Sadie McKee

Directed by Clarence Brown, Sadie McKee follows Joan Crawford’s title character as she progresses from rags to riches after marrying an alcoholic millionaire (Edward Arnold’s Jack Brennan). Filmmaker Brown, armed with John Meehan’s screenplay, delivers a hit-and-miss endeavor that is, in the final analysis, stymied by an often palpably overlong running time, as the movie, which admittedly does remain watchable enough throughout, has been saddled with a less-than-streamlined narrative that contains its fair share of padded-out sequences – with this particularly true of the long, drawn-out stretch detailing Sadie’s initial encounter with Arnold’s character. It’s just as clear, however, that Sadie McKee‘s growing emphasis on unabashedly melodramatic elements and attributes does ensure it improves steadily as it unfolds, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that Crawford’s first-class turn as the compelling protagonist goes a long way towards smoothing over the picture’s bumps and lulls. (The inclusion of several engrossing sequences, including a terrific digression wherein Sadie fires and then re-hires Jack’s domestic staff, undoubtedly heightens the decent-enough atmosphere.) By the time the fairly memorable finale rolls around, Sadie McKee has confirmed its place as a periodically stirring piece of work that benefits substantially from its uniformly top-class performances.

**1/2 out of ****