A rather morbid one to watch, but important as it is part of the 'Forbidden Hollywood' series of movies that slipped through the Hayes Code net in the early 30s. It was wonderful to see my first ever Richard Barthelmess offering regardless of the plot..
Tom is a wounded soldier from WW1 who is finding his new reality in the middle of a Depression-era state very uninviting. He finds it impossible to work, no one will take him on, and his friends have turned their backs on him. Added to which, he has developed a serious addiction to morphine which has turned him into a very hardened character. Luckily, Tom finds a way to beat his addiction and ends up in Chicago working in a launderette and settled down with a lovely woman. But tensions in Chicago never stay buried for long, and soon Tom is balancing precariously on the edge once again, fearing for his job, his relationship and his general wellbeing.
I found the subject matter rather depressing, and wish that I had seen Barthelmess in something more light-hearted, but nevertheless it showed his character and the sort of actor he can be.
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