Kritiken

The elegantly st ructured script written by Doris Andersen and based on a story by the legendary Adela Rogers St. Johns is a sensitive and non-sensational treatment of a daring topic—bad mothers—that makes use of witty cinematic shorthand but also allows characters room to fully develop.

It’s disorienting and dazzling, with Jagger a destabilizing sexual persona stalking through it like a panther. To call it a “debut” doesn’t sound right. It’s more like a declaration of independence.

The centerpiece of this half of the series is That Brennan Girl, the 1946 swan song of Alfred Santell. . . . The movie more than justifies Kehr’s enthusiasm: Formally, it’s fascinating, with scenes played in silhouette, in pantomime as the camera watches through a window, on two or three levels of a staircase in a couple of scenes reminiscent of The Magnificent Ambersons.

Santell leaves room for the details, like showing a man's intricate watch or the entire process of Dunn's furniture delivering scheme. A full and rich world is created, one that moves at the same pace as its characters, whether it is Freeman effortlessly gliding through a dance club or Dorothy Vaughn quietly rocking in her chair while she gives needed advice to her man-child son.