Laughing Sinners

{{Infobox film

| name = Laughing Sinners

| image = Laughsinners.gif

| caption = Original film poster

| director = Harry Beaumont

| producer =

| writer = Continuity:
Bess Meredyth
Dialogue:
Martin Flavin
Edith Fitzgerald

| based_on = {{based on|Torch Song
1930 play|Kenyon Nicholson}}

| narrator =

| starring = Joan Crawford
Neil Hamilton
Clark Gable

| music = Charles H. Gabriel
Martin Broones
Ina D. Ogden

| cinematography = Charles Rosher

| editing = George Hively

| distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

| released = {{Film date|1931|05|30}}

| runtime = 72 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $338,000{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.

| gross = $765,000

}}

Laughing Sinners is a 1931 American pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in a story about a cafe entertainer who experiences spiritual redemption. The dialogue by Martin Flavin was based upon the play Torch Song by Kenyon Nicholson. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont. Laughing Sinners was the second of eight cinematic collaborations between Crawford and Gable.

Plot

Ivy Stevens, a singer and dancer, is callously abandoned by her lover Howard. She tries to commit suicide, but Carl, a Salvation Army member, stops her and introduces her to the charitable ways of his group. She joins, and Howard comes walking by her in the street by chance. Later, he seduces her and tries to bring her back to their old way of life. However, Carl drops by, and -- after punching Howard in the face --, disavows that any affection of his towards her is influencing him to bring her back to the Army; and he convinces her to return. Ivy abandons Howard and the last scene of the film shows Ivy and Carl, in Salvation Army uniform, walking off and sharing a hug.

Cast

Joan Crawford as Ivy Stevens
Neil Hamilton as Howard Palmer
Clark Gable as Carl Loomis
Marjorie Rambeau as Ruby
Guy Kibbee as Cass Wheeler
Cliff Edwards as Mike
Roscoe Karns as Fred Geer
Gertrude Short as Edna
George Cooper as Joe
George F. Marion as Humpty
Bert Woodruff as Tink

Production

=Casting=

John Mack Brown was originally playing Gable's role when the studio decided to scrap his footage and reshoot the part with Gable taking Brown's place. At that point, Brown's career in mainstream feature films ended and he transitioned to B westerns, reverting his name to "Johnny Mack Brown."

Crawford and Rambeau, who both play chorus girls in Laughing Sinners, would go on to play mother (Rambeau) and daughter (Crawford) in the film Torch Song in 1953. "Torch Song" is the name of the play on which Laughing Sinners is based.

Reception

=Critical reception=

Andre Sennwald commented in The New York Times, "Miss Crawford...has tempered the intense and not a little self-conscious quality of her acting without hurting her vibrant and breath-catching spirit."Quirk, Lawrence J.. The Films of Joan Crawford. The Citadel Press, 1968.