starring Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley
directed by King Vidor
106 minutes
Stella (Barbara Stanwyck) is desperate to get away from the poor family life into which she was born. She finds a man, Stephen Dallas (John Boles), who grew up fairly well off. They get married but he isn't very exciting. They have a daughter together, Laurel (Anne Shirley). Stella dotes on Laurel but she also starts hanging out with Ed Munn, a gambler.
Stephen moves from Massachusetts, where Stella grew up and where they currently live, to New York, to work. More than a decade passes, Laurel grows up. Stella tries to give her daughter what she thinks she needs. Stella is very focused on the material things.
Stephen and Stella get divorced. Stephen get remarried and wants Laurel to come live with him and his new wife. Stella rejects the idea until after she sees that she doesn't mingle well with the sort of people that Stephen and Helen, his new wife, socialize.
Stella ultimately fools Laurel into pushing her away and moving in with Stephen and Helen.
Thoughts
Ed Munn was played by Alan Hale. I have seen him in the past few years in It Happened One Night (1934), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Sea Hawk (1940), They Drive by Night (1940).
Barbara Stanwyck was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Stella Dallas but did not win. It was the first of four nominations she received but the only Academy Award that she won was an honorary one late in life. Anne Shirley was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Stella Dallas but did not win. It was her only nomination for an Academy Award.
The movie is based on a 1923 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty. The first film based on the novel was released in 1925. There was a third film based on the book that was released in 1990. There were also stage versions of the book and a radio serial that ran from 1937 to 1955. Prouty wrote the novel after her daughter died at the age of three. She wrote a number of other novels including Now, Voyager which was also made into a movie.
I wasn't sure what to make of this movie for at least the first hour. It wasn't until Stella finally came to the realization that she was holding her daughter back (by keeping her close) that it hooked me. I stuck with it because I know this movie has received a lot of praise and that Barbara Stanwyck is a great actress. It was worth the wait.
I wish that the movie had developed Stella's character a little better. She seems a little two-dimensional. What made her what she is? What experience or influence pushed her to value the material things in life as much as she does? One can make assumptions about Stella's motivations but there was no clear trigger that I could see that initiated her downward spiral.
This is a very good movie but I don't like that its message seems to be that the best way for Stella to redeem herself and help her daughter is to push away the person she loves the most, Laurel.
…
On second thought (it’s been about 18 hours since I watched the movie) I think that the way to interpret the ending is that Stella decided that she had to give Laurel, her daughter, a push out of the nest. Stella fears what will happen if Laurel sticks to her too closely. Laurel is too timid and too respectful of her mother to make that call and Stella can see that. Did Stella need to go that far? I don’t know but having slept on it I feel that I can see more clearly what motivated Stella. Is it overly dramatic? Yes, but I guess that’s the way the story is structured.
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