Sunday with Barbara Stanwyck
“The Purchase Price” showcases the star as a mail-order bride in North Dakota
This movie is, by my reckoning, misunderstood by critics. I’ve seen it twice. Both times, I was enveloped by the transformation of the main character, Joan, played by Barbara Stanwyck. It’s an interesting film on its merits, however, under the direction of William Wellman, the pre-production code motion picture takes on additional layers. Besides Joan, there’s the male lead, Jim (George Brent). Jim is a poor but strong, diligent and handsome farmer in North Dakota. Joan is his mail-order bride.
The couple are the point of the story. In a series of plot contrivances, Joan escapes a gangster to Canada and takes a train to the northwest American plains to meet a man she knows only by a photograph of him on a horse. As Joan, Stanwyck sings in movies for the first time — the torch tune “Take Me Away” — and the actress was burned on both legs after refusing a stunt double for a scene in which she fights to extinguish flames in a blazing wheat field fire. Stanwyck had to be hospitalized (she fully recovered). Mr. Wellman films a marvelous portrait of the unique and eccentric characters that populate an American farm town.
The Purchase Price runs a bit longer than an hour. It’s crisp and striking with Sidney Hickox’s photography. The 1932 movie depicts a psychologically complex interchange between the male-female couple. Joan isn’t what Jim expects. Jim isn’t what Joan expects. In other words, the depiction is true to life concerning romantic marriage. At some point, Joan’s ex reappears. The tension and conflict between the arranged marriage couple shifts, pivots and earns the audience’s respect. But only if you’re paying attention and grasp what the commitment to living and true love really means.
The Purchase Price is themed to earning one’s romantic love in a higher sense. It’s imperfect. Jim and Joan are interesting and Stanwyck, who would grow as an actress, showcases playing a range of emotions. I found myself rooting for her both times I’ve seen The Purchase Price, which I regard with affection. The Purchase Price is based on “The Mud Lark”, a story by Arthur Stringer which was published in the Saturday Evening Post and later published as a novel by Bobbs-Merrill.
Sunday with Barbara Stanwyck