Tarnished Lady (1931)

Synopsis
Renowned American-born London stage star Tallulah Bankhead made her feature sound film debut in this drama based on Donald Ogden Stewart's story New York Lady. Bankhead plays Nancy Courtney, a gold-digging socialite who sets her sights on Norman Cravath (Clive Brook), a wealthy tycoon. Their marriage exasperates Nancy's ex-boyfriend, DeWitt Taylor (Alexander Kirkland), and her rival, Germaine Prentiss (Phoebe Foster). Nancy soon grows tired of the tedium of marriage and returns to making her rounds in nightclubs (some scenes were shot on location in a Harlem club). Nancy finally gets her own job and becomes increasingly independent even after she has a child. But Cravath's fortune is wiped out in the stock market crash. Nancy feels bad for her husband and returns to him, and for the first time they discover true love together, unsullied by the pursuit of material wealth. This film was the first feature directed solely by George Cukor, who would go on to be the champion of "women's pictures" such as The Philadelphia Story. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide