Lawbolisted Powerful

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Antonius Block Campy and entertaining, there are flashes of brilliance here: tight shots on Loy, made up as an evil Indian mystic bent on getting revenge against her old classmates, some scenes where tension is built up rather nicely (I won't spoil them), and even a car chase scene, 1932-style. You'll have to suspend disbelief over the concept that the mind can be controlled by another via 'waves', but that's part of the fun. Loy's motivation is revealed towards the end as she confronts Irene Dunne, and it reveals the racial climate of the times: as a "half-caste Indian half-breed", she was not allowed to "pass" as white in a sorority. As she explains it, for half-breed men this meant being a coolie, and for a woman, she simply shrugs, implying prostitution. As with many films treating race relations at the time, it has a mixed message, on the one hand, pointing out the unfairness of the sorority (and how racist its rules were), and on the other, elevating fears of violence by non- Caucasians. It's interesting that the film has quite a bit of the framework of the modern thriller in it, but it's not fleshed out as much as it ideally would have been, and seems abrupt in places. Finding out that the original release was 14 minutes longer could explain that, but I have to review it for what survives. You could do worse, and it's actually kind of a fun movie. Oh, and last point – interesting to see Peg Entwistle in her only credited screen role, before jumping from the 'H' in the Hollywood(land) sign in despair. Watch for her character 'Hazel' early on.

bkoganbing Watching Thirteen Women I wonder what Merle Oberon must have thought. She lived in real life what Myrna Loy's character was experiencing in the film. It was only after she died that it came out that Merle was of mixed racial origin. She successfully passed her entire life.Loy who was in fact Caucasian until she became the incarnation of the perfect wife and mother played a whole lot of these exotic characters. She borrows a bit from her performance as Fu Manchu's daughter in playing a woman who is exacting terrible revenge on members of a sorority at a finishing school who discovered her background and used it to get her expelled. It was her ticket into the white world and respectability as she saw it.Using C. Henry Gordon as a phony swami she has unpleasant horoscopes made against her thirteen enemies. Loy doesn't want to just kill them, she wants to torment them and uses Gordon as her means. Loy wants maximum satisfaction.In the case of Irene Dunne who she sees as her chief enemy Loy also has plans for Dunne's child as well.A whole lot of women dominate this film as the sisters like Kay Johnson, Jill Esmond, Florence Eldridge and more. Ricardo Cortez plays the police sergeant who tracks down Loy and Edward Pawley plays another of the men she uses in her fiendish schemes.As this was a before the Code film, there was some frank talk about racism under the guise of snobbery. No doubt that Dunne and the rest were guilty of it. It drove Loy off the deep end and she enacts a terrible vengeance.A really good before the Code film that should be better known.

Evangeline Kelly This was actually a really good movie. So good, it would stand up against todays horror movies as well as easily translate into a remake (rather surprised it hasn't already). A further poignancy is lent to Ursula's confession of her motives--even though "crossing the color line" isn't exactly PC, her speech sums up the history of this country and its treatment of anyone who does not and cannot conform to "whiteness." The movie does resort to "yellow face" (Myrna Loy and the man who plays the Swami), as well as conforming to "Oriental" and "Shady Orient" stereotypes, but the heart of the story is surprising in its realism, and for such a short movie (just an hour), it packs a good amount of thrill.

auntalice I great film! I liked it because it's got lots of action - suicide, murder, accidents...speeding trains and car chases. LOVED IT! Myrna Loy is styled up into another world...pure Hollywood glamor with a dose of Orientalism. Too divine. The good news is that's not too long....for those of you looking for a high quality flick...me? I'm happy with the costumes and sets. I like to show this one as half of a double feature. I saw this one Turner Classics and I thought the sound and quality of the print were great. The police officer sends a "telephoto" of the suspect. I didn't know they had that technology in 1931. Seemed like a FAX to me. What a stunner that Loy is...and from Montana yet! Billy