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Forbidden

Director: Frank R. Capra (Dir) Release Date: 15 Jan 1932 Premiere Information: New York opening: 9 Jan 1932 Production Date: 30 Sep--3 Nov 1931 Duration (in mins): 83 or 87 Duration (in feet): 7,938 Duration (in reels): 9			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:	Barbara Stanwyck	(Lulu [Smith])
	Adolphe Menjou	(Bob [Grover])
	Ralph Bellamy	([Al] Holland)
	Dorothy Peterson	(Helen [Grover])
	Thomas Jefferson	(Wilkinson)
	Myrna Fresholt	(Roberta, baby [Bobbi])
	Charlotte V. Henry	(Roberta, 18)
	Oliver Eckhardt	(Briggs)
	Halliwell Hobbes	(Florist)
	Eddie Kane	(Maitre d')
	Henry Armetta	(Waiter)

Summary:

After librarian Lulu Smith is accused by her patrons of having Spring fever, she spends her life savings on a cruise to Havana, during which she begins a romance with Bob Grover, a lawyer with political ambitions. After their return, Lulu becomes a clerical assistant for a newspaper, where she is pursued by brash reporter Al Holland. One night, several months into their affair, Bob comes to Lulu's apartment for dinner, bringing two Halloween masks with which they have a marvelous time playing. Their merriment is interrupted by a call from Al, whose proposal to Lulu prompts Bob to confess that he has an invalid wife whom he cannot leave. Lulu protests that she wishes to continue their affair, but Bob refuses to let her waste her life on him. They squabble, and Lulu throws him out without telling him she is pregnant. Time passes and Bob becomes district attorney, while Al becomes city editor of the newspaper. After Bob hires a detective, Marty, to find Lulu, the couple are reunited and Lulu introduces Bob to his daughter Roberta. Later, Lulu and Roberta are waiting to meet Bob, when Al suddenly appears. He is questioning her about Roberta when Bob arrives, and, in order to protect Bob's reputation, Lulu tells Al that the baby is Bob's adopted daughter and that she is her governess. In order to preserve the charade, Bob does adopt Roberta, taking her home the next day to present to his wife Helen, who is returning from a European rest cure. Helen is delighted with the child but questions Lulu's ability to care for her. Lulu runs out of the house, and when Bob follows her, she tries to tell him she is through with him but cannot. Soon after, Lulu goes to Al for a job and becomes the "advice to the lovelorn" columnist for his paper. Al pumps her for information about Bob and Roberta in order to write a story causing Bob's downfall, but Lulu refuses to say anything. As the years pass, Lulu still works for the paper, and Al, now the managing editor, is still pursuing her. Bob has been both a mayor and a congressman, but on the night he wins the nomination for governor, he becomes disheartened, ashamed of the hypocrisy of his double life. Lulu tries to talk him out of confessing the truth and ruining his career, but when it seems that she cannot succeed, she asks Al to marry her, hoping that will make Bob forget about her. On the night of Bob's election, however, Al tells her that he knows all about her, Bob and Roberta, and Lulu kills him to prevent him from publishing the story. A year later, Bob is on his deathbed, and Lulu, whom he had pardoned after a short jail term, comes to visit him. He shows her his new will, which tells the truth and leaves her half of his estate, but after he dies, she tears it up to protect him and Roberta, who is engaged to a socially prominent young man.

Production Company:	Columbia Pictures Corp.
Production Text:	A Frank R. Capra Production
Distribution Company:	Columbia Pictures Corp.
Director:	Frank R. Capra	(Dir)
Producer:	Harry Cohn	(Prod)
Writer:	Frank Capra	(Story)
	Jo Swerling	(Adpt)
Photography:	Joseph Walker	(Photog)
Film Editor:	Maurice Wright	(Film ed)
Sound:	Edward Bernds	(Sd)
Make Up:	Mont Westmore	(Makeup)
Country:	United States

Songs:	"Cupid's Holiday," words and music by Irving Bibo and Pete Fylling.
Composer:	Irving Bibo
	Pete Fylling

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number	Passed By NBR:
Columbia Pictures Corp.	5/1/1932 dd/mm/yyyy	LP2737	Yes

Physical Properties:	b&w:
	Sd:	Western Electric System


Genre:	Melodrama

Subjects (Major):	Elections
	Illegitimacy
	Infidelity
	Mistresses
	Politicians
	Unrequited love

Subjects (Minor):	Adoption
	Children
	Class distinction
	Columnists
	Confession
	Detectives
	District attorneys
	Editors
	Havana (Cuba)
	Invalids
	Lawyers
	Libraries and librarians
	Masks
	Murder
	Mothers and daughters
	Reporters
	Newspapers
	Ocean liners
	Pardons
	Prisons
	Proposals (Marital)
	Reputation
	Wills

Note:	In his autobiography, director Frank Capra admitted that he wrote the story for Forbidden "with a very large assist from Fannie Hurst's Back Street " (New York, 1931). According to contemporary news items, this film was supposed to have begun production on 15 Jul 1931 but was delayed due to Barbara Stanwyck's contract dispute with Columbia. While the case was in court, Capra directed Platinum Blonde . After the case was settled, Stanwyck agreed to do Forbidden for the salary stipulated in her contract. According to HR , Paul Muni was to have co-starred with Stanwyck and Adolphe Menjou. Actor Ralph Bellamy was borrowed from Fox. Although the copyright material and contemporary reviews list Tom Ricketts as "Briggs," the film credits Oliver Eckhardt with the role. A HR news item does include Ricketts and Martha Mattox in the cast, but their participation in the film has not been verified. HR also stated that Florence Wix and Claude King were added to the cast. Modern sources also include them and their respective character names, "Mrs. Smith" and "Mr. Jones." A 31 Aug 1932 FD news item noted that Forbidden was "hailed as a 'screen masterpiece' at the recent International Cinematographic Show in Venice [where] Senator Marconi, Luigi Pirandello and other noted personages were the judges." According to correspondence in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, Forbidden was rejected by the PCA in 1935 when Columbia, attempting to re-issue the picture, submitted it for approval. In a letter to Will H. Hays, PCA Director Joseph I. Breen stated that the film "violated the Code, inasmuch as it was basically a glorification of adultery." According to modern sources, Helen Hayes was first offered the part of Lulu Smith. Modern sources credit Edward Stevenson with costumes and list the following additional cast members: Robert Graves ( Mr. Eckner ), Harry Holman ( Mick, advice to the lovelorn columnist ), Bob Parrish, Dick Winslow, Cooke Phelps, Roger Byrne ( Office boys ), Carmencita Johnson, Seesel Ann Johnson, Larry Dolan, Lynn Compton ( Children in Halloween scene ), Helen Stuart, Frankie Raymond, Gertrude Pedlar and Wilfred Noy. Modern sources also mention that the film was shot in part at Laguna Beach and Venice, CA.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Film Daily	20 Jul 31	p. 7.
Film Daily	16 Sep 31	p. 4.
Film Daily	26 Oct 31	p. 7.
Film Daily	4 Nov 31	p. 7.
Film Daily	17 Jan 32	p. 8.
Film Daily	31 Aug 32	p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter	17 Jul 31	p. 1.
Hollywood Reporter	21 Jul 31	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	11 Sep 31	p. 1, 4
Hollywood Reporter	15 Sep 31	p. 1.
Hollywood Reporter	18 Sep 31	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	29 Sep 31	p. 4.
Hollywood Reporter	4 Nov 31	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	12 Dec 31	p. 3.
Motion Picture Herald	16 Jan 32	pp. 40-41.
New York Times	11 Jan 32	p. 28.
Variety	12 Jan 32	p. 24.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.



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