"Stella Dallas" (1937)

It’s become a cliché to say “It shouldn’t work, but it does”, but that description is surprisingly applicable to Stella Dallas. One of those weepie “women’s picture’s” from the 1930’s, the film features the expected near-histrionics plotting, but it’s anchored by a remarkable performance by Barbara Stanwyck, who makes this all more plausible and devastating than it sounds on paper. Stanwyck plays the titular Stella, a status obsessed working class woman who marries a down on his luck former millionaire playboy, foreseeing the potential wealth in store. That makes her sound heartless, but she’s more vain and self-deceiving than ruthless. Stella’s obsession with social climbing is complicated by her hard-nosed, scrappy upbringing. She can’t shake the habits or behaviors that mark her as an upstart. This leads her and her husband to grow distant and later become separated; taking turns to care for their daughter Laurel. Stella invests her whole life into her daughter, aspiring for her daughter the status and privilege that she herself is incapable of achieving. She vicariously lives through her daughter to an unhealthy fault, selflessly – for slightly selfish reasons – sacrificing herself and her happiness for the good of her daughter’s future. And Stanwyck sells all of this; the inflections in her voice, her posturing and mannerisms build a fully realized human being. Stella is deluded beyond all help, but her actions come from a troublingly recognizable place. 

Grade: B+