Mae: “I don’t like your face.”
Jimmy Doyle: “Hey, my face is ok.”
Mae: “Yeah – for you it’s ok – you’re behind it.”
A Pre-Code romantic crime drama from Columbia Pictures, 1932’s Virtue, directed by Edward Buzzell, got off to a bit of a bumpy start. . . for when star Carole Lombard (on loan from Paramount) met studio president Harry Cohn (known to be blunt, opinionated, and rather colourful with his language), he told her that her hair was too white – making her look like ‘a whore’. Lombard, no shrinking violet, promptly responded with: “if anyone would know a whore it would be you”. Though the two would soon earn each other’s respect (something that would last for the rest of their lives), this really is a perfect story that exemplifies the edgy themes and style found in these Pre-Code movies.
Opening with a black screen that hides the visuals of a criminal sentence, a Judge rather kindly orders several prostitutes to vacate the city, but if they return, they shall be punished to the full extent of the law. One such woman of the night is Mae (Lombard), who promptly gets off the train after one stop and returns to New York. Meeting up with her friend Lil Blaine (Mayo Methot), they both lament their many issues with men. . . only for her gal pal’s loser beau, Toots (Jack La Rue) to walk in not long after. Likewise, taxi driver Jimmy Doyle (Pat O’Brien), who was tricked by Mae into free cab fare back to the city, complains about the issues with women. Funnily enough, if some of the dialogue was modernized just a bit, you could swear that these cynical conversations were pulled from some 21st century rom-com.
Of course, Mae feels bad about stiffing the cabbie, so she returns with the money. . . starting off a rather firm, blunt, and intriguing courtship. Keeping her past a secret, the couple eventually get married. . . her husband shockingly learning of her past life only shortly after the ceremony. Upset but saving her from the Judge’s court order (due to her marriage), he never forgets, and they decide to slowly work towards their goal of purchasing a gas station for a whopping five-hundred dollars – of which they have already saved up four hundred and thirty-two dollars.
But fatefully, Mae’s former friend and street walker Gert (Shirley Grey) calls for her, needing two hundred smackeroos for an emergency surgery. Out of the goodness of her heart, she helps (without her husband’s knowledge), only to discover that the gas station owner is now willing to sell for the money they have. What will come of Mae’s kind gesture? Can their marriage survive her sordid past? Will all of this have a happy ending?
Turning into a much darker picture, accusations fly, treachery is afoot, affairs are had, surmising goes wrong, and even a murder occurs. Everything weaves together, leading to quite the wild conclusion. It doesn’t hurt that we are in the hands of such a quality actress in Lombard, who shines on the screen, and ably channels every emotion needed. Likewise, director Buzzell does everything to make her pop, including the old Vaseline on the lens trick – which makes her absolutely glow in the early portions of the movie. . . diminished later on as things get complicated in their relationship.
Just another example of a quality picture coming out of the Pre-Code era, Virtue pushes the envelope and gives a female lead a rich story to work with. One of the last features to use a heavily involved prostitution storyline before the Hays Code would come into effect a couple of years later, it brings enough class and controversy to appease a whole array of viewers – those looking for romance as well as those looking for a little more edge. So, slap this one onto your viewing list, it’s a gas!