Better Late Then Never

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Frank Borzage enjoyed a long and successful Hollywood career first as a leading man and then as one of the cinema's great romantic directors, but is relatively neglected today; his fan base today being fairly small but ardentlyly and deservedly devoted. In his prime Borzage was evidently held in esteem within the industry itself, as his two Oscars attest. Major achievements like 'Man's Castle', 'Little Man, What Now?', 'Three Comrades', The Mortal Storm' and 'Moonrise' still lay ahead when Borzage collected his second and last Oscar in a strong year in the face of competition from contemporaries of the calibre of Mervyn LeRoy, Ernst Lubitsch, Rouben Mamoulian, King Vidor, William A. Wellman and James Whale, just for starters.So what was this trivial-sounding film that earned Borzage an accolade he never received again? Despite it's obvious contrivances (Eddie's boorish behaviour when they first meet should have promptly nipped any possibility of romance in the bud, would fantastically expensive top gynaecologist Dr. Burgess really have been such a soft touch?, and the happy 'ending' resolves nothing), Borzage works his magic with pretty thin material with the help of attractive players, particularly James Dunn, making his feature film debut. It's certainly easy to imagine that few at the time managed to get through it with dry eyes, and it's still worth your time today.

The title is a misnomer :there's no bad girl in the movie,so this Borzage movie might not be what you are expecting.One of Borzage's first talkies,and based on a play,it's often too..talky.But the two principals make up for it with their spontaneity and their talent.The story is very simple;unlike many movies of the great director,the couple here does not have to fight against a hostile world -only the girls parents seem to be enemies but they are given only one scene- ,but actually against themselves.Particularly James Dunn whose dream is to own his radio store and who does not want children probably because he's got bad memories from his childhood.Sally Eilers ,on the contrary ,wants to raise a family,and if she cannot,she intends to work again ,which her hubby cannot stand.Nothing melodramatic here,but an endearing depiction of everyday life of the life of a young couple during the depression years .Excellent scenes: James Dunn ,taking his wife to the brand new apartment he has bought for her ,spending every last cent .The same,crying his heart out in the doctor's office The last scenes at a time -not so long ago- when husbands did not attend the childbirth and this extremely moving moment when Dunn asks to hold the child.All the happiness to become a father is in this scene.

An interesting little Borzage love story set during the Depression, detailing the struggles of young couple (Sally Eilers & James Dunn) with their hopes and dreams. Curiously Borzage won his second Oscar as Best Director for this oddly heady little movie and that's perhaps the only reason to watch it. It works as a timepiece of its era. But I definitely wouldn't call "Bad Girl" one of Borzage's best romances (in many ways it strikes me as turgid and unaffecting in several moments, and I didn't like the ending), but it is definitely worth catching if you are fan or a student of the director's sublime and unheralded oeuvre.

Unfortunately, this is apparently a very scarce film, not available on VHS or DVD, and seldom if ever broadcast. However, as a fan of Vina Delmar I have read the novel upon which the film is based, and must point out that the story takes place in 1923. This was the flapper era, the roaring twenties, the jazz age . . . and the era of Prohibition!A very different period from that of the Great Depression, which began in 1929, and was two years old when the film was made.Whether the story line was changed to place the story in Depression-era New York instead of Roaring Twenties New York, is interesting to consider. I would dearly love to see this film, and to see how well it lives up to the very fine novel by Vina Delmar, BAD GIRL.Regis Hardy