You can't watch a girl hard enough to keep her good if she don't want to be.
Bad Girl (1931) - watched 8/21/24
Director: Frank Borzage
Writer: Edwin J. Burke
Starring: Sally Eilers, James Dunn, Minna Gombell
Available to watch? To rent or buy
First Time Watch? Yes
I’ll be honest… maybe I’m just dumb, or maybe this is the result of viewing art that’s almost a century old through a modern lens, but I’m not understanding why exactly this movie is called Bad Girl. I’ve been very hung up on this title ever since I watched this movie because… why?
I’m wondering if the titular girl’s “badness” is made more explicit in the 1928 novel by Viña Delmar. I could probably read it to find out, but I’m probably not going to, sorry! It’s just that I have so many other things to read!
What stands out to me about Bad Girl is that it steers away from the Gatsby-esque portrayals of glitz and excess of the 1920s, instead portraying two people of lower economic status trying to make it work, straining against the financial limits of living in New York City. Considering the film was released in the early years of the Great Depression, I’d imagine audiences found something relatable, maybe even comforting about the relationship between the two main characters—two ordinary people, just trying to get by, and showing that even though it was a struggle, they could make it. And they could be happy.
Now, what could be bad about that?
When they deliver baloney at my door I always give them a receipt.
In New York City, we start off at what appears to be a lavish wedding, but—twist of all twists—it’s actually a department store where bridal clothes are being modeled. Dot (Sally Eilers) and Edna (Minna Gombell) are two of the models, and best friends. After work, Dot is hit on by her boss (gross), and it seems that this is something that happens often—Dottie is a hottie who’s constantly getting hit on. The two gal pals hit Coney Island, and on the ferry ride back they spot a man alone and make a bet on whether or not they can get his attention.
Dot approaches the man, Eddie (James Dunn) and at first annoys him by playing a ukulele right next to him. No, it’s not clear where she suddenly got the ukulele from. Did she carry it around with her all over Coney Island? Does she always carry it with her? Why don’t we ever see the ukulele again, in that case?
I digress. Eddie is at first caustic toward Dot, but they warm up to one another over the course of the ferry ride, and Eddie escorts Dot back home, where they chat some more. We learn that Eddie works at a radio store, and his dream is to save up enough money to open up his own shop some day. We also learn that Dot lives with her abusive brother, who has strict rules about Dot’s curfew. They agree to meet up again and part ways.
Eddie misses their date, and Dot goes to his apartment to give him what-for. Again their interaction starts off acerbic, but it warms to affection over the course of the night—so much so, that Dot ends up staying at Eddie’s place until 4:00 in the morning. Afraid to face her brother for missing her curfew—and hanging out with a man no less—Dot panics and stalls going back up to her apartment. Eddie proposes to Dot as a solution (Sure! Okay!) and Dot accepts, but this still isn’t good enough for her brother. He scolds her, calls her names, and evicts her from the home.
Dot temporarily stays with Edna, and has an anxiety attack when she hasn’t heard from Eddie in a while. It turns out that Eddie was busy arranging for a place for them to live, and they are soon married. Weeks later, Dot confides in Edna that she is pregnant, but she’s worried about telling Eddie, as it would thwart his plans to open his new shop, which he has finally saved up enough money for. Eddie misreads Dot’s behavior as her wanting a bigger place to live. Running with this assumption, Eddie goes out and buys them a new home, including furnishing the entire place, ditching his plans to open the shop.
Eddie throws a party for Dot at the new house, under the guise that it’s actually a housewarming party for one of their friends. When Eddie reveals that it’s actually their house, Dot is happy, but worried and anxious that Eddie spent too much money, especially now knowing that they will be having a baby. She finally tells Eddie about the pregnancy, and they each assume that the other is unhappy about the pregnancy. Eddie starts staying out late at night fighting in boxing matches to earn more money, which puts a strain on their marriage and causes Dot to mistrust him. When she goes into labor, Eddie is out boxing in one of these fights and truly getting the shit beat out of him—there’s a funny and sweet moment where Eddie tells his opponent he’s an expecting father, and to go easy on him, which the opposing fighter happily agrees to, extolling the joys of fatherhood.
When Eddie finally arrives to escort Dot to the hospital, she sees his bruised and bloodied face and assumes he’s been in a bar fight, and rejects him. At the hospital, Dot has her baby, and a weird nurse plays a strange trick on her where she shows Dot a newborn baby, and when Dot asks to hold it, the nurse tells her the baby isn’t hers and takes the baby away. She does this several times! It’s not funny! What IS this nurse’s problem?
Dot intends to leave Eddie once she’s out of the hospital, and pushes him away when he comes to visit her. On the day she is set to go home from the hospital, there is an emergency with a baby at the hospital—fearing that it’s her baby, Dot rushes to the nursery to get to her baby. Eddie, hearing Dot’s distressed cries, also rushes in, pushing through the doctors and nurses who are holding Dot back. He retrieves the baby and shows Dot that he’s okay. Dot and Eddie clear up their misunderstandings in the cab on the way back home, and they remain a happily married couple, raising their baby together.
Sure there are a lot of things in life besides money, but you gotta have money to find them.
So, you see the dilemma? Even by 1930s standards, I’m not sure Dot ever does anything that could be considered “bad.” Staying out late, I guess? Flirting with a guy? Playing the ukulele poorly? Are they being ironic, playing with the audience's expectations?
There’s really no way in which Dot behaves any worse than Eddie throughout the film, but maybe 1930s sensibilities saw her as an ungrateful wife, someone who didn’t appreciate all that Eddie was doing to earn money and keep their marriage intact. One could make the case, though, that Eddie was often manipulative with his grand gestures, and left Dot out of making major life decisions, like buying a home. He also didn’t let her go back to work when they got married, instead feeding into his own pride by buying a bigger house—proving that not only could he support the household, but he could make it bigger and better. I’m not fully convinced this is actually the case, but I think there’s more merit to considering Eddie “bad” over Dot. Ultimately, I don’t think either of them were full-blown bad—because what does that even mean? Both characters were flawed, which is what you want in good character development, but to consider either of them morally bad feels unfair.
Perhaps they should have just called this movie “Bad Communication,” since that’s really what this plot boils down to. Not the snappiest or most provocative of titles, but at least it fits the plot better. Not one person is to blame for the misunderstandings in the relationship. The “bad” doesn’t fall on Dot alone. Actually, the two true bad characters in this movie are her brother and the silly little prank nurse. Call the movie Bad Brother! Or Bad Nurse! Bad Minor Characters!
Confounding title aside, I enjoyed the movie well enough. It was nothing groundbreaking or even especially memorable, but I had a better time with Bad Girl that I did with the last three films I reviewed, and that’s truly all I could have asked for. The movie was well-paced, competently acted, and a mostly interesting story that kept me engaged. It’s the bare minimum! And that’s fine!
They get old very quickly when they’re young.
Quick Facts:
Nominated for 3 Academy Awards, won 2
Best Picture
Best Director (Frank Borzage, won)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Edwin J. Burke, won)
Frank Borzage technically became the first person to win a second Best Director Academy Award. Lewis Milestone had already won two Oscars for directing, but one of those Oscars was for the “Best Comedic Direction” category, which had since been retired.
Eddie Collins apparently says “Okay” 21 times throughout the 90-minute film. I’m going to trust this is correct, I’m not going back and counting.
Stray Observations:
This era has had a lot of interesting/quirky opening credits, which is fun but at times it feels like it’s telling me too much about the characters already. I like that this one has minimal opening credits, just getting right into it, no bullshit
Love the costuming - Costume design was by Dolly Tree, whose very long resume includes The Thin Man, David Copperfield, and The Good Earth
More ukulele! I should have been keeping track of how many BP nominees include ukuleles. Now it’s too late!!
The transition to “I wouldn’t be caught dead with ya” to pure goo-goo ga-ga eyes was terrific
These people are motoring through life events. Truly a breakneck speed here.
Very funny moment when Dot is staying with Edna: Edna’s nephew (?) comes into Dot’s room and wakes her up. When Edna shoos him out of the room, he starts to cry “I want to see Dottie get out of bed! I want to see Dottie get out of bed!!” Jeez! Cool it, lil man!
Great performance from Sally Eilers
The dialogue is so sharp, and so 1930s
Why is the nurse playing this weird little game of showing Dot babies that aren’t hers??
This took… quite a turn at the end. I just hope these two crazy kids work it out!!
My Rating: ⭐️⭐½
Next Up: The Champ (1931)