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Sadie McKee

Director: Clarence Brown (Dir) Release Date: 9 May 1934 Production Date: 12 Feb--7 Apr 1934 Duration (in mins): 90 or 95 Duration (in reels): 10			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:	Joan Crawford	(Sadie [McKee Brennan])
	Gene Raymond	(Tommy [Wallace])
	Franchot Tone	(Michael [Alderson])
	Edward Arnold	([Jack] Brennan)
	Esther Ralston	(Dolly [Merrick])
	Earl Oxford	(Stooge)
	Jean Dixon	(Opal)
	Leo Carroll	(Phelps ["Finnegan"])
	Akim Tamiroff	(Riccori)
	Zelda Sears	(Mrs. Craney)
	Helen Ware	(Mrs. McKee)
	Gene Austin	(Cafe entertainer)
	Candy and Coco	(Cafe entertainers)
	Helen Freeman	(Maid)
	Charles Williams	(Pest in cafe)
	Billie Van Every	(Chorus girl in cafe)
	Florence Dudley	(Chorus girl in cafe)
	Selmer Jackson	(Tiffany salesman)
	Lee Phelps	(Chauffeur)
	Francis McDonald	(Chauffeur)
	James Burke	(Motor cop)
	Wade Boteler	(Motor cop)
	Matt McHugh	(Taxi driver)
	Edward Le Saint	(Dr. Branch)
	Norman Ainsley	(Second butler)
	Samuel S. Hinds	(Dr. Lamson)
	Mable Colcord	(Cook, Brennan home)
	Minerva Urecal	(Assistant cook, Brennan home)
	Nellie Bly Baker	(Laundress)
	Barlowe Borland	(Gardner)
	Mimi Lawler	(Downstairs maid)
	Alice Mae	(Secretary at Michael's)
	Wyndham Standing	(Butler at Alderson's)
	Gertrude Sutton	(Swedish maid)
	Walter Walker	(Alderson)
	Mary Forbes	(Mrs. Alderson)
	Eva Dennison	(Aunt Sara)
	Charles Hill Mailes	(Uncle Ben)
	Frederick Burton	(Uncle Snowden)
	Sam McDaniel	(Red Cap)
	Jack Baxley	(Short order cook)
	Frank Conroy	(Dr. Briggs)
	Harry C. Bradley	(Dr. Taylor)
	Richard Tucker	(Dr. Patrick)
	Hooper Atchley	(Intern)
	William Welsh	(Conductor)
	Doris Kemper	(Nurse)
	Eugene Borden	(Ship's bugler)
	Ethel Griffies	(Woman in subway)
	Tom Mahoney	(Policeman)

Summary:

Pretty Sadie McKee works as a serving maid in the same household where her mother is a cook, and is admired by the son of her employer, lawyer Michael Alderson. However, when Michael defames her boyfriend, Tommy Wallace, during a family dinner, Sadie openly denounces her employers as cruel and insensitive. Sadie then flees to New York City with Tommy, who was fired from his job in the Alderson factory for alleged cheating. Nearly broke, Sadie and Tommy are befriended in New York by Opal, a hardened club performer, who takes them to her boardinghouse. The next morning, Sadie leaves the boardinghouse to look for a job but makes plans with Tommy to meet at the marriage license bureau at noon. Soon after she leaves, however, neighbor Dolly Merrick hears Tommy singing in the bathroom and seduces him into joining her traveling club act, which is leaving town that morning. Heartbroken and embittered by Tommy's desertion, Sadie struggles to find reputable employment but eventually joins Opal as a dancer in a nightclub. Ten days later, Jack Brennan, a jovial, rich alcoholic, helps Sadie handle an abusive customer and then demands that she sit at his table, which he is sharing with friend--Michael Alderson. Still angry at Michael, Sadie ignores his admonitions to leave his intoxicated companion alone and goes home with Brennan that evening. Soon after, Sadie marries the adoring Brennan and, while enjoying her newfound wealth, does her best to handle his constant drunkenness. Then one afternoon, Sadie, who has been following Tommy's crooning career, goes to see him performing with Dolly at the Apollo Theater and is thrilled by the loving looks he throws her during his number. However, when Sadie returns home that evening, she learns from Michael and the family physician that unless Brennan stops drinking, he will die within six months. Sobered by the diagnosis, Sadie sacrifices her chance to reunite with Tommy and, after rallying the servants to her side, imprisons her husband in his house and forces him to quit drinking. Later Sadie goes with Michael and the now recovered Brennan to the club where she used to dance and is startled to see Dolly there performing without Tommy. After she confronts Dolly and finds out that Tommy was dumped in New Orleans, Sadie confesses to Brennan that she is in love with another man and wants a divorce. The understanding Brennan grants Sadie her request, and Michael, anxious to win her forgiveness, undertakes to find Tommy. Michael eventually locates Tommy in the city and deduces that he is suffering from tuberculosis. Aided by Michael, Tommy is admitted to a hospital and begins gradually to recuperate. However, by the time Sadie is allowed to see him, Tommy's condition has suddenly worsened, and he dies after telling her that it was Michael who had helped him. Four months later, Michael celebrates his birthday with Sadie and her mother, and looks into Sadie's forgiving eyes before making his birthday wish.

Production Company:	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.	(Loew's, Inc.)
Production Text:	Clarence Brown's Production
Distribution Company:	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Director:	Clarence Brown	(Dir)
	Charles Dorian	(Asst dir)
Producer:	Lawrence Weingarten	(Prod)
Writer:	John Meehan	(Scr)
Photography:	Oliver T. Marsh	(Photog)
Art Direction:	Cedric Gibbons	(Art dir)
	Fredric Hope	(Art dir assoc)
	Edwin B. Willis	(Art dir assoc)
Film Editor:	Hugh Wynn	(Film ed)
Costumes:	Adrian	(Gowns)
Music:	Dr. William Axt	(Synchronization)
Sound:	Douglas Shearer	(Rec dir)
	Art Wilson	(Mixer)
Stand In:	Lucille Day	(Stand-in for Joan Crawford)
Country:	United States

Music:
Songs:	"All I Do Is Dream of You," "I Looked in Your Eyes" and "After You've Gone," words and music by Henry Creamer and Turner Layton.
Composer:	Henry Creamer
	Turner Layton
Source Text:	Based on the short story "Pretty Sadie McKee" by Viña Delmar in Liberty (24 Jun--9 Sep 1933).
Authors:	Viña Delmar

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number	Passed By NBR:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.	9/5/1934 dd/mm/yyyy	LP4717	Yes

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


Genre:	Melodrama
Sub-Genre:	with songs

Subjects (Major):	Desertion (Marital)
	Disillusionment
	Maids
	Marriage
	Regeneration
	Upper classes

Subjects (Minor):	Alcoholics
	Apollo Theater (New York City)
	Birthdays
	Boardinghouses
	Cooks
	Dancers
	Divorce
	Hospitals
	Lawyers
	Marriage licenses
	Mothers and daughters
	New York City
	Nightclubs
	Physicians
	Servants
	Singers
	Tuberculosis
	Unemployment

Note:	Singer Gene Austin and jazz musicians Candy and Coco, who were known as "the hottest boys this side of Hades," made their screen debuts in this film. Before Gene Raymond was added to the cast, various actors were considered for his role, including James Dunn, Leif Erickson, Arthur Jarrett, Donald Woods and Robert Young, according to HR news items. Although the setting for the film was New York, pre-production HR news item stated that director Clarence Brown went to San Francisco to scout locations for the picture. It is not known if any scenes were actually shot there, however. In a May 1948 SEP article, actor Edward Arnold stated that the role of "Jack Brennan" was, to that date, his favorite part.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Daily Variety	12 Feb 34	p. 7.
Daily Variety	7 Apr 34	p. 2.
Daily Variety	27 Apr 34	p. 3.
Film Daily	12 May 34	p. 4.
HF	3 Feb 34	p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter	9 Jan 34	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	11 Jan 34	p. 4.
Hollywood Reporter	15 Jan 34	p. 10.
Hollywood Reporter	24 Jan 34	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	27 Jan 34	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	19 Feb 34	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	20 Feb 34	p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter	11 Apr 34	p. 1.
Motion Picture Daily	28 Apr 34	p. 4.
Motion Picture Herald	14 Apr 34	p. 36.
Motion Picture Herald	12 May 34	pp. 36-37.
New York Times	18 May 34	p. 18.
The Saturday Evening Post	1-May-48
Variety	22 May 34	p. 15.

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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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