This is an early Barbara Stanwyck film, Shopworn, from 1932.After her father dies in a construction accident, Kitty Lane (Stanwyck) keeps her promise to her dad and goes to live with his sister (Zasu Pitts). There, she works as a waitress. It's a college town, and the guys are ga-ga over her, though she turns them all down. She falls for a bookish man, David (Regis Toomey), a medical student who doesn't seem to pay attention to her. David comes from a good family - his father is a Judge, and his mother is possessive. She does not approve of Kitty. She fakes an illness and David finds that he must take her to a specialist in Vienna. Before he leaves, he proposes to Kitty, intending that she join them. Everyone pretends to go along, but while packing, the police show up and arrest her for violating the public morals act, after she refuses the $5000 offered her. She is sentenced to prison for 90 days. David is told she took the money.Upon her release, Kitty joins the Follies and makes a great success. Six years later, David visits her dressing room. She leads him on just to reject him, but later, the two talk it out and get back together. But his mother is still a pain, referring to her as "that shopworn woman."One major scene was cut from this film - while in prison, Kitty miscarries a pregnancy, so it seems that she and David had quite the romance going. I wouldn't say that Regis Toomey, who became a prolific character actor, and Barbara Stanwyck are well-matched. In the beginning, his role is that of an easily-influenced young man where his parents are concerned, and back in those days, this wasn't unusual. Later on he seems better able to stand up for himself. But as a couple, even when she was just starting out, Stanwyck had star quality, so it doesn't really work.Stanwyck was a petite ball of fire, versatile, strong and charismatic, with a beautiful figure to boot. What a pleasure to see her in these early films. Watch it for her.

Kitty Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) loses her father in a construction accident. With his dying breath, he tells her to be tough. She goes to work for her aunt as a waitress in a college town. The college boys are all after her. She falls for stiff medical student David despite clashing at first. His father is a powerful judge and his mother does not approve. David is going away with his mother for 6 months. He proposes marriage. The family pretends to go along in front of David but then the judge puts her away for violating the public morals act after refusing to accept his $5000 bribe. David is told that she took the payout when she's actually sentenced to prison work for ninety days. She joins the Follies upon released and becomes a big time star. Six years later, David comes looking for Kitty. His mother still refuses to accept "that shopworn woman".This is a rather simple and weak romance. The guy is stiff and his character is lacking. He is nothing special but she is another story. A young Barbara Stanwyck is starting to gain traction and one can see the reason. She has amazing screen presence and a powerful personality. She's a rising star and overpowers her acting partner. She is something to behold.

TCM recently featured Barbara Stanwyck as their star of the month, giving them an opportunity to show a good number of the numerous films she pumped out very early in her career with Warner Brothers and Columbia. It is fascinating to watch several movies with the same star immediately one after another, because this way you get to determine how good an actor really is: do they become tiresome, or do they have staying power?Barbara Stanwyck was the real thing. Thanks to her understated skills, I found myself appreciating her more and more, the more films of hers I watched. By herself she could pull even the weakest script into something worth watching. "Shopworn", a typical quicky, was one of the best from those early days. Her range of talent was immense, playing, within this one film, a poverty-stricken waif and a successful Broadway star, playing happy and sad, incensed and appreciative, kindly and outraged, always with a dignity and slight detachment that are wondrous to watch. Again, it is sometimes only by watching multiple films of hers in succession to these nuances start to really make themselves known.This is a strong film, with a very good cast. Regis Toomey is very likable as Stanwyck's love interest, and Clara Blandick and Oscar Apfel, as Toomey's mother and her consort, are deliciously manipulative and evil. Zasu Pitts adds a little mild comedy to the proceedings, providing a nice contrast.Look for some very brave and quite interesting camera angles and panning sequences; one particularly good shot was taken of Stanwyck reaching under her bed for a suitcase - the camera is at floor level, shooting the scene from under the bed! Very unique and perhaps a little experimental for the time.I highly recommend this fast-paced little film; and highly recommend seeking out early Barbara Stanwyck gems like this!

When waitress Barbara Stanwyck falls for wealthy Regis Toomey, she's ready to take a leap into high society with him, but his mother (Clara Blandick) won't let that happen. She is controlling of her son, and uses an apparent heart ailment to keep him at her side. She considers Stanwyck to be gosh and beneath her and has her lawyer arrange for her to be arrested on a morals charge. Stanwyck ends up becoming a burlesque star, runs into Toomey again, and this time, mother Blandick is determined that there is no way they will marry.In a plot line often used over the years, "Shopworn" is nothing different. Stanwyck is beautifully photographed and excellent as always, but Toomey is a dreadfully dull leading man. Blandick, who will be instantly recognized as "The Wizard of Oz's" kindly Auntie Em, is unfortunately given a one-dimensional society matron role. There is nothing remotely likable about her, even though she is basically doing what she was directed to do. Zasu Pitts adds some predictable "oh dear" type comedy as Stanwyck's aunt who stands by her throughout the ordeal of her imprisonment and eventual release by becoming her maid and companion. A better film with the same theme is the same year's "Wayward" with Nancy Carroll.The film really is too short to explain just why Blandick is so controlling, why Stanwyck became a Burlesque queen so fast after getting out of the reformatory, and why Toomey won't stand up to his mama. The ending scene between Blandick and Stanwyck seems too forced to be believable. I've seen this film numerous times (mostly its not too clear public domain print) and don't seem to remember the beginning where Stanwyck's father is killed while a mountain is dynamited, so the TCM print I saw seems a few minutes longer. At least it is in good shape. Anything with Stanwyck is worth watching, but for her pre-code films, I highly recommend her Capra films at Columbia and the ones she did at Warners. Her non-Capra Columbia films are sadly mediocre.