HER MAN
Special Features: Preceded by Women in Pre-Code Films: A Conversation with film historians Kim Luperi and David Pierce
HER MAN was one of the final releases of the American production company Pathé Exchange and quickly disappeared, never to be reissued or released on television. The tale of the no-longer-innocent woman struggling to survive in tawdry, humid tropical surroundings originated with W. Somerset Maugham's "Rain" and was reworked in numerous films, but never with such impact as HER MAN. Abandoned to simply survive, fallen woman Frankie (Helen Twelvetrees) is working out of a Havana bar/brothel, surrounded by the detritus of the waterfront. She is repeatedly victimized by boyfriend/pimp/protector Johnnie (Ricardo Cortez in a strong performance) before a naïve sailor (Phillips Holmes) decides he is going to be her savior. Marjorie Rambeau plays the aging, drunk barmaid/madam who foreshadows Frankie's fate if she stays in this life too long. Vivid characterizations, an unusually well-staged climax and an endlessly moving camera make this a vital film of its era; MoMA curator Dave Kehr has called it "a forgotten masterwork." DIR/SCR Tay Garnett; SCR Thomas Buckingham, Howard Higgin; PROD E.B. Derr. U.S., 1930, b&w, 85 min. NOT RATED
Women in Pre-Code Films: A Conversation with film historians Kim Luperi and David Pierce
Strong female characters are a hallmark of pre-Code cinema, whether gold diggers or fallen women. Film historian Kim Luperi talks with David Pierce about the representation of women in pre-Code films and how that changed when censorship was imposed in 1934.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 85 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, June 14, 2024
Genre: Crime drama romance