Stella Dallas (1937)

 King Vidor's "Stella Dallas"

In 1937, King Vidor adapted the 1923 Olive Higgins Prouty novel, 'Stella Dallas' into a feature length film. The film became so critically acclaimed and beloved by audiences that it became a radio serial in October of 1937 that lasted for 18 years. Barbara Stanwyck, who plays the titular character of Stella Dallas, received an Oscar nomination along with her co-star Anne Shirley, who plays her daughter. The film catalogs the life of Stella as she navigates her way up the social ladder for a better life. America at the time was still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. Americans cared more about the economic landscape than ever before, as it was imperative to their survival. This is perhaps why viewers connected so much with the film and with Stella. Throughout the film, Stella experiences the luxuries and fallouts from this unyielding pursuit of a better life. 

At the beginning of the film, we see Stella standing on the front lawn of her crumby worn-down house and she tries to get the fancy of mill workers leaving the adjacent factory. The opening shot is her stuck behind the fence, trapped by her circumstances. After failing to get the attention of the mill executive Stephen Dallas, she has to figure out how else to approach her situation. Stella reads in the paper that Stephen disappeared from high society and was intending to marry his fiance, Helen Morrison, once he was financially able to support her. Just as he reached his goal, she married someone else. Stella takes this opportunity and arranges the two of them to meet by happenstance. After the two marry, Stella is able to move out of her impoverished home and into a better economic situation with Stephen. Stella begins her story maneuvering her way out of her current circumstances, able to trick a wealthier man to marry her. Perhaps she believes this is where most stories would end with a happily-ever-after. 

A year after their wedding, Stella gives birth to their daughter, Laurel. Stephen seems more comforted by the family lifestyle than Stella does, as she continuously wants to go to parties and expand her social circle. Stella wants to do all of the things she views the wealthier class doing as she revels in the extravagance of her newfound security. Coming from poverty, Stella does not seem to know how to 'behave properly' or come across educated like Stephen would like her to. He is constantly embarrassed by her lack of 'properness' and is constantly correcting her grammar. At one of the lavish social gatherings, Stephen also becomes annoyed at her spending time with Ed Munn, who collects income by operating horse races. Stella's overall behavior and her lack of wanting to be a matronly presence in the familial setting compels Stephen to take a job in New York, where the three of them can 'start fresh.' After Stella's refusal, he leaves without her. 

Throughout the years, Stephen continues to see and visit his daughter. However, he becomes appalled at the living conditions with which she is forced to live with her mother. He comes in one day to find light cigars and alcohol laying on Laurel's highchair while a drunkenly Ed is holding her. Stephen threatens to take her away from Stella, as Stella cannot keep away from disapproving and uncouth behaviors. Stella becomes worried for the relationship of her and her daughter, as Vidor's camera slowly pushes in on her while she comes to this realization. It is in this moment that she begins to reassess her situations in life, as reality begins to slowly close around her, suggested by the frame. 

Throughout the years, Stella grows tired of the social frivolity that comes with money. She says that she has grown tired of going out and partying because it only makes her miss her daughter. After her daughter comes back from staying the summer with her father, she informs Stella that Stephen has now shacked up with his old flame Helen, who is now an extremely wealthy widow of three boys and a vast estate of assets. Stella realizes that Stephen has taken the same opportunity that she took in the beginning. However, rather than trying to secure her financial stability like Stephen did, she was busy taking advantage of all its frivolous luxuries. Now she is left with only the small amount of money that Stephen periodically provides her. Everything that was once fun and exciting for her now is tiresome; she took advantage of the opportunity that was provided to her and now has wasted it away. What's left is now Laurel and her social and financial security. 

Stella takes Laurel to a fancy resort, where Laurel meets Richard, a wealthy young man. The two of them fall in love. However, things get complicated when Stella decides to make an appearance at the resort. She arrives wearing gaudy and tacky clothing with clancky and noisy wrist shackles. She even calls out loudly to the staff, causing conflict with the hushed rhythm of the low murmur of conversations of the residents. Everyone there is staring at her and making fun of her. Even though Stella has escaped the poverty she came from as a child, she still cannot help the fact that she cannot behave and dress 'refined.' As Laurel's friends begin making fun of this 'monstrous' woman, Laurel sneaks out and heads back to the room to pack. She tells her mother that she does not want to be there anymore, sparing her mother the embarrassment by not telling her the truth. 

The way in which Vidor films the movie in regards to how Stella affects the word around her is interesting to note. In the scenes in which Laurel is away from her mother, everything appears so orderly. Spending time with her father and her wealthy friends creates a proper and refined atmosphere. Her father has a cooled and mild mannered, and speaks appropriately and grammatically correct. Everything appears neat and orderly in the frame, including the presentation of rooms and people. There is even a scene in which Laurel is riding bikes with her friends in which the bikes appear identical and synchronized in the frame, creating a functional rhythm to the scene. However, the scenes involving Stella appear the opposite. Everything is always a mess, the rooms, her clothes, and her hair. The way in which she speaks and carries herself appears very frantic in nature, a distinct opposite to Stephen. Even her decisions seem very erratic, like when Laurel comes home to find that her mother has fired all of the help, just because she felt like it. Even Ed's constant appearances create a disorder and imbalance with the scenes. He lives with a sense of abandonment, constantly drinking and being disorderly. There is even a scene in which he shouts in a train, exclaiming that his race horse won. When all the train passengers goes to congratulate him, he puts itching powder on them. His chaotic presence aides in the chaos and messiness of Stella's life. Stella realizes this when she overhears some of the young women laughing about her being Laurel's mother on the train back from the resort. As she overhears them, Vidor's camera zooms in on her is it did earlier. Once again, reality is closing in around Stella as she realizes how much of a liability she is to her daughter - and how her disorder is affecting Laurel's social and financial future. She cannot escape the truth. 

Stella goes to Helen and tells her she must take Laurel, in order to secure her future prosperity. However, when Laurel hears this news from Helen while staying with them, she runs away and back to her mother. After receiving a telegram warning Stella of Laurel's arrival, she readies herself. When Laurel gets back to her mother and refuses to let her mother sacrifice their relationship for her future, Stella tells her that she wanted to get rid of her so that her and Ed could get married and travel to South America. Heartbroken, Laurel returns back to her father and Helen. The rejection of their relationship for the betterment of the daughter's future seems to resemble Vidor's 1931 film The Champ. In that film, it was a father and son relationship in which the father sacrificed the relationship with his son so that his son could have a financially stable future. This time, it is a mother and daughter relationship in which the mother does the same thing for her child. The 1930s were a harsh time in American history, in which many people had to survive in a economically desolate environment. The structure of The Champ and Stella Dallas seem to point out the nature of sacrifices that must be made in order to make it in such a weathered social landscape. The important thing to note is what these characters are sacrificing. These characters are sacrificing the very relationship they have with their children in order to sustain their future. The climate they exist in forces them to give up the value and meaning in their life through the connection and love they share with their children. 

At the end of the film, Stella must stand outside in the rain watching Laurel get married to her wealthy husband. She appears satisfied that she has successfully provided the future to her daughter that she had always hoped for herself. And like in the beginning, she is also stuck on the outside looking in, fence and all. The shot actaully mirrors a shot from the beginning of the film in which Stella and Stephen are on their first date watching a film. Stella looks up enchantedely at the screen in awe of the upper-class lifestyle the characters in the film are living. Throughout the film, Stella tries to fit into this lifestyle. However, it becomes apparent to both her and the viewer that it is not for a lack of trying - as it is not the money that provided her with this accomplishment. Rather, her personality, the way she thought and behaved, and her stylistic choices were rejected by the upper-class altogether. She did not 'fit in' to this lifestyle. Perhaps this is where Vidor makes his grand statement in this last shot. From the way he sets the mise-en-scene, the window seems to resemble the film screen from before. Just as Stella was simply a viewer to this lifestyle as she watches the film screen at the beginning, she once again remains a spectator at the end as well - forced to watch her daughter become secured into the upper-class through a rectangluar box. We the viewer are also looking up at a film screen, forced to reconcile our placement outside of this society. Stella makes a note earlier in the film regarding seeing films. She notes that Laurel spending time with her rich father will allow her to see art and theater performces, something other than 'movies.' This seems to suggest that Stella (and Vidor) view film as a product for the middle and lower classes. This forces the viewer to recognize that notion in themselves and their place in the economic ladder. Because of this, we are put into the same position that Stella is put into at the end of the film. While Stella is watching through the film-screen-like window at a life she can never attain, the viewer also must look at them through their film screen as well. This creates an understanding with the thematic point of the film - that like Stella, we must also become spectators to an unattainable lifestyle; one that is only reserved for those who behave and act like the members of the class do. This is only something that can be attained through a passed heritage. Stella, who was born poor, could not become educated and 'proper' enough to meld in with this class. However, Laurel has been brought up equally with her father, allowing her to mirror his class sensabilities. Because of this, Stella was able to achieve providing that secure future for her, having to accept the reality of her own inability to secure it for herself. Now she can only watch, just as the viewer can only watch - forced to remain as spectators of a life we long for.