Possessed

1931 "How long will it last?"
6.9| 1h16m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 21 November 1931 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Marion is a factory worker who hopes to trade the assembly line, for a beautiful penthouse apartment. Mark Whitney, a wealthy and influential lawyer can make her dreams come true, but there is only one problem, he will give her everything but a marriage proposal. Will this affair ever lead to marriage?

Genre

Drama, Romance

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Director

Clarence Brown

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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Possessed Audience Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
ThiefHott Too much of everything
Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
mark.waltz Having left school at the age of 12, Joan Crawford's Marian never learned to spell regret. And as perfect as the are together, her handsome attorney lover Clark Gable doesn't want to marry her to risk finding out her imperfections. It's a perfect relationship, but as much of a lady Joan becomes after leaving her factory town, she desires that quality called respectability. As much of an obvious gold digger she is, she's open about it, and that's what Gable likes about her, tired of the phoniness he's encountered before. But as his reputation grows and his political clout increases, she's a danger to him, something she refuses to be. Almost semi-autobiographical, this parallels Crawford's rise up the ladder from uneducated chorus girl to extra to rising starlet, to by this time, superstar. It's also Gable's first hit, and the sparks fly from the moment she intrudes on Skeets Gallagher's business meeting and wins him over. Earlier, a drunken Skeets advised her to get out of her factory town and board the train to the other side of the tracks. If the sight of her tired mother Clara Blandick doesn't convince her that it's time, it's content suitor Wallace Ford. By the time Crawford has gotten in to deep, she fights the tears back as she's too far in, and her only choice to save him and her self respect is to get out. This plot line sounds like the special dialog added to the Judy Garland speech in the middle of "Dear Mr. Gable". This isn't just your typical Joan Crawford tearjerker. There is something special about this film, for me not just being one of the very first Crawford film I recall seeing on home video, but in its tale of moral struggle and misplaced ambition as well. Crawford isn't just some beautiful ice statue; she has all the right ingredients for super-stardom, and under the direction of veteran director Clarence Brown, reaches it with no yellow brick road to skip down. With this film, her legendary status became assured.
diana-2 Has anyone really noticed that Joan Crawford sings in this movie??? And she's really pretty good! I have to admit that I like Joan Crawford movies...even the bad ones. But to see her sing!!! You have to hand it to her, she really did work very hard to make herself into Joan Crawford... And she sings in English, French AND German!!! Quite a nice little movie here.... Clark Gable is gorgeous and luscious of course, and there are a bunch of supporting players who really became quite famous back then.I love old movies!! A good story with interesting characters and beautiful mise-en-scene.Try it! You'll like it! And it's worth it just to see Joan Crawford sing!
dbdumonteil The prospects of a working class girl are not bright.Marian (Crawford) is not a girl who is content with melted chocolate ice cream when she 's seen a luxury train passing though her town,the ladies all dressed up,fancy food and fancy wine .Marian has an asset :her beauty and soon she 's got her claws into a wealthy lawyer (Gable).Then begins a life of luxury:French restaurants , menus in French (although the first meal the couple is having in the restaurant is not typically French:those people do not eat apple pie with ice cream on top) and a French maid!But no marriage in sight.All in all,Marian remains a high-class prostitute.The key to the movie is Marjorie White's scene :a crude woman called Vernice,who thinks that the place is "like Ellis Island " and who makes Marian realize she is not much more than that bubble head girl ,veneer making some kind of difference .This is not a moral movie ,for 1932! everyone exploits everyone ,including the former fiancé who is not so loyal and so virtuous as he appears at first sight.Crawford has a great scene at the meeting when she tells the whole truth and gets a standing ovation. This is a good melodrama.Well acted .
Piltdown_Man This is a very solid bit of movie-making. Well directed and edited. Little fluff. A script that is generally crisp and moves the plot forward.Crawford is strong and likable as she moves from factory girl to "kept woman," apparently without missing a beat.It's in these early Crawford films that you really see what the shouting was all about. She is beautiful, vulnerable, strong, sweet and, most importantly, a powerful screen presence. And she can show you all those sides of herself in the same scene.Gable too, while playing a somewhat subservient role, gets to strut his stuff. He is at once, a "man's man" and "ladies man." Neat trick. Try it sometime.One aspect of this film that you'll appreciate is its lack of moralizing. The story is out there for all to see, but we don't get it rubbed in our faces. Also, along the lines of Philip Barry ("The Philadelphia Story") we are allowed to see that money and power does not necessarily make a man bad, while struggle and poverty doesn't make him good, either.As with all movies of this era, you have to allow for the changing morals and attitudes that have interceded in the following 70 years, but it's a testament to the writer and director that this still holds up.