Heroes for Sale

 (1933)
Directed by William Wellman
Written by Robert Lord, Wilson Mizner
Strring Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, Loretta Young, Gordon Westcott, Charley Grapewin, Robert Barrat
IMDB Entry

Sometimss pre-code movies could be exceptionally dark. Heroes for Sale certainly fits this description, and also confounds audience expectations even today.

It begins during World War I. Tom Holmes (Richard Barthelmess) is part of a platoon ordered to capture a German solder. When is friend Roger Winston (Gordon Westcott) freezes and refuses to leave a foxhole, Tom goes out and accomplishes the mission, but is shot when returning the soldier to Roger, who is celebrated for his bravery in bringing the man back. Tom is found by the Germans and nursed back to health but develops a morphine habit. Roger, feeling guilty over his unearned adulation, helps get Tom a job in his father's bank, but when the habit is discovered, Tom is fired and goes into rehab.

Once clean, Tom rents a room from Pa Dennis (Charlie Grapewin) and his daughter Mary. He also meets Ruth Loring (Loretta Young), who helps him get a job at the commercial laundry where she works. Tom is given more responsibility and pay by the kindly owner Mr. Gibson (Grant Mitchell). He also sees an invention for an improved laundry device by the inventor Max Brinker (Robert Barrat) who is a committed Red. Tom implements the new device and marries Ruth; soon she has a baby boy.

Then tragedy strikes. Mr. Gibson dies and the new ownership takes over. Gibson has promised that no one would be fired because of Tom's new device.  The new owners ignore that. Despite Tom's trying to stop them, the fired workers riot. Tom is trying to stop it, but is mistaken for one of the rioters and, far worse, Ruth is killed.

Tom is sent to jail. When he gets out, he is marked as a Red. At the same time, he had been receiving royalties for the use of his invention. He gives the money to Mary and her father, to run a soup kitchen, feeding hundreds who have lost jobs due to the Depression. Mary also raises Tom's son. Tom is kicked out of town and goes from city to city, trying to find work.  It ends, however, on a hopeful note.

I've been more detailed in my usual description because the movie deserves more analysis. Tom is constantly getting the short end of the stick but still manages to keep a positive attitude. Audiences were probably shocked when Ruth died, and also surprised that Mary and Tom didn't become a couple.

Richard Barthelmess was a major silent film star, appearing for D.W. Griffith in Broken Blossoms and Way Down East, and becoming a heartthrob. His career faded as he grew older and he quit films in 1942.

This was early in Loretta Young's extensive career, which included an Oscar for The Farmer's Daughter.  Aline MacMahon also worked for decades, usually as a wisecracking character actress, a role that describes her here, though she turns more serious as the movie goes on. She also was part of the inaugural class of Method actors, and the first to appear in film. Charley Grapewin also worked regularly, notably as Uncle Henry in The Wizard of Oz.

Wilson Mizner, who co-wrote the screenplay, was renowned as one of Hollywood's greatest wits. There are several lines (given by MacMahon) that show some of this, but this is not a comedy.

Director William Wellman was a major success, with an Oscar for the script of A Star is Born and three other nominations.