Shopworn (1932)

Shopworn: Directed by Nick Grinde. With Barbara Stanwyck, Regis Toomey, Zasu Pitts, Lucien Littlefield. A poor woman and a man from an upper-class family fall in love, but his mother will go to any lengths to stop their marriage.

“This is a pretty ordinary little film about a young waitress (Barbara Stanwyck) who falls in love with a wealthy college student (Regis Toomey) who will go on to become a doctor, and how his mother strives to break up their relationship. I rounded it up a bit because of Stanwycku0026#39;s performance; she is such a natural and has a couple of great scenes. I also liked how she was such a strong woman – her character was toughened by her fatheru0026#39;s death, and she stands up to unwanted advances while waitressing, endures being sent away to a womanu0026#39;s reformatory on morality charges, and tells Toomey off when he returns to her after sheu0026#39;s made it as a dancer. Being committed for trumped up morality reasons is outrageous today, but it was reality then, and the mother had also considered getting her committed to an asylum, a real practice stemming from the 19th century. If you donu0026#39;t like u0026#39;em or theyu0026#39;re threatening in some way, lock u0026#39;em up. The ending is unfortunately a little dippy, but you could do worse than watch this one, and itu0026#39;s almost entirely due to Stanywck.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne of the great scenes has her throwing money in a guyu0026#39;s face after he tries to bribe her into leaving town to get her out of Toomeyu0026#39;s life: u0026quot;What are you trying to make of me – what you wish I was? Something cheap and common, something that money can buy? Well, you canu0026#39;t. Nobody can! You and the nice, decent people who sent you here are the real cheap ones, trying to put a price on something there isnu0026#39;t any price for! If thatu0026#39;s being decent, Iu0026#39;m glad Iu0026#39;m common! If thatu0026#39;s being rich, Iu0026#39;m glad Iu0026#39;m cheap, and Iu0026#39;m gonna stay cheap! Because no matter how cheap I am, Iu0026#39;m not for sale!u0026quot;”