Watch Laughing Sinners For Free

Wow! Such a good movie.

Admirable film.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

MGM at its most intolerable, with Louis B. Mayer imposing his hypocritical morality on a dime-novel romance. Bad girl Joan Crawford is cavorting with the supremely unattractive traveling salesman Neil Hamilton, but is redeemed by--how's this for casting against type--Salvation Army major Clark Gable. Together the photogenic twosome wander off to host Salvation Army luncheons, dance around the maypole, and sing "London Bridge" to underprivileged tots. Designed to show off Crawford's versatility--she sings, dances, and almost acts--it instead reveals how deficient she is at this point in her career in most of these endeavors, and Gable looks bored. Anyway, it's short, and Hamilton at least gets to rub elbows with a fine crew of fellow salesmen, including Roscoe Karns, Guy Kibbee, and Cliff Edwards.

Joan Crawford is a café dancer whose long term, long distance affair with traveling salesman Neil Hamilton comes crashing to a finish when he dumps her by leaving her a goodbye note written on the back of a menu. Despondent, she sets out to jump into the river, only to be stopped and saved (in more than one sense) by mustache-less Salvation Army officer Clark Gable. Next thing you know, Joan is sporting an Army uniform herself and singing hymns….but sooner or later, Hamilton is bound to show up again. And what then? The plot isn't much, but Crawford's performance is excellent as her character veers wildly from joyous flapper to reformed sinner. The scene where she reads Hamilton's note is stunningly sad. Gable never looks quite natural but does seem to contain a reservoir of strength and energy that lurks just beneath the surface of his peaceful character. –At least that's my view from this time and place; hard to imagine what effect his performance would have had on a 1931 audience just becoming familiar with that face, that screen presence.The highlight of the film is almost certainly Joan's dance in an opening scene—donning a fake nose and beard and a farmer outfit, she humorously bounces around for a couple of minutes before shedding the costume and really cutting loose, to her audience's delight and her own obvious joy. It has to be said that Joan as flapper is quite a bit more exciting than Joan as saved woman. Hamilton is superb in a thoroughly despicable role. Roscoe Karns and Guy Kibbee are fellow salesman and together they certainly portray the kind of sleazy crew who inspire good people to lock up their daughters.Overall—no surprises but Crawford is certainly worth watching, especially the opening and closing minutes.

One of those movies about fallen women who reform that were common in pre-Code Hollywood, LAUGHING SINNERS, also known as COMPLETE SURRENDER, comes less as a movie of quality as standard fare that features the two leads, Crawford and Gable -- she already a star, he a rising actor -- coming together and making early music to the viewer's eyes. Before Hepburn and Tracy, these were the ones the public wanted to see together even if the movie in itself was less than memorable, and MGM gave it to them 8 times.Also a feature where one can get to see Crawford dance, sing, and indirectly, essay what would become a breakout role in RAIN only a year later.

I have never seen this film up until recently and was amazed at the great talent of Joan Crawford(Ivy "Bunny" Stevens) "Humoresque" '46 with John Garfield. Joan was very sexy and wore very revealing clothes for the early 1930's, her dancing and singing was unbelievable and she was so very pretty, slim and trim, not like the real "Mommie Dearest" character her daughter told us about. Clark Gable (Carl Loomis),"Gone With the Wind"'39 was Ivy's prince charming as a Salvation Army convert and when she appears in the park with her beautiful white dress, you just knew there was going to be an immediate CONVERSION OF SOULS! Veteran actor, Roscoe Karns, (Gred Geer) played a great supporting role. This film is filled with surprises, even a little African American Boy stealing a bite from a girls doughnut tore me up, there is many deep soul searching messages in this film and LOTS OF LAUGHTER and one attempted jump off a bridge. ENJOY!