Barbara Stanwyck Movie Recommendation #1

Stella Dallas (1937)- 1 hr 46 mins

When she marries the upper class Stephen Dallas (John Boles), it seems as though everything is going wonderfully for working class girl Stella Martin (Barbara Stanwyck). But the differences in their backgrounds and personalities prove to be too much and their marriage soon ends. Stephen goes to New York to work, while Stella devotes all her love and time to her daughter Laurel (Anne Shirley). As Laurel gets older, Stella finds that her own less than savvy sense of what is cultured and well-mannered might stand in the way of Laurel’s chance at having all that Stella was never able to have. Will Stella be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?

There is a reason why the film is named Stella Dallas. There is really just one lead part in this film and that's played by Stanwyck. The camera is constantly on her. You see her when she is an innocent daydreamer, blissfully happy at her chance to move her way into the higher social spheres through marriage. You see her at some of the lowest of low moments when, for example, her innocent but uncouth behavior crushes the dreams of the daughter to whom she is wholly devoted. The audience lives vicariously through and feels her character’s every emotion. Stanwyck's performance commands the spotlight. This film is a stand out example of how Stanwyck’s ability to, as her frequent director Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life) put it, “grab your heart and tear it to pieces.”  In a role that other, less capable actresses might have drowned in the melodrama, Stanwyck is a total natural, able to easily connect to her audience. When she received an Oscar nomination for her performance, the noted playwright Moss Hart predicted that she would not win simply because she made it “look too easy.” She certainly does in this simple story of a mother’s love.

Availability: Youtube, Googleplay, Amazon, and DVD,

• Purchase DVD: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/dvd-stella-dallas-barbara-stanwyck/3622680/2691146640564?st=PLA&sid=BNB_ADL+Marketplace+Good+New+Media+-+Desktop+Low&sourceId=PLAGoNA&dpid=tdtve346c&2sid=Google_c&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjMfoBRDDARIsAMUjNZo7lu7-qJHy9Ilo_FMCVRVR_Mwi1od58TpIAq8VNPFGECtryb-OJgUaAvkdEALw_wcB