Paid (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Mary Turner goes up for three years on a crime she didn't commit. Once out she and former prison mates plan a scam in which old men can be sued for breach of promise - the "heart balm" racket.

Directed by Sam Wood. Starring Joan Crawford, Robert Armstrong, and Marie Prevost.

Paid stars a very young Joan Crawford as a woman who is sent away to prison for a crime she didn't commit. When she's finally let out, she vows to take her revenge on the male species as a whole by running a series of scams in which she romances older men and then sues them for breach of contract. While the plot for this one didn't really stand out among the (surprisingly large) number of women-in-prison stories from 1930 that I've seen so far, Joan Crawford is very good in it, unsurprisingly. She's definitely leaning into an earlier 1930 style of melodramatic film acting, but there is a genuineness to her portrayal that makes her character really relatable, and it's easy to root for her as she goes about her nefarious plans. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to those who aren't already Crawford fans, as it doesn't offer a whole lot else, but she's worth checking out in this.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Paid < Bad Education

Paid > Pepito and the Magic Lamp

Paid > Adam

Paid < Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Paid > The War

Paid > The Jerk

Paid > The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Paid < Skylark

Paid > Je t'aime, je t'aime

Paid < The Hoober-Bloob Highway

Paid > The English Patient

Final spot: #2154 out of 3795, or 43%.