Pola Negri, Bebe Daniels, Mitzi Green, Polly Moran, Mack Sennett and Marjorie Beebe are seen relaxing at Palm Springs, a California winter resort; Barbara Stanwyck and Ricardo Cortez play golf; other celebrities are shown at Malibu Beach.
This A&E Biography recalls the earlier Richard Schickel biography of Stanywyck, Fire and Desire, with some of the same movie clips used. However there are a few new details that occasionally make it interesting.
We see Barbara's first husband Frank Fay in a short they made together in 1932, where he appears very fey, and which alludes to the rumors that she was a beard. We see ...
When Joan Boothe accompanies husband-reporter David to Las Vegas, she begins gambling to pass the time while he is doing a story. Encouraged by the casino manager, she gets hooked on gambling, to the point where she "borrows" David's expense money to pursue her addiction. This finally breaks up their marriage, but David continues trying to help her.
Polly Fulton (Barbara Stanwyck) is the only daughter of rich industrialist B.F. Fulton (Charles Coburn). She is about to marry the man of her dreams, attorney Robert Tasmin (Richard Hart), then she meets the intellectual Thomas Brett (Van Heflin). They fall in love and soon they marry. Brett has always been opposed to the wasteful lifestyle of the rich, and the anger he feels, ...
The rebellious daughter of an army general gets involved with a Communist agitator, mainly to annoy her father. He arranges to have her kidnapped and taken to Mexico--hoping that she will forget her "Red" boyfriend--by a young, handsome soldier named Jeff who, while somewhat of a goof-up, the general believes is still better for her.