"Unlike peers such as Joan Crawford and Sylvia Sidney, Stanwyck, even at her most imperious, never fully sheds her humble, working-class origins on screen. Leisen wasn’t the first of Stanwyck’s directors to identify and utilize her background, but few harnessed it so organically in the service of her character. There is a moment early in the film where Lee shakes her hand in disgust at a policeman tasked with escorting her back to jail. What we see is not a star’s posture of toughness but an actress’ embodiment of it. The dismissive, riled-up, Out of my way, pig authenticity of this gesture cements Stanwyck as Lee; this isn’t the first time the character has been manhandled by a cop and it probably won’t be the last."

Matthew Eng for Screen Slate. Features 1/25/23 through 1/31/23 at Film Forum.