The Painted Woman

Fox Film Corporation; directed by John Blystone; screen play by Guy Bolton and Leon Gordon. United States: Fox, c1932.

Version: 76 min. long version? (Playing time on release was 72-73 min., according to: AFI catalog, 1931-1940.) ...:

The players: With Spencer Tracy [Tom Brian]; Peggy Shannon [Kiddo]; William Boyd [Boynton]; Irving Pichel [Robert Dunn]; Raul Roulien [Jim]; Murray Kinnell [Collins]; Laska Winter [Tia]; Chris-Pin Martin [Marquette]; Paul Porcasi [Machado]; Stanley Fields [Yank]; Wade Boteler [Lefty]; Jack Kennedy [Mack]; [Dewey Robinson (Bouncer)].

Credits: Sound recorder, Eugene Grossman; photography by Ernest Palmer; art director, Joseph Wright; wardrobe by Earl Luick; [song, Say you’ll be good to me,] lyrics and music by James F. Hanley; musical director, George Lipschultz. [Editor, Alex Troffey]. ...:

Drama; feature. "From the play, After the rain, by Alfred C. Kennedy." Play was unproduced, according to: AFI catalog, 1931-1940.

Credits in brackets supplied from xerox of studio records obtained through AFI cataloger; AFI catalog, 1931-1940.

"Western Electric System."

Exit music at end of last reel. Copyright: Fox Film Corp.; 4Aug32.

"Passed by National Board of Review."

Summary: "At Singapore harbor, Kiddo, a singer in a dive, is warned by her lover, the brutish Captain Boynton, not to have relations with any other man while he is gone. After Boynton leaves, a drunken sailor tries to rape Kiddo, and after she smashes a water pitcher over his head, crushing his skull, she escapes to Boynton’s boat. At sea, Kiddo resents Boynton’s forced intimacies. When a sailor is found to have cholera, Boynton puts Kiddo ashore at the South Sea island village of Hitu-iva and orders her to keep away from the pearl divers while he is gone. Robert Dunn, a seedy American attorney, immediately tries to seduce Kiddo, but she refuses his advances. The next day, as Kiddo bathes in the nude in a lagoon, ex-marine Tom Brian, an upbeat, but conceited owner of a small pearl diving operation, taunts her. Kiddo acts indignant when Tom steals her clothes, but later acknowledges that he is a ’good sort.’ After a servant girl at the village saloon dies from tuberculosis, Kiddo gets her job. When she receives a letter from Boynton telling her that he will return soon, she plans to leave the island, but ignores Dunn’s offer to take her to Papeete. Tom, whose motto had been, ’The world’s my parking space; here today, gone tomorrow,’ now asks Kiddo to marry him. She reacts with a mixture of tears and laughter and tells Tom her past: she was kicked out of her father’s house at age sixteen for staying out late and has since succumbed to men’s promises up and down the coast. She spurns Tom’s offer, but invites him to stay the night, which he refuses. Four days before Boynton is to return, Kiddo reads that his ship, The Southern Cross, is missing and that the crew is believed to be lost. Kiddo then marries Tom, but three months later, Dunn reports that The Southern Cross, which only ran aground, will soon return to the island. Afraid of Boynton, Kiddo asks Tom to take her back to the States, but he says he cannot leave until the fall. Kiddo joins Tom on his boat, where his diver, Jim Kekela, retrieves an oyster containing a large pearl worth $700. When Jim is attacked by an octopus, Tom rescues him. After The Southern Cross returns, Jim sees Kiddo take the pearl. Kiddo greets Boynton warmly and after telling him that he must not come ashore because there is a warrant out for his arrest for helping her escape Singapore, she gives him the pearl hoping he will leave. Dunn then tells Boynton about Kiddo’s marriage. While Tom is away, Boynton enters Kiddo’s window and struggles with her, until Jim comes to her rescue and stabs Boynton to death. The next day, at a hearing, Dunn tries to prove that Kiddo invited Boynton to her room and then killed him when Boynton threatened to expose her. Tom returns, but leaves the hearing in disgust when Kiddo admits she gave Boynton the pearl. Jim then confesses and Kiddo is released, but Tom refuses to listen to her pleadings. After Jim’s demand to see Tom before being taken away is refused, he breaks away from his guards, and he is shot. Jim makes his way to Tom, who is about to leave, and tells what really happened. When Tom is still skeptical, Jim falsely admits stealing the pearl to sell to Boynton and says that Kiddo went to the ship to retrieve it. Jim then dies, and Tom and Kiddo are reconciled"--AFI catalog, 1931-1940. ...:

PROGRAM NOTES: "Reminiscent of the Sadie Thompson story released as Rain that same year, this South Seas melodrama lacks the intensity and moral grandstanding of Somerset Maugham’s opus, but makes for an entertaining picture and a rare opportunity to catch one of Spencer Tracy’s earliest acting forays. Tracy, as ex-Marine Tom Brian, falls for bad girl Kiddo (Peggy Shannon), the reluctant mistress of a jealous ship captain, and eventually marries her. When the captain learns Kiddo and Tom are married, he’s furious and seeks revenge. The painted woman packs a somewhat coarse but unsullied punch and a smattering of the crackling dialogue common in pre-Code pictures. The depiction of the islanders and their almost pet-like status will likely raise an eyebrow or two nowadays. Sensitivity to ethnic culture and authenticity were obviously not key concepts of the studios. But perhaps viewers of the ’30s were more conscious of patronizing characterizations than the studios realized. The Variety reviewer, at least, noted some less-than-authentic casting and quipped, ’Raul Roulien as a native diving boy is as impressive as coolidge in an Indian suit.’ Peggy Shannon, looking every inch the former Ziegfeld girl, was hired in 1931 to star in a string of B-pictures at Paramount. Hailed as another ’it’ girl, the redhead sometimes competed for roles with the original ’it’ girl, Clara Bow. By 1940, a lackluster career had driven her to alcohol. Returning from a fishing trip, Shannon’s new husband Albert Roberts found her body slumped across the kitchen table, an empty glass beside her. Three weeks later, the despondent Roberts shot himself in the chair where Shannon’s body was found, ’in reverence to her,’ according to his suicide note"--Program notes by Donna Ross.

Shown at the 10th Festival of Preservation, August 20, 2000.

PRESERVATION HISTORY: Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funded by the AFI/NEA Film Preservation Grants Program and the Venice Film Festival. Preserved from a 35 mm. nitrate print, in cooperation with 20th Century Fox. Laboratory services by Film Technology Company. Sound services by YCM Laboratories, Todd-AO. Cataloged July 24, 1989.

Topics(s): Women singers --Oceania --Drama. Pearl divers --Oceania --Drama. Popular music --United States --1931-1940.

Genre(s)/Form(s): Features. UCLA preservation.

Credits heading(s): Blystone, John, 1892-1938. direction Bolton, Guy, 1884-1979. writing Gordon, Leon, 1884-1960. writing Grossman, Eugene, b. 1897. sound Palmer, Ernest, 1885-1978. camera Wright, Joseph C. production design Luick, Earl, 1904- production design Hanley, James F. (James Frederick), 1892-1942. music Lipschultz, George, 1894- music Tracy, Spencer, 1900-1967. cast Shannon, Peggy, 1907-1941. cast Boyd, William, 1895-1972. cast Pichel, Irving, 1891-1954. cast Roulien, Raul, 1905- cast Martin, Chris-Pin, 1893-1953. cast Porcasi, Paul, 1879-1946. cast Fields, Stanley, 1884-1941. cast Boteler, Wade, 1888-1943. cast Robinson, Dewey, 1898-1950. cast Kennedy, Alfred C. After the rain. Fox Film Corporation.

Database: Film and Television Archive