles. She’s cast as the freethinking, independent Anne Vincent who’s involved in a relationship with the wealthy Richard Ives (James Rennie), the son of a prominent society family. While Richard wants to get married, Anne refuses–she sees marriage as the killer of romance. But when rumours reach Richard’s father that the young couple are sneaking off for weekends in Connecticut together, he urges them to marry. Both Richard and Anne try to make opposing moral stands on the issue, but Anne eventually submits and becomes Mrs. Ives.

Anne and Richard return to their Long Island home after an extended honeymoon in Europe, but the trouble really begins when they return to New York and to their old crowd of friends. Both Anne and Richard are tempted to stray by former loves–Margie (Natalie Moorhead) and Price Baines (Ricardo Cortez). While the film contains Anne’s proto-feminist ideas, it also quite clearly contains the message that there are different standards of acceptable behaviour for Richard and that there’s a certain amount of shenanigans that Anne should just ignore.

In this role, Anne’s behaviour is rather mealy-mouthed, so this is not the magnificent Barbara Stanwyck at her best. But in a couple of scenes there are flashes of the emerging Stanwyck temperament, and her presence in this film raises it above the ordinary. Directed by Archie Mayo, Illicit was re-made and retitled as Ex-Lady just a couple of years later, and that version starred Bette Davis.

“I’ve kept myself fairly respectable through it all.”

Purchase Price is a delightful, fresh and funny film starring a young Barbara Stanwyck as “naughty nightclub” singer Joan Gordon. When the film begins, she’s hoping to leave her singing career behind and marry the son of the wealthy Leslie family, but that romance ends when a private detective reveals Joan’s liaison with racketeer Eddie Fields (Lyle Talbot). Eddie is only too happy to see Joan back in circulation again, but Joan impulsively takes a train to Montreal and works at a nightclub there under the assumed name Francine La Rue. With Eddie on her tracks, Joan decides to switch places with a maid who’s just arranged a mail-order marriage to a wheat farmer. On the way to the farm, Joan sits with other mail-order brides who brag about the various amenities their bridegrooms have, and the expression on Joan’s face is priceless as the other brides brag about plumbing and radios. But at this point, Joan has gone too far to back out, and she arrives in a desolate, dusty little town.

Laconic, sniffing wheat farmer Jim Gilson (George Brent) marries Joan, and they begin their bumpy married life together. There are some great scenes when the neighbours arrive for the traditional, bizarre “shivelry” ceremony–an evening of uninhibited, raucous, drunken rioting. The rest of the film juxtaposes their rocky romance against the financial troubles of the farm.

This is a great role for Stanwyck–her strong character possesses a wonderful sense of wry humour–often directed at her own decisions, and her reactions to the behaviour and bizarre customs of the locals are priceless. When the film begins, she has the world-weary, savvy-edge of the experienced nightclub singer who has heard ever pick-up line in the book. She’s tired of it all, and she wants a change, and that’s exactly what she gets when she decides to be a mail-order bride. There’s a slight issue with believability (Joan’s marriage to a complete stranger)–but the film is so funny, Joan’s decision to launch herself into an unknown fate with a farmer is acceptable. Directed by William Wellman, the film’s conclusion was rather abrupt, but Stanwyck fans will love every minute of this lighthearted, perfectly paced comedy.

“Don’t think you can muzzle me.”

Night Nurse directed by William Wellman, is an extremely entertaining film, and it’s also a marvelous vehicle for the talented Barbara Stanwyck. When the film begins, Lora Hart (Barbara Stanwyck) is trying to get a job as a nurse at a hospital, but she’s hampered by her lack of high school diploma. A kind and widely respected doctor takes up Lora’s cause, and she’s added to the student nursing staff at the hospital. The plot follows Lora’s training, and while some emphasis is placed on Lora and fellow fun-loving student Maloney’s (Joan Blondell) attempts to circumvent curfew, it’s also clear that Lora takes her chosen career very seriously.

One evening, Lora is working in the emergency room, and she meets a bootlegger named Mortie (Ben Lyon). A moment of kindness seals their friendship, and it also raises the film’s major theme–medical ethics. Mortie tells Lora that doctors and nurses cover things up at the hospital, and his comment makes an impact.

Lora’s first assignment following graduation is to care for two little girls in their home. The children are suffering from malnutrition and anemia, yet the family is wealthy. There’s obviously something very peculiar afoot–the children’s mother, Mrs. Ritchey (Charlotte Merriam) is drunk most of the time and hosts wild parties, an acidic housekeeper spies on the nurses, the children complain of hunger, and Nick (Clark Gable), the sinister chauffeur lurks in the background. When the situation at the Ritchey home deteriorates one evening, Lora’s medical ethics are tested, and she must chose between the care of her young patients or take a chance that may wreck her career.

Night Nurse is a powerful pre-code drama. Yes, there are lots of fluffy, enjoyable scenes that involve Stanwyck running around in her undies a great deal (check out the VHS cover), but the core of the film covers some serious material. This is a marvelous role for Stanwyck, and her character has a spine of steel that refuses to bend. There are many great scenes in the film–Nora facing down the drunken Mrs. Ritchey, and Nora arguing with the slimy Dr. Ranger (Ralf Harolde), for example. But the very best scene occurs between Nick and Lora–she confronts him, and he tries to bully her. Lora doesn’t back down–in fact she gets right in his face, and the camera is angled just perfectly to catch the unflinching eye contact between these two characters. If you are a Stanwyck fan, don’t miss this one.