Don't let the name or the suggestive movie poster fool you, Bad Girl may sound like a Pre-Code picture that would include a story about a sexy girl about town, but this film is far from that. In fact I have no idea why the title is Bad Girl other than that was the title of the novel and play that was adapted to the silver screen, but still nothing suggests any kind of girl that is bad. The picture in fact is a humble piece of cinema from the depression era that would have spoken to the majority of audiences at that time, with a story about a couple making it through tough times while they try to blossom their love together. While most other big name films of this time showed relationships between rich individuals, Bad Girl gives a more gritty, down to earth look at how difficult it is when life and relationships seem to collide. This picture does just that in Academy Award winning fashion.

Bad Girl tells the story of a more real to life type of relationship between two city dwellers as they sacrifice and joggle the issues of marriage, finances, and a coming child set to the backdrop of the Great Depression, a subject that hit most everyone in 1930s. Eddie (James Dunn) is a radio repairman that works hard with dreams of work and steady future. Dorothy (Sally Eilers) is a small time department store model who thinks all men have one thing on their mind until she meets Eddie, who has no interest in her at all. After initial friction the two become fond of each other and end up marrying, sacrificing what they have to be with each other. Eddie wants to be a loving and supporting husband, giving Dorothy a new home, spending all he has ever saved up. Dorothy wants to be a loving and supportive wife by not giving Eddie any worries when she discovers she is with child and they cannot afford what Eddie has done for her, postponing his dream of owning his own radio shop. With these two conflicting views on how they love each other, each sacrificing while the other does not know it, the two quarrel as a new child is born between the two of them. But the two discover that they both are in fact still very much in love with each other and continue on with their path of life, together into the great unknown future.

Director Frank Borzage is a filmmaker keen on stories of young lovers in the face of adversity. This is seen is his previous directorial Oscar winning film Seventh Heaven, an honor he would receive again with Bad Girl. The film feels fresh, for it is a realistic representation of love in the times that the film was released. Unlike other Hollywood features where main love interests are wealthy individuals who have butlers and maids, while living in mansions, and having lavish parties, this film does the exact opposite. The main characters are just getting by, living in city flats, lucky to have jobs and sacrificing all they have to just pay the bills. The character of Eddie wants so badly to give his wife and child the best that he finds he can make money desperately boxing after hours, being paid by the number of rounds he can compete in the ring. He doesn't want to worry his wife with that information, but his wife takes it the wrong way when he shows up late to drive his wife to the hospital to deliver his son, believing he went to a bar and got into a fight. These kinds of quarrels are out of love for each other and are aspects that can be paralleled in some fashion to real life. The story is simply of love and just getting by in hard times.

Bad Girl was a critical success for its time, winning Academy Awards for Borzage's directing and for adapted screenplay from the novel/play. The film was even nominated for best picture. Despite rather good praise and a heart-felt story, the film would be rather a footnote of cinema history, falling into a little disrepair with the original film prints. This is a sad character trait of many films for the earlier part of the 20th century as prints were not handled with as great of care, being thrown into boxes in corners of rooms, or for the lucky films kept in large, cool store rooms or warehouses where the celluloid, a sensitive form of plastic, safe from any elements. Despite the few moments of lack of care seen on screen in the preserved prints today and the overall non-interest seen in this picture, the film is rather good and worth watching even for a contemporary audience. The picture has a lot of heart on the subject of love and sacrifice. It is a gem forgotten in time.