By Robin E. Simmons
THE PURCHASE PRICE (1932)
In this Warner Brothers melodrama, Barbara Stanwyck plays a torch singer who leaves the city after an affair with a married gangster played by Lyle Talbot. Stanwyck ends up in North Dakota as a mail order bride; where she meets and to her astonishment falls in love with a farmer played by George Brent. Restoration has addressed pinholes in the borders and background and one in the image area; the borders have been airbrushed and now the card displays beautifully. Fine/Very Fine.
Nightclub chanteuse Joan Gordon (Barbara Stanwyck) desperately wants to end her illicit relationship with underworld kingpin Ed Fields (Lyle Talbot). But breaking up with such a powerful man won’t be easy. In an effort to escape, Joan travels to North Dakota to be the mail-order bride of wheat grower Jim Gilson (George Brent). Although it’s a long way from the seedy streets of New York City, Joan’s less than lustrous past resurfaces when Eddie shows up to bring her back.
