Neglected film: HEROES FOR SALE (1933)

The sum and its parts

There are some great sequences in this memorable precode from Warner Brothers, but I am not sure if the sum of its parts ultimately makes a whole lot of sense. At times it’s a story about postwar adjustment and morphine addiction. Then it’s a story about economic prosperity and depression. Then it’s a doomed love story, two doomed love stories in fact, since one woman (Loretta Young) is killed loving a man (Richard Barthelmess) in an impossible situation; while another woman (Aline MacMahon) pines for him and her efforts remain unrequited. 

I suppose it’s meant to be a chronicle of a fifteen year period from the first World War up to the height of the Great Depression. Interestingly, this timeline mirrors the motion picture career of the film’s star, since Barthelmess first broke through in movies in 1916, during the war, and he achieved much success in the 1920s. 

By the time this picture was in production, Barthelmess was aging out of the youthful roles that made him popular with audiences and his career would quickly go into decline. His last starring role was three years later. There was a short break, then he returned at the end of the decade to begin character parts, but retired in 1942. Ironically, Barthelmess went off to serve in WWII. Then he spent the rest of his life living off the savings of his Hollywood career, money he had invested in real estate.

In the film, Barthelmess’s character is selfless. He takes the profits he earns from an invention and gives the money to the poor. There is considerable talk about his decision to devote his income to charity.

The final stages of the film have him suspected of being a communist and forced on the road like a hobo. Personally, I felt the subplot involving the Reds a bit over-the-top, and I was never sure who to root for in the sequence where there is a labor riot which leads to the tragic death of our hero’s wife (Young). 

Her death scene is one that stays with the viewer long after the film ends, but what’s the point of it all? To show that this man, like America had been beaten and lost everything, but would continue to move forward? We are told he has a young son who’s proud of him. But proud of what? 

Mixed into his economic philosophical mishmash are some anti-war sentiments about how medals and ribbons are not important if a man cannot feed himself after a war. At the same time, we see the corruption of banking institutions and large scale businesses, so are we ultimately supposed to be sympathetic towards communism? Despite the bravura performances of the two lead actresses, plus Barthelmess who liked to pick scripts with edgy socially conscious messages, I still wasn’t sure if I was meant to like the story, and if I was even meant to like America.