MANNEQUIN
US, 1937, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracy, Alan Curtis, Ralph Morgan, Mary Philips, Elizabeth Risdon, Leo Gorcey.
Directed by Frank Borzage.
Mannequin is a typical late 130s star vehicle for Joan Crawford and has the M.G.M. glossy production treatment. She has done similar parts many times, culminating in her Oscar winning Mildred Pierce. The year after this film she was to be effective in George Cukor's The Women. The film is of interest in having Spencer Tracy as her leading man, he acts well but is not particularly persuasive in working with Joan. Direction is by Frank Borzage, a director of many moving dramas in the '30s and '40s as well as a lot of slight entertainments.
1. The film as a Joan Crawford vehicle, '30s soap opera? Its impact in its time, now? Perennial popularity of soap opera? A Spencer Tracy vehicle?
2. M.G.M. production values, black and white photography. studio work, locations? Atmosphere of the New York world? Musical score?
3. The title and the focus, expectations? A symbol of Jessie?
4. Joan Crawford as Jessie, an American type, her background, her family, ambitions? Soft, strong? Bitter and loving? Hurt and self-sacrificing? The ingredients of the Joan Crawford image?
5. The character sketch of Jessie, at home and her family, parents and criticism, her brother? Her work and factories? Her seeming out of place at how and at work? Tenement life and her needs?
6. The relationship with Eddie, her pushing the wedding? Her enjoyment of the wedding, the reception? Beryl and her support? Her dancing with J. L. Hennessy? The encounter with Briggs? The ironies for each of them and for the future?
7. Jessie as romantic at this stage of her life? the dance, the singing? The apartment and her happiness? Work? Her disillusionment with Eddie and his being sorry? Her working as a dancer, the party, her disillusionment? Prison? Her losses with Eddie and her waking up to herself? The comparisons with J. L. Hennessy?
8. Her changing and working by herself, as a mannequin and her fashion style, her encounters with Hennessy? Going out with him, the proposition of marriage, her decision? Ireland and the honeymoon? Eddie and his turning up again in crisis? His push?
9. The sketch of Eddie, smart, opportunist, a pleasant manner? His being defeated, evicted? His plan to blackmail Hennessy and Jessie? The climax and his change of heart? How credible?
10. The portrait of Hennessy and the Spencer Tracy type? The background of Hester Street, his becoming a magnate? His conduct of meetings, the capability in business management, the unions? Briggs and his support? The encounter with Jessie, his fascination with her, the party, the elevator sequence? The prison sequence? The clash with Jessie and then marrying her? The happiness, the honeymoon?
11. The family, Beryl, Briggs?
12. The irony of the clashes, Hennessy and his willingness to let Jessie go, Jessie and her trying to save Eddie? Eddie and the truth?
13. The background of finance, the Depression. unions, Hennessey’s losing money?
14. The basic themes of best-sellers and soap operas? how interestingly presented for '30s entertainment, for picturing the American dream?
