Sadie McKee (1934)

Directed by

Clarence Brown

Genre

drama film, romance film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 33m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 24 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young working-class woman rises from poverty to marry a wealthy man. She faces challenges along the way before finding a settled life on her own terms.

romanticmelodramatichopefulbittersweetsentimentalclassic

What happens

Sadie McKee is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic-drama film directed by Clarence Brown, starring Joan Crawford, and featuring Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone, Edward Arnold, and Esther Ralston. The film is based on the 1933 short story "Pretty Sadie McKee", by Viña Delmar. Crawford plays the title character, from young working girl through poverty, a marriage into enormous wealth and finally a (seemingly) settled life on her own terms. Sadie McKee is the third of seven films Crawford and Franchot Tone made together. At the time of filming, Crawford recently had divorced Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and soon she and Tone were involved romantically. The couple married in 1935. The song "All I Do Is Dream of You" features in the film's opening titles and certain key sequences, sung (for the most part) by Gene Raymond. It was written by Nacio Herb Brown (music) and Arthur Freed (lyrics) for Sadie McKee. Since 1952, audiences have known this song best from its use in the film Singin' in the Rain, where it is sung at high speed by Debbie Reynolds and a group of chorus girls after Reynolds pops out of a cake at a Hollywood party. It also was used in A Night at the Opera (1935), Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). As a film released in 1934 that had its copyright renewed, the film will enter the public domain on January 1, 2030. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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