• Much like capra’s it’s a wonderful life the film can get very dark- early on there’s a hanging man in war-ravaged china blocking the mise-en-scene like a von Sternberg film
  • Quickly edited but there’s some mistakes here with some slopping in scene dialogue continuity editing- Capra would get much better
  • Very nice post-war set pieces with tons of extras- powerful scenes
  • There’s a very interesting surrealism interlude- almost like a small silent film featuring the Nils Asther character as an almost nosferatu-like vampire with long nose and fingernails—it has very dramatic music like the silent, too
  • I love Stanwyck and she’s fine here (not one of her better roles) but she’s better as a femme fatale than as the purer character here
  • The film doesn’t fully follow the capra ethos
  • The star crossed lovers would work again in it happened one night and yet again in mr smith goes to Washington (cynical Jean Arthur vs boy scout Jimmy Stewart)
  • In the archives but not top 10 of 1933- lesser Capra
  • Recommend