Primrose Path (1940)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 23, 2022

There's some pretty good acting here. Ginger Rogers is "Ellie May" who lives in a ramshackle house with her mum, dipso father and her sister. When she meets a local blue collar gent "Ed" (Joel McCrae) they are soon smitten - the only snag is, she had omitted telling him some fairly important details from her past and when he finds out, their relationship becomes strained and compromised. The story, in itself, is really pretty straightforward - it's the performances that help it stand out a bit. Marjorie Rambeau is super as the mother, as is Miles Mander as the well meaning father and Henry Travers could never really put a foot wrong with his grand-paternal style of comforting performance. Rogers and MaCrae do their jobs, too - though nothing too spectacular as the dialogue they share is quite limiting. Still, it's a good enough tale of the benefits of telling the truth that still holds together well.