Prosperity (1932) User Reviews

Depression era audience's ran to their banks to get a quarter for Marie, and if it was their last quarter, it was worth it!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 1 May 2018]

If MGM had cast Marie Dressler in their most notorious flops, those films would not have been flops. Throughout the heyday of the depression, she kept audience's glued to the screen whether she was suffering or clowning, and on a few occasions, singing and (sort of) dancing. This plump and self described homely woman had a heart as big as the stars in the heavens, and was a crowd pleasing actress whose big heart was a sign of hope. As the operator of a small town bank, Dressler leaves it behind to her son Norman Foster on the day he gets married. New wife Karen Morley is saddled with a harridan of a mother (Polly Moran) who happens to be Dressler's oldest pal (only God knows why) whose temper and pride threatens to break up the marriage and through an impulsive move, causes a run on the bank. Thanks to Foster's mismanagement, Dressler must sell their house and ends up working as Moran's housekeeper which is a nightmare for everybody. More issues with the bank leads Dressler to contemplate suicide, but the audience is in on the secret which adds laughs in scenes that otherwise would have been tragic.

In addition to Dressler's showy performance, the film offers a smart and witty screenplay in spite of some often heard cliches. Its only fault is the fact that Moran plays a character so obnoxious that many of her scenes (especially those without Dressler) are painful to get through. This was a big hit for MGM as America prayed for new leadership to lead them out of the depression, and Dressler gets a few uplifting speeches. Her final speech has a very subtle twist that could never have made it past the censors a few years later. While this has mostly comic elements throughout, there is an underlying sense of serious issues timely at the time that 85 years later could come into play with today's issues.

I'm not sure if I'd call this a comedy...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 9 November 2011]

I was surprised when I noticed that one of the reviewers disliked the "low comedy" in the film. Oddly, I felt that there wasn't really all that much comedy--low or high or anything in between. Now this does not mean I disliked the film--I just don't think I'd consider this one a comedy. Sure, it uses a bit of comedy here and there but the overall film seems much more like a melodrama than anything else.

Polly Moran and Marie Dressler play in-laws--as Polly's daughter has married Marie's son. However, Polly and Marie can't stand each other and it creates some tension. I don't think this was handled exceptionally well, as Polly played such a nasty and unappealing person that it was hard to like her in any way. In other words, you felt sorry for Marie for having to deal with such as despicable lady. It gets much worse later in the film as Polly inadvertently causes a bank run at Marie's bank. Yet, inexplicably, Polly feels no responsibility for her part in causing the bank to fail. Instead, she invites the now homeless Marie to move in--and proceeds to treat her like a very unwelcome house guest. Tensions are VERY high--mostly because Polly's character is just evil. As for Marie, she has sworn she'll reopen the bank and repay all the depositors--and spends most of the rest of the film trying to ignore Polly and work out her plan. Little does she know that some shifty folks are planning on defrauding her and her efforts. Can Marie manage to pull it out AND avoid murdering Polly?

Overall, this is definitely one of the weaker Moran-Dressler films. It's still not bad--but probably could have been better had the Polly been a bit more three dimensional and the film decided to either be a comedy or a drama. Not bad and a decent time-passer.

The third and final of the Dressler/Moran comedies...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 12 December 2020]

... with the first two being "Reducing" and "Politics".

As in the others, Polly Moran and Marie Dressler play lifelong friends who fight like cats and dogs. Dressler is the more anchored and likeable one. Moran plays somebody you'd like to tie an anchor to and throw in the ocean. Her character is that obnoxious and snobby. But the contrast works. MGM didn't get comedy right very often in the 1930s - their specialty was drama - so this teaming was one of their rare hits in the comedy genre.

Dressler plays the president of a small town bank. Moran is one of her larger depositors, always thinking this entitles her to complain about this or that regarding the bank. The film opens on the year 1925 "when money talked and was on speaking terms with everybody" as Dressler's son John (Norman Foster) and Moran's daughter Helen (Anita Page) are about to get married. Dressler is going to retire and let John run the bank. And then comes the Great Depression with Moran withdrawing all of her money on a whim, causing a "run" on the bank, and ultimately causes the bank to close. These things happened in the Depression with people left without their life savings because there was no FDIC. Your average bank had zero protection for your savings. Without getting into the details of the plot, let's just say complications ensue.

I know that this doesn't sound like a comedy at all, but the secret to the Dressler/Moran comedies is that there is usually something very serious going on in the broader plot punctuated with lots of gags and broad physical comedy by the two leading ladies.

The odd thing about this film? The year before, over at Warner Brothers, Page and Foster played newlyweds in "Under Eighteen". There are lots of similarities - the two get married at the beginning of the film during the roaring twenties, then the Depression hits, then their marriage troubles rise with their monetary ones. And they weren't even the main characters. Did that have anything to do with them being reteamed here? Could be.

Flawless Marie Dressler

[drednm · 2 May 2005]

Prosperity is a comedy/drama that was very timely in 1932. It concerns bank closures. In the last of the Films that Dressler starred in with Polly Moran, she plays a bank president who saves her town. Lots of plots twists but basically a star vehicle for a great star--Marie Dressler. She can ham and mug her way thru anything and always get a laugh, but when Dressler played dramatic scenes, no one could touch her. No art. Nothing arch. Just her her old, worn, wonderful face to put across the feeling. That Marie Dressler is largely forgotten now except for her rather gauche comedy style (a style that Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett borrowed from liberally) is a pity. In Prosperity as well and Min and Bill, Anna Christie, Tugboat Annie, Emma, and Politics, she proves she was a fine dramatic actress. As a comic she ranks among the all-time best.

Polly Moran plays another hateful character, but plays it well. Anita Page, Norman Foster, Henry Armetta, Claire du Brey, and Frank Darien co-star. Rather dark ending is salvaged by low comedy, but somehow it all works.

Movie Went Deeper Than the Surface

[view_and_review · 7/10 · 12 February 2024]

It seems that towards the end of her career Marie Dressler was playing the roles of a woman sacrificing herself for her child. She did so in "Minn and Bill" (1930), "Reducing" (1931), "Tugboat Annie" (1933), and again in this movie "Prosperity." In "Prosperity" she starred opposite Polly Moran. This was the second movie in which they starred, and the fourth movie they did together. Their schtick is always the same: they are frenemies.

In "Prosperity," the two play Maggie Warren and Lizzie Praskins. Maggie Warren (Marie Dressler) was the president of a community bank. She stepped down to retire and handed the bank over to her son John Warren (Norman Foster). Lizzie Praskins (Polly Moran) was no more than a customer of the bank, but she was also the mother of Helen Paskins (Anita Page), John Warren's wife: which made Maggie and Lizzie mothers-in-law.

As always, Marie and Polly were passive aggressive towards each other. And per normal, Polly's character was the more disagreeable and unlikable of the two. If they weren't already thrust together through their children's marriage, they were put into closer proximity when Maggie's bank had to close its doors because her son gambled with the bonds used to secure everybody's funds. Maggie (Marie Dressler) and John (Norman Foster) were bankrupted and had to move into Lizzie's smaller home and tough it out there as long as they could. It wouldn't be too long, because Lizzie (Polly Moran) made the home insufferable for both Maggie and John.

Maggie was willing to swallow her pride and forgo any notions of dignity in order to make the arrangement work, just to keep peace in the house, and to keep John and Helen together. The last thing she wanted was to play a role in destroying John and Helen's wonderful marriage. Lizzie, on the other hand, had no problem denigrating John, and or Maggie, whenever she felt the need or whenever she saw the opportunity--especially the opportunity--to make herself morally superior.

"Prosperity" had a few twists and turns to make it far more dramatic than I even anticipated. It began quite comical, but took a very serious turn when the bank had to close. It remained on that track to the very end. Maggie, throughout the movie, was a saint and she was even a martyr when it came to sacrificing for her son.

I like "Prosperity" because of how it was bold enough to go beyond the surface. The plot was deeper than the surface issues they initially showed us. It required a risky solution, and it required a bold solution which both Maggie and John were in their own ways trying to accomplish.

Free on Odnoklassniki.

Not the easiest film to engage with

[1930s_Time_Machine · 2/10 · 3 September 2023]

I am not familiar with Marie Dressler at all so I approached this unprimed without any preconceptions whatsoever. As a Dressler virgin, I found this difficult to get into, it feels like it was made for her fans.

A lot of us grew up watching Laurel and Hardy on the tv so when we watch them now it's with a sense of nostalgia. They're likeable because we feel we know those guys intimately. Because we like them we can relate to them and laugh along with them. However had we never seen a L&H film and stumbled upon one, to be honest I doubt we'd find them as funny. For this type of comedy to work, it's essential that we like the characters. Comedy is very much a two way process and so without knowing who Marie Dressler is, this just leaves the uninitiated cold. This might work for her fans but my excuse would be: It not you Marie, it's me.

This film however is not just comedy. It's also a full blown melodrama with a serious dark sub-plot - comedy from a dark place is always more effective and there aren't much darker places than The Depression. The subject of this film is the United States banking crisis of the 1930s. Whilst this is a really fascinating subject to study, it clearly wasn't fun if you had to live through it so making light of people's misery peppered with trite optimistic and patriotic speeches was not what people who had just lost their jobs and homes wanted to hear.

This subject was handled much better in Frank Capra's fantastic AMERICAN MADNESS made a few months after this one. That however benefited from being released at the same time FDR was just taking charge of America and also from a typically impassioned performance from Mr integrity himself, Walter Huston. That was also written by the great Robert Riskin whereas this wasn't which is a big factor. Irving Thalberg's sister's script is ok, Sam Wood's direction is a bit more pedestrian than usual but ok and the acting is ok but this relies too much on the appeal of Miss Dressler.

Marie Dressler & Polly Moran Shine In Depression Era Comedy

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 13 August 2000]

The big-hearted matriarch of a small town bank works furiously to keep her institution alive. Though beset by trial & tribulation, she teaches her community that there is much more to PROSPERITY than how much money one has in the bank.

Marie Dressler was Hollywood's Queen when she made this crowd pleasing comedy/drama in 1932. She is perfect as the tough old lady with a tender heart who fights for her son's happiness and the well-being of their family owned bank. Depression audiences adored Marie because she was one of them, blunt, honest, no-nonsense, nothing fake or phony about her. They rewarded her by making her the box office champion in the years before her untimely death in 1934.

However, it's important to notice that Dressler shares star billing in PROSPERITY with her frequent sidekick, the ubiquitous Polly Moran. This spunky, buxom little comedienne cut her teeth in Mack Sennett Comedies and was most adept at slapstick & physical humor. Together, Marie & Polly, like a distaff Laurel & Hardy, were formidably funny. Their several screen pairings, though seldom revived today, are comedic gems.

Others in the cast (Anita Page as Polly's daughter, Norman Foster as Marie's son & John Miljan as the villain) are all very competent, but exist mainly to showcase the Ladies.

low comedy bits weigh it down

[mukava991 · 4/10 · 8 April 2010]

What drags Prosperity down is the repeated insertion of low comedy gags involving Polly Moran, a successful silent-era slapstick comedienne whose humor didn't play very well with sound. Far too much footage is wasted in setting up lame punch lines or overdone sight gags. These tedious distractions, unfortunately, also tend to involve the film's star, Marie Dressler, who could easily have done without them in her otherwise impressive portrayal of a small-town bank president who weathers the storm of economic depression by a combination of ingenuity and what they used to call gumption. The plot involves Dressler's struggle with entangled financial and familial crises.

Her son is played by Norman Foster who was an able actor but had no distinctive traits to set him apart from a host of other nice looking young male performers. Anita Page, just past her brief burst of major stardom, is cast as Foster's wife in an undemanding supporting role.

This film is less successful than "American Madness," released the same year, which is also about the travails of a small town banker during the Depression.

Happy Days Are Here Again

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 12 August 2008]

In 1925, childhood friends Marie Dressler (as Maggie Warren) and Polly Moran (as Lizzie Praskins) oversee the wedding of their children, Anita Page (as Helen) and Norman Foster (as John). Before the celebration, Ms. Dressler turns the reigns of her small town bank over to her son, Mr. Foster. Six years later, the Great Depression brings many bank closures, and financial insecurity. Banker Foster is able to survive, due to mother Dressler's wise planning. But, Ms. Moran is worried about her fortune, and loudly demands a complete withdrawal. Other "Warren Bank" customers hear Moran's rant, and start questioning their own solvency. Soon, the family is in financial crisis.

Dressler's huge critical and financial film hit "Emma" had been released early in the year, and MGM had to have wanted to get a new Dressler film out as soon as possible. Dressler's 1931 hits, "Reducing" and "Politics" were still making a lot of money; and, Dressler had become 1932's US #1 Box Office Star, according to the industry standard list compiled by Quigley Publications. "Prosperity" certainly celebrated Dressler's status, but the production appears uncharacteristically sloppy, and rushed. The cast does well, considering. Some more care in direction and editing, and some retakes, would have helped… apparently, they needed it in theaters for the holidays.

**** Prosperity (11/12/32) Sam Wood ~ Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Anita Page, Norman Foster

The Only Movie Of Its Era To Be Resolved By -- Diarrhea

[Handlinghandel · 4/10 · 30 April 2005]

Yes, Marie Dresler drinks prune juice that she thinks is poison and she exits running.

Dresler is good. Never my cup of tea but she is a solid performer who surely holds the screen.

I watched this for Polly Moran, whom I've seen elsewhere. Here, Moran is OK -- just OK -- as Dressler's shrewish friend/foe. Too bad she has sunk into nearly total oblivion.

The plot is good hearted. Bad guys try to rob the townspeople. Dressler triumphs and all ends well.

I do wonder about the central plot mechanism: bonds. This came out during the Depression so maybe everyone was familiar with bonds and what they can do if used well and if used wrongly. I, however, not of that era, am vaguely familiar with them. They're like stocks only different, right? It seems odd to build a story about The Little Man around a somewhat sophisticated monetary entity.

Crudely made drama

[JohnSeal · 4/10 · 1 May 2005]

Marie Dressler carries this Depression-era drama about a kindly bank owner, which recently aired on TCM during their April Fools comedy month. If you come with the expectation of big laughs courtesy the Dressler-Polly Moran team, you'll be disappointed, as this is really a very downbeat film. It's also very poorly made, surprisingly so considering it came from MGM. Leonard Smith's bare bones cinematography is strictly from the 'set up the camera and don't move it' school, frequently to the detriment of the cast, who find themselves delivering lines off screen (it's like a pan and scan print before such existed!) or having their heads cut off. The film doesn't even have a credited director, underlying the apparent fly by night nature of the production. Overall, it's an unsatisfying mess, with Dressler frequently over-emoting and only that bizarre, final reel dash to the bathroom to set it apart.

Propensity

[GManfred · 18 January 2016]

This movie has a propensity towards tedium and confusion. Also a propensity to omit comedy from nearly every situation that required it. It was dull and annoying and unfunny, and raises a cogent question; who wrote this mess?

Aha! a quick scan of the credits reveals that it was written by the sister of Irving Thalberg, Head of Production at MGM. The poor woman apparently had no feel for comedy or continuity, and they stuck Marie Dressler into the abyss, hoping she could make a silk purse out of this sow's ear.

Marie Dressler was one of our premier comediennes of the silent-into-sound era; she may have been The Best, and it's always a treat to see her, even in dreck like this. She got no help from one of her former sidekicks, Polly Moran, who was shrewish and strident in an unrewarding role. I am awarding my rating of four based on the welcome addition into the cast of the great Marie Dressler.

In need of economic prosperity

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 9 March 2024]

America was in the throes of a great Depression when MGM decided to green-light this farcical comedy. It would star the studio's unlikely box office champ, Marie Dressler, with her frequent female foil Polly Moran. (Miss Dressler's male foil was usually Wallace Beery, who does not appear in this story.) Dressler's antics and sparring with Moran made them popular frenemies before the word was even invented. In fact their friendship slash rivalry was arguably the blueprint for the funniest fights between Lucy and Ethel, and between Laverne and Shirley decades later.

In this ninth and final collaboration for the two character actresses, they are placed into a story about interconnected families on the brink of disaster. Various personal calamities befall the two matriarchs of neighboring families when their children (Norman Foster & Anita Page) decide to marry. Suddenly everything is thrown into a state of chaos, because these well-meaning but intensely stubborn mothers-in-law-to-be have vastly different ideas about the type of wedding ceremony that should be performed. Specifically, they disagree on which pastor they'll use.

Meanwhile, the community is thrown into huge turmoil when the bank that Dressler runs is in jeopardy of closing. Moran is the largest depositor. When she decides to pull out her funds, there is a run on the bank, with other citizens losing faith and withdrawing their money as well. Dressler and her son (Foster) face economic ruin, and the wedding will almost certainly be called off.

No longer able to hold her head up in public, Dressler experiences her own emotional depression. Though this is for all intents and purposes a comedy, the situation at the bank gives Dressler's character a chance to enact several dramatic moments. Dressler, a previous Oscar recipient, is particularly adept at combining humor and pathos, sometimes both elements within the same scene, on the turn of a dime.

The contract players cast as the grown-up children planning their nuptials are not as nuanced in their scenes but still highly effective, as is Moran who nearly steals a few big moments out from under Dressler. Of course we know the crisis will have to be averted...that Dressler's character will have to bounce back and so will the bank, in order to ensure the wedding does take place and there's a positive upbeat ending.

Incidentally, there were many production issues behind the scenes that made filming a less-than-positive experience for the cast. MGM bosses were displeased with the results of the original director (Leo McCarey) and decided to replace him with Sam Wood when the picture was nearly done.

Instead of doing extensive retakes, they just reshot the whole film in about a month's time with Wood. Then everything was rushed through the editing process, so that the picture would still be able to arrive in theaters on time. The quick "remake" (reshoot) was apparently the right way to proceed; there was improved continuity over McCarey's version and PROSPERITY did well at the box office.