A lonely librarian and a frustrated district attorney fall in love. The problem? He's married-- and married to a decent woman with health problems. Despite a child and the love they bear one another, the two lovers remain apart for fear of scandal.
FORBIDDEN feels like pre-code Hollywood on autopilot with its illicit love story and long-suffering single mother. Stanwyck and Menjou are good as the lovers, giving their stock characters more dignity and distinction than the script necessarily does. Small moments like the lovers' horsing around before dinner humanize this stock tale of adultery and nobility. The story is melodramatic in the extreme and just sort of lumbers along the 85-minute runtime. It's not an unpleasant watch, but Stanwyck and director Frank Capra produced much more interesting work elsewhere.
FORBIDDEN feels like pre-code Hollywood on autopilot with its illicit love story and long-suffering single mother. Stanwyck and Menjou are good as the lovers, giving their stock characters more dignity and distinction than the script necessarily does. Small moments like the lovers' horsing around before dinner humanize this stock tale of adultery and nobility. The story is melodramatic in the extreme and just sort of lumbers along the 85-minute runtime. It's not an unpleasant watch, but Stanwyck and director Frank Capra produced much more interesting work elsewhere.