Stingaree (1934)

Set in 1874 Australia, a music loving bandit (Richard Dix) kidnaps a promising opera singer (Irene Dunne) and promises to make her a star. Based on a story by Ernest William Hornung and directed by William A. Wellman (THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY). This sentimental piece of romantic twaddle is nonsense. Dunne and Dix had had a popular success with the Oscar winning CIMARRON in 1931 but here, they fall prey to a ludicrous Robin Hood type of romantic adventure. In the 1920s, women swooned when Rudolph Valentino kidnapped Agnes Ayres and broke down her resistance until she gave in to him. Dix lacks Valentino's sensuality and screen presence so here, he seems like a creepy kidnapper and the very idea that a promising opera singer would give up everything for him is, well ..... absurd! The film was a flop so I guess audiences in 1934 didn't buy it back then either. Dunne is at her unbearable worst in claptrap like this. Is there a worse combination than suffering and trilling? With Mary Boland, Una O'Connor, Andy Devine and Henry Stephenson.