Rent The Lady Gambles (1949)
3.4 of 5 from 54 ratings
1h 39min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
In a dark Chicago back alley, among a crowd of seedy characters, Joan Boothe (Barbara Stanwyck) tosses a pair of dice and wins a few dirty dollars. She rolls once more, and wins again - and again, and again, and again. Soon, the street thugs Joan runs with discover she's cheating, and decide to administer their own harsh form of justice. With her body beaten and spirit broken, Joan finds herself in the hospital, where her estranged husband (Robert Preston) struggles to come to grips with how Joan - once a sophisticated, vivacious, loving wife - spiraled into such a desperate state. Elegantly shot and intricately constructed, 'The Lady Gambles' is a shocking story of temptation, addiction, and betrayal - as thrilling to watch today as it was when it debuted more than 60 years ago. - Actors:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Stephen McNally, Edith Barrett, John Hoyt, Elliott Sullivan, John Harmon, Philip Van Zandt, Leif Erickson, Curt Conway, Houseley Stevenson, Don Beddoe, Nana Bryant, Tony Curtis, Peter Leeds, Frank Moran, Esther Howard, John Indrisano, Leo Anthony, Polly Bailey
- Directors:
- Michael Gordon
- Producers:
- Michael Kraike
- Writers:
- Roy Huggins, Halsted Welles, Lewis Meltzer, Oscar Saul
- Aka:
- Gambling Lady
- Studio:
- Simply Media
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 23/10/2023
- Run Time:
- 99 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Audio commentary with critic and film historian Pamela Hutchinson (2023)
- Sucker Bait (1943, 39 mins): noir-influenced short film warning of the dangers of revealing military secrets, featuring 'The Lady Gambles' actor Stephen McNally
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
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Reviews (1) of The Lady Gambles
Addiction Melodrama. - The Lady Gambles review by Steve
This now gets marketed as film noir though crime is not central to the story. It's one of the social issue melodramas which became popular in Hollywood in the '50s, usually about addiction. Here, the title tells all. Barbara Stanwyck starts gambling to research a news story, and pretty soon loses everything the postwar housewife desires.
It's a wild ride as curiosity leads to excitement and then addiction, lies and shame, all the way down to the street. Though over the two year flashback into her downfall, she does a whole lot of living after her husband abandons her in Mexico, including getting mixed up with a mob of racetrack gamblers. Until prostitution... and worse.
So it's a familiar saga, and there is plenty of editorialising as the dangers of addiction are laid bare. There are no surprises, though it's interesting to see the way people lost their shirt in Vegas back when it was still a shiny new racket. This being the postwar period there is some Freudian MacGuffin about a childhood trauma that makes the good girl go bad.
The photography is functional rather than expressive, and the score is inappropriately romantic. Robert Preston is suitably dull as the stalwart husband, though Stephen McNally engages as the oleaginous casino boss/crook. Stanwyck is too old, but is the source of most of the quality, and all of the fireworks, in a wholehearted, yet detailed performance.
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