Reviewing a classic film from the golden age of Hollywood
The golden age of Hollywood can be greatly associated with glitz and glamour, with light-hearted musicals and slapstick comedy. However, there are many movies that dealt with intense adult, and many times, sad, stories and themes. The crime dramas and tear-jerkers were as much a part of the fun romances and thrilling adventures.
One of the films that deal with the tough life of the destitute is the 1940 film, “Primrose Path.” This drama focuses on Ellie May, played by Ginger Rogers, and her family, who are social outcasts and live in poverty on the outskirts of town on Primrose Hill. Ellie May’s father, Homer, was a scholar and graduated from college, but fell into alcoholism and is unable to support the household.
The main income comes from Ellie May’s mother, Mamie, who gets money from being an escort for men. In other words, she is essentially a prostitute, as was Ellie May’s grandmother. Her grandmother, who is not much help and serves the purpose of criticizing every other member of the family and their situation, attempts to take care of Ellie May’s younger sister, Honeybell.
The movie follows Ellie May as she hitches a ride with an older man to the beach, where she is headed to dig up clams for dinner. The older man, known as Gramp, owns a small diner and gas station on the beach that he works with young Ed Wallace, played by Joel McCrea. He offers Ellie May help when he notices she is struggling to find the clams. While he is showing her a trick, she notices his wallet fall out of his pocket and slips it into her bag without him noticing. Ed then offers to give Ellie May a ride back to her house in the sidecar of his motorcycle. Using the opportunity, he tries to “get a rise” out of her by driving the motorcycle dangerously and lifting the sidecar off the road. A policeman catches up with them and asks for Ed’s license, which is in the wallet Ellie May took, but she gives it back when the officer threatens to take Ed to the station.
That night, Ellie May dresses up and heads to the Blue Bell Café, a dive bar down by the beach where Ed spends some of his nights with the Portuguese women who work at the nearby fish cannery. She tries to impress him with her strut, but she slips, falls and rushes out in embarrassment. Ed follows her out, and Ellie May tells him that her family has thrown her out because she refused to stop seeing Ed; she then tells Ed that she has nowhere to go except with him. He initially refuses, telling her that he is not ready to settle down, but grants Ellie May her request of another kiss before she leaves. When she walks away, she heads to the end of the pier, planning to jump when Ed goes to her and catches her as she faints.
The movie then goes to Ed and Ellie May’s life running the diner, where Ellie May has made a place for herself and banters with the regular customers. Their life together is a happy one, which Ellie May feels bad for because of the lie she has built their relationship on.
It starts to catch up with her when her mother comes through the gas station with her friend Thelma and the men they are accompanying that day. Her mother makes a scene with the water hose, and one of the customers in the diner makes a reference to the nature of Mamie’s reputation. Ellie May gets upset and defends her mother, causing Ed to question if Ellie May has been lying. She attempts to tell the truth, but still makes up who Mamie was with. Ed then suggests they should go see Ellie May’s family since there is nothing they can do to him and Ellie May since they are married.
When Ellie May and Ed arrive at her house for dinner, they receive a lukewarm welcome from Ellie May’s grandmother and Honeybell, but a warm welcome from Mamie who is trying to save face for Ellie May’s sake. The get-together goes from bad to worse when Homer, Ellie May’s father, arrives back at the house inebriated and mistakes Ed for one of the men Mamie goes out with.
While Ellie May and Mamie take Homer into the bedroom, the truth comes out as Ellie May’s grandmother reveals that the family did not turn Ellie away from the house, but that she left on her own and did not return. Her grandmother then insults Ed as he leaves the house and rides away from Primrose Hill, leaving Ellie May confused and hurt watching from the front porch.
Ellie May makes one attempt to seek out Ed and try to make things right, but when she finds him at the Blue Bell, drunk, he embarrasses her in front of the other people at the table. They step outside, where Ellie May had told Ed the original lie, and Ed makes it clear he never wants to see Ellie May again to which she agrees. Meanwhile, Mamie gets injured when trying to soothe Homer.
When Ellie May returns home, she finds the police and Mamie being looked at by a doctor. A couple days later, Mamie passes away. This leaves Ellie May to find a job to support the family, and she tries her best to avoid falling into her mother and grandmother’s line of work. However, after going a little too long living off of bread and potato soup, Ellie May decides to contact her mother’s friend, Thelma, to find her a man looking for good company.
The night comes, and Ellie May suggests stopping at the Blue Bell to settle the score. When she walks in, she uses the strut that had embarrassed her the first time she tried to impress Ed. She then suggests a dance to her date, Smithy, and proceeds to toss smart, stabbing comments back and forth with Ed. When she has said what she wants, Ellie May and the others get ready to leave, but Ed holds Smithy back to talk to him and ask him about Ellie May.
When the group is back on the road, Ellie May hears the sound of the familiar old motorcycle. Ed rides up next to the car and Smithy stops the car to let Ellie May out. She and Ed return to Primrose Hill to set the record straight with her grandmother, and Ed makes it known that he will be taking care of the family, after he and Ellie May come back from their sort of honeymoon.
This movie offers an interesting look at how “the other half” lives. The cycle of doing whatever has to be done and the feelings of hopelessness, like what Ellie May felt when Ed initially denied her, persists throughout the film. She did not have many options, and she did what she felt was best for her by taking a chance on the love she felt for Ed. Like many of the movies of the time, the short time it took for two people to fall in love makes it a little difficult to believe in how well love can hold up. The film also shows how dangerous it is to build a relationship on lies, that it will come back eventually and the relationship will take a blow.
The somber feeling of the film adds to the emotion evoked by the actors and the storyline. Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea have convincing chemistry, which was also evident in their 1933 film, Chance At Heaven.
All of the actors play their parts well, especially Queenie Vassar, who played Ellie May’s grandmother. She did a strong job of portraying the bitter, vain and biting aging woman. She was used to a certain way of life and now that she cannot live that way, she makes everyone else miserable, including herself.
The happier ending makes the sadness and missed time a little more bearable. The small moments of happiness help ease the pain Ellie May and Ed went through to get back to each other. Even though there were issues that had to be worked out and relationships that needed to be rebuilt, love and understanding won over the hardships, a message that must be remembered even today.
By Faith Topolski, Staff Writer
topolsfl17@bonaventure.edu
