Barbara Stanwyck Movies

Barbara Stanwyck is ranked as the 11th Greatest Actress on AFI's Top 50 Stars list
Barbara Stanwyck is ranked as the 11th Greatest Actress on AFI’s Top 50 Stars list

Want to know the best Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990) movies?  How about the worst Barbara Stanwyck movies?  Curious about Barbara Stanwyck box office grosses or which Barbara Stanwyck movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Barbara Stanwyck movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Ok before we get started on this Barbara Stanwyck movie page let’s get some behind the scenes information out of the way. This page comes from the suggestion from Alecia Murphy .  Also, I consider myself to be a huge movie buff, but looking at Barbara Stanwyck’s movie list, I realize I have only seen two of her movies. So how can I write a movie page that ranks all of her movies from best to worst? Other than the fact that I have watched many episodes of The Big Valley…..the answer is with Ultimate Movie Rankings Score. Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score looks at the box office success, the critical response from critics and audiences and award recognition. UMR Score then takes all the information and through a mathematical equation gives each movie a score……100 would be a perfect score.

After a successful stage career, Barbara Stanwyck moved to Hollywood in 1928. She proved herself to be versatile enough to appear in all genres of the movies. She was equally at home in dramas like 1937’s Stella Dallas and 1941’s Ball of Fire as well as comedies like 1940’s Remember the Night and 1941’s The Lady Eve. She also excelled in playing femme fatales in movies like 1944’s Double Indemnity and 1946’s The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers. Yet another genre she specialized in was  westerns, as she appeared in many westerns though out her career.

Her peak years were between 1937 and 1949. The 1950s saw her constantly working but the quality of the movies started to diminish. One of her last starring roles was opposite Ronald Reagan in 1954’s The Cattle Queen of Montana. Cattle Queen is the movie that made Reagan think about other career options…that turned out well for him. As the 1960s came into play Stanwyck stopped making movies and concentrated her career on television projects. She starred in The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1961-62), The Big Valley (1965-1969), and The Colbys (1985-86). In her later years, Stanwyck did lots of work for charity. She passed away January 20, 1990.

Her IMDb page shows 107 acting credits from 1927-1986. This page will rank 79 Barbara Stanwyck movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, some hard to find information on movies and movies not released in North American theaters were not included in the rankings.

Barbara Stanwyck in 1948's Sorry Wrong Number
Barbara Stanwyck in 1948’s Sorry Wrong Number

Barbara Stanwyck Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Barbara Stanwyck Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by co-stars of her movies
  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Barbara Stanwyck movie received.
  • Sort Barbara Stanwyck movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
  • Use the sort and search button to make this a very interactive page.  For example type in Henry Fonda in the search box to see all of the Fonda/Stanwyck movies….or type Clark Gable in the search box to bring up all of the Gable/Stanwyck movies….or type in….I think you get the idea.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Barbara Stanwyck Table

  1. Twenty-seven Barbara Stanwyck movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 34.17% of her movies listed. California (1946) was her biggest box office hit….I excluded Hollywood Canteen from this question.
  2. An average Barbara Stanwyck movie grosses $87.10 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  50 of Barbara Stanwyck’s movies are rated as good movies…or 63.29% of her movies.  Double Indemnity (1944) was her highest rated movie while The Bride Walks Out (1936) was her lowest rated movie.
  4. Fifteen Barbara Stanwyck movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 18.98% of her movies.
  5. One Barbara Stanwyck movie (1953’s Titanic) won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 1.26% of her movies.
  6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00.  450 Barbara Stanwyck movies scored higher than that average….or 63.29% of her movies.  Double Indemnity (1944) got the the highest UMR Score while The Maverick Queen (1956) got the lowest UMR Score.
Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in 1944's Double Indemnity
Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in 1944’s Double Indemnity

Possibly Interesting Facts About Barbara Stanwyck

1. Barbara Stanwyck’s birth name was Ruby Catherine Stevens. She became an orphan at the age of four when her mother passed away and her father went looking for work in Central America and was never heard from again.

2. So how did Ruby Catherine Stevens become Barbara Stanwyck? In 1926 she was appearing in a play called The Noose. After the success of the The Noose she decided to change her name. Her character’s first name in the play was Barbara while another one of the actresses in the play had a last name of Stanwyck. So she put the two names together and created Barbara Stanwyck.

3. Barbara Stanwyck received 4 Oscar® nominations for Best Actress. Those four movies were…1937’s Stella Dallas, 1941’s Ball of Fire, 1944’s Double Indemnity and 1948’s Sorry Wrong Number. She never won an Oscar® but she received an Honorary Oscar® Award in 1982: “For superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting.”

4. Speaking of Oscar® talk….here is a crazy piece of trivia. Barbara Stanwyck’s 82 movies received 28 Oscar® nominations in various categories over the years.  The only Stanwyck movie to win an Oscar®?…..1953’s Titanic.

5. With earnings of $400,000 in 1944, Stanwyck earned the title of highest paid woman in the United States.

6. Barbara Stanwyck was married twice in her life. Her first marriage was to Frank Fay from 1928-1935. During their marriage they adopted Dion Anthony as their son. Her second marriage was to fellow actor Robert Taylor. They were married 1939 to 1950. Another relationship of note was between Stanwyck and Robert Wagner. They started their relationship when he was 22 and she was 45….it lasted 4 years.

7. The American Film Institute ranks Barbara Stanwyck as the 11th greatest actress of all-time. While Entertainment Weekly ranks her as the 40th Greatest Movie Star of All-Time.

8. Barbara Stanwyck’s nicknames on the set were Missy or The Queen.

9. Barbara Stanwyck is the Godmother of Tori Spelling.

10. Check out Barbara Stanwyck‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Barbara Stanwyck appeared in 82 movies from 1929-1964. Of those movies, I was unable to find all the information needed to calculate Movie Scores for 3 of her movies. Those movies were 1927’s Dance Magic 1929’s The Locked Door and 1929’s Mexicali Rose

Not enough stats for you?  Well here are Adjusted Worldwide Grosses On 30 Barbara Stanwyck Movies (in millions)

  • Annie Oakley (1935)  $62.70 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Baby Face (1933) $47.30 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Ball of Fire (1941) $256.30 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • BF’s Daughter (1948) $105.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Blowing Wild (1953) $143.10 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Bride Walks Out, The (1936) $75.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Christmas in Connecticut (1945) $284.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Cry Wolf (1947) $165.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • East Side, West Side (1949) $138.70 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Ever in My Heart (1933) $50.60 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Executive Suite (1954) $187.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Gambling Lady (1934) $68.80 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Gay Sisters, The (1942) $214.50 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • His Brother’s Wife (1936) $186.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Illicit (1931) $65.30 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Jeopardy (1953) $69.30 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Ladies They Talk About (1933) $38.90 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Lost Lady, A (1934) $39.50 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Man With The Cloak, The (1951) $36.20 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Meet John Doe (1941) $232.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Moonlighter, The (1953) $40.50 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • My Reputation (1946) $260.60 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Night Nurse (1931) $81.80 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Purchase Price, The (1932) $37.70 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • So Big! (1932) $51.10 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • These Wilder Years (1956) $38.00 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • This Is My Affair (1937) $171.70 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • To Please A Lady (1950) $146.40 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Two Mrs. Carrolls, The (1947) $219.10 million adjusted worldwide box office
  • Woman in Red, The (1935) $43.40 million adjusted worldwide box office

Steve’s Barbara Stanwyck’s You Tube Video

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.

For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.

(Visited 1 times)

52 thoughts on “Barbara Stanwyck Movies”

  1. Barbara never made the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. These are the people currently on the list who appeared with her in films.

    Blowing Wild (1953) – 681 Anthony Quinn
    California (1947) – 681 Anthony Quinn
    Crime of Passion (1957) – 912 Arthur Tovey
    Executive Suite (1954) – 781 Shelley Winters
    No Man of Her Own (1950) – 966 Kathleen Freeman
    Roustabout (1964) – 807 Teri Garr
    The File on Thelma Jordan (1950) – 912 Arthur Tovey
    The Lady Gambles (1949) – 897 Tony Curtis
    Titanic (1953) – 271 Robert Wagner
    Union Pacific (1939) – 681 Anthony Quinn
    Walk on the Wild Side (1962) – 805 Jane Fonda

    Like Randolph Scott, Barbara worked with a lot of people on the first list back in 2000. These are the actors who worked with her who have now fallen off the list over the past 16 years. Bess Flowers appeared in 15 of her pictures, literally just appeared.

    A Message from Garcia (1936) – 14 John Carradine
    All I Desire (1953) – 54 Stuart Whitman, 423 Brett Halsey
    Always Goodbye (1938) – 151 Cesar Romero, 606 Alberto Morin
    Annie Oakley (1935) – 651 Melvyn Douglas
    B.F.’s Daughter (1948) – 43 Keenan Wynn
    Baby Face (1933) – 179 John Wayne
    Ball of Fire (1941) – 219 Eisha Cook Jr., 451 Dana Andrews, 571 Charles Lane
    California (1947) – 50 Jeff Corey, 100 Ian Wolfe, 187 Ray Milland, 273 George Coulouris, 671 Eduardo Cianelli, 894 Philip Van Zandt, 963 Frank Ferguson
    Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) – 404 Jack Elam, 859 Myron Healey, 969 Byron Foulger
    Christmas in Connecticut (1945) – 169 John Dehner
    Clash by Night (1952) – 160 Robert Ryan
    Crime of Passion (1957) – 54 Staurt Whitman, 155 Royal Dano, 380 Sterling Hayden, 925 Raymond Burr
    Cry Wolf (1947) – 745 Richard Basehart, 994 Ellen Corby
    Double Indemnity (1944) – 222 Bess Flowers, 463 Edward G. Robinson
    East Side, West Side (1949) – 52 James Mason, 186 Ava Gardner, 272 Vito Scotti, 824 Frank Wilcox
    Escape to Burma (1955) – 160 Robert Ryan
    Ever in My Heart (1933) – 222 Bess Flowers, 507 Ralph Bellamy
    Executive Suite (1954) – 207 William Holden, 222 Bess Flowers, 395 Walter Pidgeon, 562 Paul Bryar, 585 Hamilton Camp, 599 John Doucette, 744 Dean Jagger, 806 Nina Foch
    Flesh and Fantasy (1943) – 100 Ian Wolfe, 177 Marcel Dalio, 222 Bess Flowers, 237 Peter Lawford, 256 Hank Worden, 393 Charles Boyer, 463 Edward G. Robinson, 562 Paul Bryar
    Forbidden (1932) – 222 Bess Flowers, 507 Ralph Bellamy
    Forty Guns (1957) – 256 Hank Worden, 362 Barry Sullivan, 744 Dean Jagger
    Golden Boy (1939) – 207 William Holden, 301 Lee J. Cobb, 571 Charles Lane, 832 Don Brodie
    Hollywood Canteen (1944) – 169 John Dehner, 345 William Prince, 682 Ray Teal, 783 James Flavin, 918 Bette Davis
    Internes Can’t Take Money (1937) – 571 Charles Lane, 786 Lloyd Nolan
    Jeopardy (1953) – 362 Barry Sullivan
    Lady of Burlesque (1943) – 740 George Chandler
    Meet John Doe (1941) – 222 Bess Flowers, 379 Ann Doran
    My Reputation (1946) -222 Bess Flowers
    No Man of Her Own (1950) – 222 Bess Flowers
    Remember the Night (1940) – 783 James Flavin
    Roustabout (1964) – 280 Billy Barty, 327 Raquel Welch, 459 Dabbs Greer, 560 Richard Kiel
    Shopworn (1932) – 222 Bess Flowers
    So Big! (1932) – 918 Bette Davis
    Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) – 45 Burt Lancaster
    Stella Dallas (1937) – 379 Ann Doran
    Ten Cents a Dance (1931) – 222 Bess Flowers
    The Bride Walks Out (1936) – 571 Charles Lane
    The File on Thelma Jordan (1950) – 296 Kenneth Tobey
    The Furies (1950) – 384 Gilbert Roland, 963 Frank Ferguson
    The Gay Sisters (1942) – 629 Walter Brooke
    The Great Man’s Lady (1942) – 571 Charles Lane, 740 George Chandler
    The Lady Eve (1941) – 56 Henry Fonda, 222 Bess Flowers
    The Lady Gambles (1949) – 222 Bess Flowers, 271 Peter Brocco, 731 John Hoyt, 894 Philip Van Zandt
    The Mad Miss Manton (1938) – 56 Henry Fonda, 222 Bess Flowers, 740 George Chandler, 969 Byron Foulger
    The Man with a Cloak (1951) – 158 Joseph Cotten, 256 Hank Worden, 364 Leslie Caron, 532 Jim Backus
    The Maverick Queen (1956) – 362 Barry Sullivan, 599 John Doucette
    The Moonlighter (1953) – 404 Jack Elam, 859 Myron Healey, 969 Byron Foulger
    The Night Walker (1964) – 617 Paul Frees
    The Other Love (1947) – 102 David Niven, 384 Gilbert Roland, 503 Richard Conte
    The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) – 32 Kirk Douglas, 379 Ann Doran, 783 James Flavin
    The Violent Men (1955) – 132 Glenn Ford, 205 Brian Keith, 396 Richard Jaeckel, 463 Edward G. Robinson, 963 Frank Ferguson
    The Woman in Red (1935) – 222 Bess Flowers, 740 George Chandler
    There’s Always Tomorrow (1956) – 225 Paul Smith
    These Wilder Years (1956) – 222 Bess Flowers, 395 Walter Pidgeon, 746 Herb Vigran, 874 Dean Jones
    This is My Affair (1937) – 14 John Carradine, 506 Douglas Fowley, 783 James Flavin
    Titanic (1953) – 585 Hamilton Camp, 606 Alberto Morin, 745 Richard Basehart, 804 Nicolas Costar
    To Please a Lady (1950) – 222 Bess Flowers, 969 Byron Foulger
    Trooper Hook (1957) – 155 Royal Dano, 169 John Dehner
    Union Pacific (1939) – 234 Akim Tamiroff, 783 James Flavin, 969 Byron Foulger
    Variety Girl (1947) – 45 Burt Lancaster, 187 Ray Milland, 207 William Holden, 379 Ann Doran, 380 Sterling Hayden, 534 Bob Hope, 963 Frank Ferguson
    Walk on the Wild Side (1962) – 236 Lee Marvin, 611 Don ‘Red’ Barry, 645 Laurence Harvey
    Witness to Murder (1954) – 323 George Sanders
    You Belong to Me (1941) – 50 Jeff Corey, 56 Henry Fonda, 147 Lloyd Bridges, 299 Fritz Feld, 969 Byron Foulger

    Barbara also worked with 33 Oscar winners that I could find.

    A Message to Garcia (1936) – Wallace Beery
    Annie Oakley (1935) – Melvyn Douglas
    B.F.’s Daughter (1948) – Charles Coburn, Van Heflin
    Baby Face (1933) – John Wayne, Walter Brennan
    Ball of Fire (1941) – Gary Cooper
    Banjo on My Knee (1936) – Walter Brennan
    Blowing Wild (1953) – Anthony Quinn, Gary Cooper
    California (1947) – Ray Milland, Anthony Quinn, Barry Fitzgerald
    East Side, West Side (1949) – Van Heflin
    Executive Suite (1954) – Shelley Winters, William Holden, Dean Jagger, Fredric March
    Forty Guns (1957) – Dean Jagger
    Golden Boy (1939) – William Holden
    Hollywood Canteen (1944) – Bette Davis, Dorothy Malone, Humphrey Bogart, Jane Wyman, Joan Crawford
    Meet John Doe (1941) – Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan
    Night Nurse (1931) – Clark Gable
    So Big! (1932) – Bette Davis
    Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) – Burt Lancaster
    The Furies (1950) – Walter Huston
    The Gay Sisters (1942) – Gig Young
    The Lady Eve (1941) – Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
    The Mad Miss Manton (1938) – Henry Fonda
    The Other Love (1947) – David Niven
    The Plough and the Stars (1936) – Barry Fitzgerald
    The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) – Van Heflin
    The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947) – Humphrey Bogart
    There’s Always Tomorrow (1956) – Jane Darwell
    These Wilder Years (1956) – James Cagney
    This is My Affair (1937) – Victor Mclaglen
    To Please a Lady (1950) – Clark Gable
    Union Pacific (1939) – Anthony Quinn
    Variety Girl (1947) – Burt Lancaster, Ray Milland, William Holden, Barry Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper
    Walk on the Wild Side (1962) – Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Anne Baxter
    Witness to Murder (21954) – George Sanders
    You Belong to Me (1941) – Henry Fonda,

    Reply

    1. Hey Dan.
      1. Seems strange that an actress that starred in movies for almost 50 years can not crack the Top 1000….seems they need to delete some of the names…..or make a rule…..if a person was never mentioned in the Top 25 of a cast list….then they can not be included. Ok…done complaining. Looking at her first list…it looks like they will all be gone on the next update…with the exception of Wagner.
      2. Wow….this is a lot of names….15 times with Bess Flowers…I wonder if Stanwyck even knew Bess Flowers…..much less knew they had shared a film credit on so many different movies. That lengthy list makes you realize just how long her career was.
      3. 33 Oscar winers…with almost half of them coming from 3 movies…Hollywood Canteen, Varitey Girl and Excutive Suite.
      Good lists….thanks for all the hard work you do.

      Reply

  2. 1 Barbara Stanwyck was considered by many to harbour rather a cold persona but certainly nobody was better than she at playing the hard hearted shrew as she did to perfection as MacMurray’s seductress in Double Indemnity and as Edward G’s wife in The Violent Men, where she laughs as she throws away his crutches and leaves him to hopefully die as she flees their burning ranch house into the arms of his brother her lover.

    2 Her overall adjusted Cogerson gross of almost $7 billion is impressive but she engendered that over 79 films and confirmed the trend in the Classic era at least whereby apart from the likes of Wayne, Gable, Tracy stars whose movies earned high overall grosses with a large number of films did so at the expense of a not vertiginous average gross [around 87 mil in her case] – ie as the volume of their movies increases so does the number of flops or at least films with unimpressive grosses and Babs had 20 movies that grossed less that an adjusted 40 mil.

    3 Still at the top end of the scale 27 of her movies crashed the now legendary Cogerson 100 mil barrier and that in conjunction with her AFI recognition chalks up an overall career that she can be proud of. Rex Harrison once referred to his My Fair Lady co-star Audrey Hepburn as “one of Hollywood’s one million dollar girls.” Barbara could rightly have regarded herself as “one of Cogerson’s one HUNDRED million dollar girls.”!

    4 Anyhow another Great star from the old days now given her due update and the 30 worldwide grosses from the Warners ledgers provides us with a fine selection of such grosses to analyse. My initial calculations suggest an overall split of around 70% domestic/30% overseas for the 30..

    BOB.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob.
      1. I think “cold” is a great way to describe many of Stanwyck’s roles. As she says in Double Indemnity….”Were both rotten”. I have not seen The Violent Men….but I want to.
      2. I am more impressed with her box office numbers that you seem to be….yes she made a ton of movies….but she did not have a single monster hit….many of these stars have a hit in the half billion range…and the great ones have a few of those….her biggest hit is right around a quarter of a billion….to me that means she made solid box office hit after hit…and all those years to get to almost 7 billion…..meanwhile Oliva de Havilland (who is currently first..until I do the Loy update) got almost 2 billion from one movie.
      3. Her 27 $100 million hits puts her in a tie for 17th place…that is pretty impressive.
      4. 70/30 split seems a little low on the worldwide side…but pretty close to the average of 65% that I calculated years.
      I am having fun with these WB numbers…my next major update will be on Edward G. Robinson….as always…thanks for the contribution.

      Reply

  3. Thanks for this info!

    Absolutely love Barbara Stanwyck! She’s my favourite actress and I definitely think she should have been in the top ten of AFI’s greatest female stars!

    Reply

    1. Hey SG….glad you liked our Barbara Stanwyck….I have learned and seen so many more movies by her since writing this page a few years ago. 11th on the AFI is still pretty impressive. Thanks for stopping by.

      Reply

  4. “Remember the Night” is a timeless, classic holiday movie, a redemptive tale wrapped around a tender love story that has Barbara Stanwyck bringing fought-off tears to the viewers’ eyes by the end of the movie. The structure of the story is so symmetrical and balanced that the viewer doesn’t realize this amazing effect until the story ends. In the beginning of the movie, Miss Stanwyck is the bad girl thief and Fred MacMurray is the wily, good guy lawyer and assistant DA, pitted against each other in a NYC courtroom just before Christmas. The set-up is ordinary and familiar but what ensues is not. By the end of the movie, Barbara Stanwyck is the good girl repentant, and Fred MacMurray is the bad guy manipulator, which may cause the viewer to recollect the saying, “there’s a whole lot of good in the worst of us and a whole lot of bad in the best of us”. Because the good natured lawyer feels guilty about ruining the girl’s Christmas, even though he has kept her out of jail for the Christmas holidays, a natural man-woman attractiveness between them encourages the lawyer to prompt the bad girl to also go see her estranged mother for the holidays as he drives home for the holidays to see his mother. So the two embark on a 750 mile Christmas car trip to their shared Hooiser state, Indiana, and the story unfolds. Barbara Stanwyck is so good at making us wonder about her character and revealing her inner feelings just by watching her face on screen even when she is not speaking, showing nuances that drive us to care about her character. This fantastic actress has been so underrated for so many years that it is difficult to believe that she never won an Academy Award (she was robbed!). Throughout the story one wonders how this straight arrow lawyer is going to fall in love with this bad girl thief. He treats her with respect and is fair to her but, this lawyer has scruples and, despite his good nature, he is not going to allow a pretty face dissuade him from putting her in jail when they return to court in New York city on January 3rd. In the middle of the movie the hinged event occurs that inverts the story. MacMurray’s character realizes what a powerful influence a mother’s love makes in the life of a young boy or girl. He sees himself in Miss Stanwyck’s character as a young girl and finds out that as kids both of them “borrowed” their mother’s saved money from the “cookie jar” for their own selfish reasons. But the big difference is how their respective mother’s react to these acts of thievery. When MacMurray’s character realizes this tremendous difference, all of his defenses against the Stanwyck character’s feminine charms go down. He falls deeply in love with her. But by now Stanwyck’s character, changed by the treatment of her by his family, is so remorseful about her recent life of stealing that she doesn’t know if she can reform and seeks to distance herself from MacMurray’s character so as not to ruin his legal career by association. Upon their return to New York City she is confused and worried about the future effects of their relationship on his career. Because he loves her, he now deceitfully manipulates courtroom proceedings to prevent her from going to jail. And so, here we are at the end of the movie. This is the part where Barbara Stanwyck really pours it on and shows us that not only is her character capable of reforming but, she is indeed noble, willing to sacrifice her own happiness for that of another. We realize that her character is a real diamond in the rough. Soon, fought-off tears appear in the viewer’s eyes as Miss Stanwyck thoroughly entrances us. Watch it and see for yourself.

    Reply

    1. Hey Publius AH…thanks for such a detailed comment. Reading your mini-review of Remember the Night makes me want to see the movie…currently I have seen 24 of her movies but not that one. I agree she was robbed…her role in Double Indemnity is one of the greatest of all-time….and was easily the best of 1944….I bet if they re-voted today she would be the winner.
      Sounds lie Remember The Night is one of your favorite movies…in my ranking system it finished 17th but according to critics and audiences it is all the way up to 4th place….so I am sure there are many other people that hold the movie in high regard….I am sold….it is on my list of movies to watch.

      Reply

    2. What a wonderful review of one of my favorite Holiday movies! Stanwyck always seems to be a notch below Davis, K. Hepburn and even Crawford when it comes to awards and for every hit she seemed to have had a box office flop- but one mustn’t forget that she once was the highest paid actress in the US…and I’m sure Hollywood studios didn’t hand out big money for nothing.Besides, a career in movies that lasted for 4 decades and then led to a successfull TV career is something only a few of her contemporaries were able to achieve. I will never forget her scene in Thornbirds, lusting after Richard Chamberlain, telling him that her body may be old, but inside she is still young, longing for love. I remember reading reviews that went from “the best ting on Thornbirds” to “the greatest performance on an american TV show ever”. She should have ended it there, but The Colbys meant money and visibility.

      Reply

      1. Hey Lupino….I agree with you 100% about this review. Stanwyck was by far one of the greatest actresses of all-time. Thanks for the scene breakdown of Thornbirds….sounds like a great scene for sure. Thanks for all the great comments that you posted today.

        Reply

  5. Hi

    I remember in 1982, Miss Stanwyck receiving the honorary Oscar. A couple of months before, she had been violently attacked by an intruder in her house. Her close friend, William Holden had died so the whole thing must have been very emotional for her. Around this time she had appeared in a T.V. show called The Thornbirds, which was very popular and then of course The Colby’s, which was pretty dire but hey it was work.
    Stanwyck was a real survivor, from the 30s right up, but the high point in her career was definitely Double Indemnity. I feel she should have won the Oscar for that role, or at the very least, the New York’s Critic’s Award. But Hollywood was gripped by Bergman fever at that time. Not that I’ve anything against Ingrid, she was terrific in Gaslight, but I think she was better and I think her film has stood the test of time better.
    I think the 40s were her best period, The Lady Eve, Ball of Fire and Christmas in Connecticut all stand the test of time. Sorry, Wrong Number is another good one. And then of course she had more success in the 60s with the TV programme, The Big Valley.
    Unlike Hepburn and Davis, there seems to be little biographies about her life, but she was definitely one of the greats.

    Reply

    1. Hey Chris. Interesting about Stanwyck in the early 1980s. I remember her from The Big Valley….I remember being surprised when I realized how big she was in her prime. I agree with you 100% about her performance in Double Indemnity….it should have won the Oscar. Gaslight has pretty much faded away….while Double Indemnity had some serious staying power. I think her movies of the 1940s are the best….but I think she was more popular in the 1930s…even though those movies seem to be forgotten. I remember when I was researching this page….it took forever because finding information was pretty difficult….especially compare to her contemporaries like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Thanks for checking out my last actress that had to moved from my old website to my new website.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.