Claudio Carvalho In Richley, New York, Sadie McKee (Joan Crawford) works as a maid in the Alderson mansion where her mother is the cook. When the son of their employee, the successful lawyer Michael Alderson (Franchot Tone) that was raised with her, returns from New York after two years, his family offers a dinner party to family and friends. While serving soup, Sadie hears the comments made by Michael about her boyfriend Tommy Wallace (Gene Raymond), who was fired from the Alderson factory accused of being a dishonest person. Sadie reacts and tells that they are insensitive. Sadie decides to flee with Tommy to New York to get married and find job. They befriend Opal (Jean Dixon) and she takes them to the low- budget boardinghouse where she lives. On the next morning, Sadie leaves the boardinghouse to seek a job and marry her beloved Tommy. But his next room neighbor Dolly Merrick (Esther Ralston) overhears him singing and seduces Tommy to travel with her in an itinerant show business. Sadie prepares to return home, but Opal convinces her to stay and finds a job of dancer in a nightclub. Ten days later, Sadie is helped by an alcoholic costumer to get rid of an abusive one and he invites her to join him at his table. She learns that he is the millionaire Jack Brennan (Edward Arnold) and his friend is Michael Alderson. When Michael patronizes her telling to leave Jack, she is still angry with Michael and stays with Jack that proposes to marry her. She accepts and is seen by the society as a gold-digger. But Sadie is still in love with Tommy. What will happen to her?"Sadie McKee" is a Pre-Code drama with the story of a working girl in love with a rascal that marries a wealthy girl. The role is perfect for Joan Crawford. The amoral story has a great open conclusion where the viewer needs to guess the birthday wish of Michael. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Três Amores" ("Three Loves")

blanche-2 Joan Crawford is "Sadie McKee" in this 1934 film also starring Gene Raymond, Edward Arnold, Franchot Tone, and Jean Dixon. Crawford is the daughter of the cook for the wealthy Alderson family. The young man of the family, Michael (Tone) has obviously fallen for Sadie, but her heart belongs to loser Tommy Wallace (Raymond), who has just been fired for a malfeasance. Sadie runs off to New York with Tommy, and the two wind up in the rooming house of Mrs. Craney. The next day, they are to be married at City Hall at noon. But showgirl Dolly Merrick (Esther Ralston) who also lives at the rooming house, hears Tommy's dulcet tones and convinces him to forget marriage, leave town, and take a job in her traveling show.Another women rooming at Mrs. Craney's is Opal, who gets Sadie a job at her club. There Sadie meets the filthy rich, drunken Jack Brennan, whom she marries. It turns out that Jack's drinking has all but destroyed his health. Though Sadie can't stop thinking about Tommy, she is determined to help Jack quit drinking and regain his health.Pretty good melodrama, with Crawford wearing some fabulous outfits. Esther Ralston was a gorgeous blonde and is a lively Dolly Merrick, and Jean Dixon gives a good performance as Opal.The debonair Franchot Tone gives a smooth performance as Michael, and Gene Raymond sings and acts pleasantly enough as Tommy, who manages to be likable though he walked out on Sadie.Crawford made a lot of this type of film -- the working girl who moves up in class -- and they were very popular. She gives an appealing performance, and she was one actress who could look and act like a hard-working girl who came from a slum and also pull off being glamorous and wealthy.Worth seeing.

theowinthrop A Joan Crawford vehicle (prior to 1940, when she got more control over choosing her properties) tended to have her the center of attention of several men at once. In THE GORGEOUS HUSSEY she is of interest to Melvin Douglas, Jimmy Steward, Robert Taylor, and Franchot Tone (she ends with Tone, but Taylor apparently married her for awhile). Here her beaus are Tone again, Gene Raymond (who in a poignant moment sings "ALL I DO IS DREAM OF YOU" across the footlights of a packed theater to Crawford), and Edward Arnold. But while Peggy O'Neill in THE GORGEOUS HUSSEY is genuinely attracted to her beaus, Sadie Magee really only is interested in Tone and Raymond. Tone is jealous of her interest in Raymond, and Raymond throws her over for Esther Ralston. But she meets Arnold, a nice guy millionaire (who is the son of a cook, like Crawford is the daughter of a cook), and she agrees to marry him for security. The problem is he's an alcoholic (and while normally a decent sort, he can be violent - he socks her at least once). However, she is decent too, and finally (despite the well-meant but stupid behavior of his butler, Leo G. Carroll) helps cure him. All in time to return to a dying Raymond. All in time to end up with Tone again. This is a very kitschy vehicle. But it is well acted and directed, and worth seeing.

Arthur Hausner I liked this fine melodrama despite Joan Crawford and Gene Raymond not being among my favorite actors. Crawford's mother (Helen Ware) is a servant in Franchot Tone's household, and she is also a maid, but has to leave after she berates Tone in front of all the dinner guests for bad mouthing Raymond, who was caught stealing. She leaves with Raymond for New York City where they hope to start a new life together, intending to marry the next day. Love, apparently, has no boundaries. They find a cheap rooming house after befriending showgirl Jean Dixon and get a room where she lives. This film was released less than two months before the Production Code was strictly enforced, after which you would never see an unmarried couple sharing the same room. The scene fades to black after they kiss passionately. Of course, while Crawford is looking for a job, Raymond is enticed by singer Esther Ralston to join her act, so he never meets her at the marriage license bureau as planned. Eventually, Crawford meets and marries multi-millionaire Edward Arnold, an alcoholic to end all alcoholics. In a 1948 interview, Arnold said this was his favorite role to that date. I can't fault his acting, but his character was very irritating. Even alcoholics have periods where they are not so pie-eyed they can't walk without staggering. Meanwhile, Tone, who is Arnold's lawyer, thinks Crawford married Arnold for his money and knows she still carries the torch for Raymond, and Tone despises her for it. She admits she didn't love Arnold and it was a marriage of convenience. But when she cures Arnold of his alcoholism, Tone has a newfound respect for her. So when Crawford learns Raymond was dumped by Ralston, and she tells Arnold of her love for Raymond and asks him for a divorce, presumably without a settlement, she asks Tone to help her find Raymond, which he does. He's ill with tuberculosis, so Tone pays to get the best doctors to try to cure him.The film is entertaining despite little of it ringing true. The way Crawford behaved at times, I expected to see a halo over her head, so Crawford fans should love the film. It also helps to know that Crawford and Tone were married in real-life the year after this film was released. There is some pleasure from the music on the soundtrack, including the very popular songs "All I Do is Dream of You" and "After You've Gone," the latter performed in a jazzy version by Candy Candido and Gene Austin. I would have liked more comedy relief, since I didn't think Arnold's actions were particularly funny. The one scene that made me laugh involved two motorcycle cops and a taxi driver, and a tip that Crawford tries to give the cops for bringing the passed-out Arnold home. Otherwise, I never even cracked a smile.