The Purchase Price was a Pre-Code film, directed by William Wellman and released in 1932. It starred Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, and Lyle Talbot, and was released by Warner Brothers. It is an adaptation of Arthur Stringer's 1932 novel The Mud Lark.
Stanwyck stars as a Joan Gordon, a torch singer who runs away from her gangster boyfriend, Eddie Fields (played by Lyle Talbot) to become a mail-order bride for a struggling North Dakota farmer, Jim Gilson, played by George Brent. Their relationship has a rocky start, and just as Joan realizes that she is developing feelings for her husband, Fields arrives to win her back.
Cast
Dawn O'Day made an uncredited appearance as the young Sarah Tipton. It would be another two years before she starred in the film from which she would take her new stage name, Anne Shirley.
Production
This was the second time Wellman had directed Brent and Stanwyck together. The first was in the 1932 film So Big! [1]
During the fight scene between Talbot and Brent, Wellman approached each actor privately with the instruction: "let him have it." The actors knew not to actually hit each other without warning and worked the fight out between themselves beforehand. However, when Talbot flew back against a wall (as planned), his head struck a slightly-protruding nail. "It just bled like mad. They had to take me over to the infirmary and sew me up."[1]
Stanwyck's rendition of Take Me Away marked the first time she ever sang on-screen.[1]
Reception
Critical response
In the 1932 review of the film, the New York Times wrote that "many of its individual scenes are undeniably good, but the effect is of fifteen scenarists collaborating on a story without consulting each other. It seemed a bit hard on the cast." It also called it "totally incomprehensible" and "one of the weirdest scenarios within the memory of man." [2]
Variety said that Stanwyck and Brent were "both 100% miscast," while the Kansas City Star stated that "the picture has more entertainment value than the plot has logic." The reviewer added, "Miss Stanwyck continues to exercise her uncanny ability to make the most phony heroines seem like human beings." [1]
Home media
The Purchase Price, in addition to four other Wellman Pre-Codes, was released to DVD as part of TCM's Forbidden Hollywood, Vol. 3 collection in 2009. [3]
References
External links
