MovieChat Forums > Stella Dallas (1937) Discussion > Stella Was Schizophrenic!

Stella Was Schizophrenic!

posted 13 years ago by sunrise333-1
9 replies | jump to latest

1. The first few scenes showed that she could obviously act refined (somewhat like Alice Adams). However, this was ignored for much of the rest of the movie.
2. After she got pregnant, she immediately wanted to go dancing, leaving her baby at home.
3. Then, she abruptly became a self-sacrificing mother, who had no love left in her heart for men.
4. When her husband visited at Christmas, she suddenly loved him again, and tried to please him by wearing 'simple' clothes.
5. At the country club, she donned a fox fur, pearls, bangles and that giant hat to meet 'society people', and BOUNCED A BEACH BALL inside a shop when she knew how to behave herself before.

It was quite obvious that the writer didn't put much thought into what makes the character tick, and merely sought to wring melodrama from every scene. Not even Stanwyck, who was genuinely heartbreaking (the last thirty minutes painful to watch), could create a coherent character arc with the material she had.

[–] Zuider_Zee 13 years ago

The best I can recall, the character in the movie is a near duplicate of the character in the Prouty novel.

[–] carmenjones411 13 years ago

I'm glad you pointed this out sunrise. I thought I was the only one found the character hard to grasp and a bit confusing. She was all over the place.

[–] rivergirl301 13 years ago

I don't think she was "all over the place." She was a good mother. She raised her daughter to be a good person. She might have been a little emotionally labile. She was torn between who she was and who she needed to be, to give her daughter advantages in life, the way society was back then.

[–] carmenjones411 13 years ago

We are talking about how poorly written the character was.

[–] CranberriAppl 13 years ago

When you make bullets like this, I have to agree. I recorded this from TCM over the weekend, and just finished watching it. The scenes involving #2 and #3 were particularly jarring for me.

I liked the movie (wouldn't watch again), but btwn the ending and Anne Shirley's cliche Lana Turner-esque dramatics, I was drained by the end. So much melodrama.

P.S. did anyone see baby Laurel kiss her father on the cheek? I thought that was the cutest thing.

Brad:You stabbed me,dude!
Max:I stabbed you,dude!

[–] Popcorngal (4937) 8 months ago

I am watching it now. I thought is was sweet. I guess the actor wss really nice to the little girl.

[–] gribfritz2 12 years ago

1. To get what she wanted. She acted very normal to land her husband. It was an act. The husband is the one who initially told her to be herself and not try to fit into society. Then he changes his tune later when he gets a load of the REAL uncouth Stella.
2. ZOMG! She wanted to go out for one lousy night. This shows she hates her child. Are you serious? Even in that early scene, when the husband reminds her of the baby, her reaction showed she loved her child very much. But, seriously, she just wanted a lousy night out after doing nothing for her last 4 months of pregnancy and hospital stay.
3. Several years passed. This is not abrupt. Also, several bits of scenes showed her growing love for her child.
4. You've obviously never witnessed the love/hate both parties often endure during a separation.
5. As in #1, she was putting on an act to achieve a goal (although not nearly as good at it as she used to be). Notice how she acts silly with the beach ball when there are no society adults around. Just the children at the counter.

[–] Popcorngal (4937) 8 months ago

Considering she just had a baby, I can understand her husband wanting her to take it easy. But I see her point as well.

[–] SusanJL 11 years ago

You nailed it, sunrise333-1!!!!!