The Shining Hour (1938)

A nightclub dancer (Joan Crawford) marries into a wealthy landed gentry farm dynasty. But when she and her married brother in law (Robert Young) find themselves attracted to each other, things heat up so that her husband (Melvyn Douglas) and her sister in law (Margaret Sullavan) can't help but notice. Based on the play by Keith Winter (which was set in rural England), the play has been gussied up and given the full MGM treatment as befits Crawford. It's directed by Frank Borzage but it's a pretty soapy melodrama. Crawford is okay (except for her dancing which is ungraceful) but it's Sullavan who commands our attention and sympathy. There are no worse roles than those dreary quietly suffering noble wife roles but somehow Sullavan manages to invest the part with a dignity the picture doesn't deserve. By the end, things are getting pretty silly what with Fay Bainter as the resentful old maid sister going wacko (a la Mrs. Danvers in REBECCA) and setting the house on fire! With Hattie McDaniel, who's not given enough to do, Frank Albertson and Allyn Joslyn.