Paid (C or 2/4 stars)
'Paid' (directed by Sam Wood) is a melodrama about shop girl, Mary Turner (tough-as-nails Joan Crawford), wrongly convicted of stealing from her wealthy store owner boss, Edward Gilder (Purnell B. Pratt), & is sentenced to a 3 yr. prison term in NY. At the sentence hearing, a distressed Mary vows vengeance on said boss. She studies the law while she serves her sentence and, upon her release, finds an apartment thanks to fellow cellmate, Agnes Lynch (pretty Marie Prevost), next to her & her criminal pals, Joe Garson (Robert Armstrong) & Red (George Cooper).
Mary soon gets involved with them in certain activities such as blackmail, embezzlement, & larceny. i.e., Mary & Agnes get old, lonely rich men to write them love letters, then take legal action for "breach of promise" & collect large sums of $$ under the guise of "heart balm"; which was a popular trick back in the early 1900s. To finally exact that revenge on her former boss, Mary manages to marry his son, Bob Gilder (Douglass Montgomery, of Waterloo Bridge). She plots & plots & plots to get back at the men who did her wrong ... but at what cost? Melodrama, more crimes & redemption ensues.
Norma Shearer was all set to star in this motion picture, but she got pregnant, and so her arch-nemesis/MGM rival Joan Crawford got the call to step-in. The story is based on a play, as well as a 1917 silent film. I didn't care much about this story and, subsequently, the movie, itself. It's fine as a social conscious melodrama. There's a little suspense during the main robbery. But the movie's just no 'great shakes'. Nothing about the plot intrigued me. The visuals are so-so. I'd say that the only stellar component of the film is Joan Crawford's dynamic performance. See it for her (if you're a Crawford completist), otherwise, I don't recommend it.
Mary soon gets involved with them in certain activities such as blackmail, embezzlement, & larceny. i.e., Mary & Agnes get old, lonely rich men to write them love letters, then take legal action for "breach of promise" & collect large sums of $$ under the guise of "heart balm"; which was a popular trick back in the early 1900s. To finally exact that revenge on her former boss, Mary manages to marry his son, Bob Gilder (Douglass Montgomery, of Waterloo Bridge). She plots & plots & plots to get back at the men who did her wrong ... but at what cost? Melodrama, more crimes & redemption ensues.
Norma Shearer was all set to star in this motion picture, but she got pregnant, and so her arch-nemesis/MGM rival Joan Crawford got the call to step-in. The story is based on a play, as well as a 1917 silent film. I didn't care much about this story and, subsequently, the movie, itself. It's fine as a social conscious melodrama. There's a little suspense during the main robbery. But the movie's just no 'great shakes'. Nothing about the plot intrigued me. The visuals are so-so. I'd say that the only stellar component of the film is Joan Crawford's dynamic performance. See it for her (if you're a Crawford completist), otherwise, I don't recommend it.