Even though she is almost forgotten now (I can't believe there is only one other review here for this movie), Ann Harding was a big star in her day, one of the biggest. She was a true aristocrat of the screen with her silvery blonde hair, beautiful eyes and her bewitchingly husky voice. She never played anything but Ladies with a capital L!! but co-workers (Mary Astor in "Holiday") described her as an actress rather than a star and that she disregarded all the special treatment and was no phoney!! In 1933 there was talk that Ann would align herself to Darryl F. Zanuck's new 20th Century Productions just as ex RKO star Constance Bennett had done, so Ann tested the waters by selecting "Gallant Lady" as a test movie. She thought she knew what her public wanted and she was completely perfect in it but it was a very melodramatic affair with, in my opinion, too many players. The film would have been tighter without Tullio Carminati's character. He did sing a couple of Italian arias but, apart from that, what was he in the movie for???
This was a very soapy tale of mother love. When Sally's (Harding) fiancée dies in a freak air accident he leaves her grieving and with child. She is pulled from her despondency by Dan (Clive Brooks) a drunken doctor just released from prison. He not only helps Sally find a couple eager to adopt her baby (she is determined to give the baby up) but gets her a job with his interior designer friend (Janet Beecher). Knowing so much about Dan, he engages the audience's sympathy and you start to feel sorry for him and want to shake Sally!!!
When she realises Dan's feelings are deeper than her own she goes to Italy where - you guessed it, she meets her little boy, Deedy (adorable Dickie Moore) on the boat and there is an instant rapport between them. Part of the problem is Deedy's dad, Phillip Lawrence (Otto Kruger) is such a shadowy, one dimensional character it is hard to understand Sally's strong feelings for him. And Dickie Moore is so engaging, he would put anyone in the shade. Phillip, who is now a widower, is engaged to one of those deadly fiancees (Betty Lawford) who - shock!! horror!! even hits Deedy!! In the meantime Sally is determined to marry Phillip, even though she doesn't love him, all for the sake of being near her son. Of course it doesn't happen like that but there is only about 10 minutes for them both to fall in love with each other. Meanwhile Dan, the only nice chap in the movie, is left to wander alone around the park, trying to cure his drinking addiction!! I call it unfair!!!
This was a very soapy tale of mother love. When Sally's (Harding) fiancée dies in a freak air accident he leaves her grieving and with child. She is pulled from her despondency by Dan (Clive Brooks) a drunken doctor just released from prison. He not only helps Sally find a couple eager to adopt her baby (she is determined to give the baby up) but gets her a job with his interior designer friend (Janet Beecher). Knowing so much about Dan, he engages the audience's sympathy and you start to feel sorry for him and want to shake Sally!!!
When she realises Dan's feelings are deeper than her own she goes to Italy where - you guessed it, she meets her little boy, Deedy (adorable Dickie Moore) on the boat and there is an instant rapport between them. Part of the problem is Deedy's dad, Phillip Lawrence (Otto Kruger) is such a shadowy, one dimensional character it is hard to understand Sally's strong feelings for him. And Dickie Moore is so engaging, he would put anyone in the shade. Phillip, who is now a widower, is engaged to one of those deadly fiancees (Betty Lawford) who - shock!! horror!! even hits Deedy!! In the meantime Sally is determined to marry Phillip, even though she doesn't love him, all for the sake of being near her son. Of course it doesn't happen like that but there is only about 10 minutes for them both to fall in love with each other. Meanwhile Dan, the only nice chap in the movie, is left to wander alone around the park, trying to cure his drinking addiction!! I call it unfair!!!