Virtue

Recently I fired up Tubi, and one of the movies it recommended to me was one that I thought had been on the platform early but went away because the rights to show it ran out. That movie was the early Carole Lombard film Virtue, and either it's back, or it never left (or possibly I came across it on one of the other FAST streamers and now it's on a different streamer). In any case, it's there, so I decided to watch it.

There may be a problem with the print Tubi ran in that the first 60 seconds or so after the opening credits only have voice on a black screen, which doesn't seem right considering the subject material. Lombard play Mae, who as the movie starts has just been convicted on a solicitation charge in New York City, along with friends Lil (Mayo Methot) and Gert (Shirley Grey) and a bunch of others. The various prostitutes are given a choice: three months in the female work camp, or a one-way ticket out of New York. Needless to say, those who can take the hint and get out.

Mae makes her way to Danbury, CT, and getting off the train hires a taxi driven by Jimmy (a young Pat O'Brien). She doesn't quite have the money for the fare, but as the two talk, they become sort of friends. Taking the relationship farther than that is a bit off the table however, as Jimmy thinks that having a wife is only going to drag him down and take away money he needs. He's got his eye on running a service station, and has been saving up to put a payment on a half interest in one particular station.

As you might guess, Mae and Jimmy do wind up falling in love, and even tying the knot, although she hasn't yet told him about her past. Jimmy and Mae go on what is presumably going to be a brief honeymoon, but that's to Coney Island. Now, as you might know, Coney Island is in New York City, and Mae is still not supposed to be in the City. Somehow, she's recognized among the throng of people, which to me seemed like a serious plot hole because who really remembers that this is a prostitute who was arrested months ago. It's not like she's got a tramp stamp or anything like that. But when they go to the hotel for the night, there's a cop waiting for her.

Jimmy decides to give her a second chance, and Mae proves to be a surprisingly good wife, saving money out of the allowance that Jimmy gives her on top of the money Jimmy himself has been saving towards buying that service station. But then Gert calls, claiming to be seriously ill and needing $200 for an operation, which she'll repay when she gets the money from her parents. Mae is dumb enough to fall for this, giving the money to her before finding out that Gert has tried this on most of the unmarried cabbies.

Mae learns that Gert has gone to Atlantic City, so she goes and finds her, where she's with her boyfriend/pimp Toots (Jack La Rue), who also happens to be Lil's pimp. Mae walks in just as Toots is strangling Gert because she tried to steal the money back to give to Mae. You can probably guess how the rest of the movie plays out.

Virtue was released in 1932, so is decidedly a pre-Code movie. It was a bit surprising to me to see Carole Lombard at Columbia, as I wondered what she did to get the punishment of being on loan to a much lower studio than Paramount. Pat O'Brien's presence also surprised me, but apparently this was before O'Brien signed on at Warner Bros. The story is not particularly lurid beyond having the main character being a convicted prostitute, although that key plot point could not have been used just two years later.

Lombard unsurprisingly does well with the material, as does O'Brien. Virtue is another of the many, many pictures that doesn't really do anything wrong, although it also doesn't do a whole lot to stand out. But it's most definitely not a bad little movie, and certainly one that's worth a watch, and not just for fans of Carole Lombard.