Summer Under the Stars: Barbara Stanwyck

Star of the Day: Barbara Stanwyck

Shopworn (1932): "A poor woman and a man from an upper-class family fall in love, but his mother will go to any lengths to prevent their marriage."

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At some point I'm going to have to stop prefacing every mention of Barbara Stanwyck with "I wouldn't call myself a fan" because I've watched far too many of her films by now to be watching them out of hate or indifference. She's a terrific actress, one of the best to ever grace the screen.

This is serviceable enough and shows that Barbara had the chops all along, elevating weak material until she got meatier roles and scripts. I do love me a domineering mother-in-law put in her place storyline (Another Language, anyone?) and Barbara is great as the foul-mouthed, rags-to-riches young woman in love with a prim and proper gentleman who has no business being around someone as great as Babs.

All this being said, I really wish Jeopardy (1953) had been on the schedule. It's certainly not top-tier in terms of filmmaking or her performance but there's something truly captivating about it that I enjoyed when I watched it during her Star of the Month turn.

PS. Victoria Wilson, please finish the second volume of your Barbara Stanwyck biography please please please I'm begging you!

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Log line from IMDb