Stella Dallas (1937 film)

Stella Dallas is a 1937 American drama film based on Olive Higgins Prouty's 1923 novel of the same name. It was directed by King Vidor and stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. At the 10th Academy Awards, Stanwyck and Shirley were nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role, respectively.

The film is the second of three film adaptations of Prouty's novel: it was preceded by a silent film of the same name in 1925, and followed by Stella in 1990. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival as part of a retrospective of Vidor's career.

Plot
In 1919 in a Massachusetts factory town, Stella Martin, the daughter of a mill worker, is determined to better her station in life. She sets her sights on Stephen Dallas, the advertising manager at the mill, whom she catches at an emotionally vulnerable time. Stephen's father killed himself after losing his fortune, leaving Stephen penniless. He disappeared from high society, intending to return for his fiancée, Helen Morrison, once he was able to support her financially, but, just as he feels he has made something of himself, he sees the announcement of Helen's wedding in the newspaper. Stephen and Stella have a brief courtship before impulsively getting married.

A year later, Stella and Stephen's daughter, Laurel, is born. To Stella's great surprise, she discovers she has a strong maternal instinct. Even when she is out dancing and partying, she cannot help but think about her child. As Laurel grows up, Stella's social ambitions are redirected toward her daughter.

Stephen dotes on Laurel as well, but she is the only bond between husband and wife. Without success, he tries to help Stella become more refined, and he strongly disapproves of her continuing friendship with the vulgar Ed Munn. Finally, when Stephen is offered a promotion that requires him to move to New York, Stella tells him to take it, though she and Laurel will stay behind. They separate, but remain married, and Laurel only sees Stephen when he comes to visit, or when they take father-daughter vacations together.

Years later, Stephen runs into Helen, who is now a wealthy widow with three sons. They renew their acquaintance, and for one vacation Stephen brings Laurel to stay at Helen's mansion. Laurel gets along very well with Helen and her sons. Stephen asks Stella for a divorce through his lawyer, but she turns him down.

Stella takes Laurel to a fancy resort, where Laurel meets Richard Grosvenor III, and the youths fall in love. However, when Stella makes her first appearance after recovering from a mild illness, she becomes the target of derision behind her back for her vulgar fashion sense. Embarrassed for her mother, Laurel insists they leave at once, without explanation. On the train ride home, Stella overhears some passengers from the resort discussing her and learns the truth.

After talking with Helen and seeing how elegant she is, Stella agrees to divorce Stephen and asks if Laurel can live with Helen and Stephen once they are married. Helen realizes the reason for the request and agrees. When Laurel learns of this arrangement on her next visit to Helen's mansion, she immediately figures out Stella's thinking and returns home to her mother. However, Stella pretends she wants Laurel off her hands so she can marry Ed and travel to South America, so, dejected, Laurel runs crying back to her father and Helen.

Sometime later, Laurel and Richard get married. Laurel is upset that her mother did not even send her a letter of congratulations, and Helen comforts her by saying that word of her engagement must not have reached Stella. From outside in the rain, Stella watches Laurel and Richard exchange wedding vows through the window. Just another face in a small crowd of curious bystanders, she goes unnoticed. After being shooed away by a police officer, Stella walks away with her head held high and a smile on her tear-stained face.

Cast

 * Barbara Stanwyck as Stella Dallas (née Martin)
 * John Boles as Stephen Dallas
 * Anne Shirley as Laurel Dallas, Stella and Stephen's daughter
 * Barbara O'Neil as Helen Morrison (later Dallas)
 * Alan Hale as Ed Munn, Stella's friend
 * Marjorie Main as Mrs. Martin, Stella's mother
 * George Walcott as Charlie Martin, Stella's brother
 * Ann Shoemaker as Miss Phillibrown, Laurel's teacher
 * Tim Holt as Richard Grosvenor III, Laurel's boyfriend
 * Nella Walker as Mrs. Grosvenor, Richard's mother
 * Bruce Satterlee as Con Morrison, Helen's eldest son
 * Jimmy Butler as Con Morrison (grown up)
 * Jack Egger as John Morrison, Helen's middle son
 * Dick Jones as Lee Morrison, Helen's youngest son


 * Uncredited
 * Edmund Elton as Mr. Martin, Stella's father
 * Olin Howland as Stephen's office clerk
 * Harlan Briggs as Mr. Beamer, Stephen's boss
 * Mildred Gover as Agnes, Stella's first maid
 * George Meeker as Spencer Chandler, a well-known citizen of Millhampton
 * Gertrude Short as Carrie Jenkins, Stella's friend
 * Etta McDaniel as Edna, Stella's second maid
 * Lillian Yarbo as Gladys, Stella's third maid
 * Paul Stanton as Arthur W. Morley, Stephen's lawyer
 * Edwin Stanley as Helen's butler
 * Jessie Arnold as Ed's landlady
 * Robert Homans as the policeman outside the wedding

Production
Tim Holt, the son of Jack Holt, had his first proper role in a film with Stella Dallas. He played the same part that was performed by Douglas Fairbanks Jr., also the son of a film star, in the 1925 version of the film.

Critical response
The movie premiered at the Radio City Music Hall, and in a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Frank S. Nugent wrote that the character of Stella Dallas, first portrayed on the screen 12 years earlier, was outdated, but that the film's theme of motherly love endured: "[W]e cannot accept Stella Dallas in 1937. She is a caricature all the way. ... Stella, through the years, was changeless, but, where her daughter was concerned, she was eternal: the selfless mother." Nugent praised Stanwyck's performance, saying: "Miss Stanwyck's portrayal is as courageous as it is fine. Ignoring the flattery of make-up man and camera, she plays Stella as Mrs. Prouty drew her—coarse, cheap, common ... And yet magnificent as a mother."

Variety praised the film, while mentioning some inconsistencies, such as the fact that Stella and her daughter both wear clothes made by Stella, but the daughter is always dressed in good taste, while the mother is not.

Maclean's criticized the outlandish costumes worn by the title character, but praised the story as relevant for any decade, concluding that "the picture is handled with honesty, restraint and feeling."

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 10 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10.

Accolades
The character Stella Dallas was nominated for inclusion on the American Film Institute's 2003 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains, and is considered by many as among Stanwyck's signature roles. Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa cited Stella Dallas as one of his favorite films.