MEXICALI ROSE
US, 1929, 60 minutes, Black and white.
Barbara Stanwyck, Sam Hardy, William Janney.
Directed by Earl C. Kenton.
Mexicali Rose is the second film for which Barbara Stanwyck had a credit, and here she is the lead. Her previous film, with second billing, was Locked Door, both films of 1929.
This one is mainly for Barbara Stanwyck fans, to see her at the beginning of her career, aged 22, a young actress, almost in a dual role, the seductive and worthless vamp and the seemingly respectable young bride.
The film focuses on Barbara Stanwyck’s Rose, married to the manager of a casino, called The Gold Mine, south of the border. He is Happy, played by Sam Hardy. On his return, he is made suspicious about the behaviour of his wife who, in fact, has been carrying on with the manager of the casino. There was a showdown and Happy ousts her – but retaining his manager. In the meantime, Happy goes to Berkely to see his protégé, a football player, who is in love with a young woman named Marie.
There are some bizarrely written scenes – at least from a 21st century point of view – where Happy actually invites his protégé to come and spend his honeymoon with him at The Gold Mine, which the protégé thinks is an actual mine. The dialogue of Happy and the response of the protege, sharing a hotel room with beds visible, smacks these days of some kind of homoerotic connection, something which has continued with Happy and his being unable to relate well to women and trying to do something good for the protégé when he comes south.
But, when he arrives, Happy finds that he is married to Rose! The young man describes having met her, how he fell in love with her, and has Arose put on a pedestal. In the meantime, it emerges that she is probably try to get some revenge on Happy, coming south, protesting to be a faithful wife, yet interacting with Happy and with his manager, along with a young man with limited intelligence whom she liked in the past, Loco.
The end, after only an hour, is rather surprising. When Happy warns Rose off and threatens her, the news comes that she has been found dead, drowned!
This was in 1929. Barbara Stanwyck was to continue in films and television, from the early sound era to the video cassette era, with The Colbys in 1986.