A carousel barker falls in love with a young woman. Both are fired from their jobs, and when the young woman becomes pregnant, the carousel barker tries to help pull off a robbery, which goes wrong. Because of the robbery, he dies, and after spending time in hell, is sent back to earth for one day to try to make amends. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
Direction
Borzage turns a carousel into pure visual poetry
Acting
Farrell's swagger crumbles into devastating vulnerability
Production
Expressionist hell sets built for a spiritual epic
Director
Frank Borzage
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the first sound film adaptation of Ferenc Molnár's play; Borzage had already made a silent version in 1921. He simply couldn't quit this story.
The 1930s hell sequences directly influenced later films like Here Comes Mr. Jordan and even It's a Wonderful Life's afterlife mechanics. Pre-Code spiritualism was weirdly influential.
US
