The Gorgeous Hussy

There's no questioning that Joan Crawford was gorgeous and there was no one hussier. Surrounded by several leading men (Stewart, Tone, Barrymore, Douglas, and Taylor), Crawford plays the daughter of an innkeeper in 1830s Washington, DC, and looks terrific in her first costume role, strutting and preening as well as Irene Dunne could have. Barrymore is President Jackson, who is attempting to stave off some secessionists while members of Washington society turn up their noses at him because his wife, Bondi, was a backwoods girl before he met her. She'd moved in with Barrymore before her divorce from her first husband was granted and thus had been living in what might be deemed sin for quite a while. Barrymore and Bondi stay at the inn, where he befriends Crawford, a forward-thinking woman who advocates female suffrage. Since the inn is so close to Washington, Crawford is friendly with most of the politicians, as is her father, Lockhart. All of the notables of the time surround her and attempt to win her hand. She's in love with Melvyn Douglas but he keeps her at arm's length. Hurt by the rejection, she marries Taylor, a young Navy lieutenant, on the rebound. But he is killed soon after in war-related action and she begins a romantic alliance with Tone, who later becomes a cabinet member. Crawford and Tone are happy with each other and her star rises in polite society but the snobby women oppose her. (oficjalny tekst dystrybutora)