Sadie McKee Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Sadie McKee Blu-ray Movie Review

Too hot. Too cold. Just right?

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 2, 2025

A starring vehicle for Joan Crawford made during the last gasps of Hollywood's pre-Code era, Clarence Brown's Sadie McKee is a decently engaging melodrama divided into two distinct halves. Filmed after the end of her first marriage to Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and co-starring future second husband Franchot Tone, it moves along at a speedy clip and tells the entirety of its rags-to-riches-to-rags story in just over 90 minutes. A recommended watch for die-hard fans of an actress who would experience her own turbulent life trajectory during the next decade, Sadie McKee isn't flawless entertainment but it's a well-meaning effort from that memorable time in early sound film history.

Known to many as simply "the daughter of a cook", Sadie McKee (Crawford) works alongside her mother (Helen Ware) in the well-to-do Alderson household and is admired by their adult son Michael (Tone), a high-profile lawyer. She's also fawned over by most of the male visitors but already has a fella in Tommy Wallace (Gene Raymond), who was recently accused of stealing at the Aldersons' factory and fired for it. Not believing a word of their accusations, Sadie tells off the Aldersons, Michael included, and storms out of their house. Sharing a tearful goodbye at the train station with Tommy, who's off to search for a job in New York, Sadie impulsively climbs aboard to elope with him.

The young couple struggles to find their footing but luck into a conversation with kindly nightclub dancer Opal (Jean Dixon), who introduces them to her landlady and gets them a good deal on a shared room. Posing as a married couple despite not having their license yet, they agree to meet at a courthouse the following day at noon but Tommy, a more than capable singer, is whisked away by their lovely neighbor Dolly Merrick (Esther Ralston) with promises of a spot in her traveling act. Sadie's suddenly alone and devastated in a new city but finds luck, landing a job alongside Opal and finally meeting the ultra-wealthy Jack Brennan (Edward Arnold), who defends her from an unruly male patron and takes her under his wing. There are only two problems: Jack's a struggling alcoholic and he's also a friend to none other than Michael Alderson, who's still nursing his ego but can't shake his fascination with Sadie. Add that to her continuing love for Tommy, who she sees at multiple performances, and you've got a love triangle bound for Bermuda.

Needless to say, Sadie McKee -- both the character and the film -- are addicted to drama, and neither seem to find stable footing as they careen from one event to the next. On one hand, this marriage of film and character seems appropriate and, from a fundamental perspective, Sadie McKee is clearly a well-made picture with plenty of talent in front of (and behind) the camera. The only problem here is that a few of its bigger turns and events don't get enough time to marinate, from Tommy's baffling last-minute departure to Sadie's sudden relationship with Jack, who brings nothing but money to the table and wallows in a perpetually drunken stupor that's often enabled by his dutiful butler Finnegan (Leo G. Carroll). This makes Sadie McKee a somewhat frustrating watch from a purely narrative standpoint; it was adapted from a magazine-published short story by Viña Delmar, but John Meehan's screenplay doesn't give some of the story's sharpest turns enough of a believable foundation to stand on. The ending's solid, though.

Nonetheless, Sadie McKee is still an engaging melodrama and Crawford carries the show as usual, while the occasional song breaks and colorful supporting cast add their own brand of flavor to the stew. It also earns a bonus point for the way it frankly deals with alcoholism (even without mentioning it by name) and other plot elements that would've been hastily smoothed over had the film been released only two or three months later, when stricter Hays Code enforcement went into effect. Either way, it's a decent catalog deep cut that's been resurrected on Blu-ray by Warner Archive, who as usual apply their careful touch to its new A/V restoration while adding in a few era-specific extras.

Sadie McKee Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As one of countless MGM films whose original negative burned in the 1978 George Eastman House fire, Sadie McKee's best available source element -- and the one used for Warner Archive's new 1080p transfer -- was a second-generation preservation fine grain master positive made 13 years prior from the still-surviving but partially decomposed negative. This master positive was scanned in 4K and extensive cleanup was required due to the amount of imprinted damage, a process that reportedly took much more time than usual to produce a satisfactory result. The fruits of Warner Archive's labor are indeed evident on this new Blu-ray, which can't achieve the usual tack-sharp crispness of a negative scan but still looks like authentic film rather than processed video. Dirt, debris, and other distractions are basically absent aside from occasional flickering and pulsing on darker values, not to mention slight amounts of macro blocking despite a high bit rate, but the bulk of Sadie McKee looks exceptional in motion and likely represents a huge leap in quality over the boutique label's 2017 DVD. Fans can therefore take my "soft" 4/5 video rating with a grain of salt, as it's likely a bit closer to perfection -- under the circumstances, of course -- than that score might suggest.

Sadie McKee Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Warner Archive's DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track, a split presentation of the film's original mono mix in a two-channel container, was similarly sourced from a safety track positive also made in 1965 and has likewise been carefully cleaned of almost all age-related wear and tear. Trace amounts of hiss remain in a handful of scenes but the majority of Sadie McKee sounds as clean and crisp as you might hope for a film from this era, boasting intelligible dialogue and plenty of space left over for the numerous cues and songs credited to both Nacio Herb Brown (music) and Arthur Freed (lyrics). It includes a number of familiar tunes including the popular hit "All I Do Is Dream of You", which is wistfully performed by Gene Raymond several times during the film and also featured in a number of later productions including A Night at the Opera (released the next year), Singin' in the Rain, and Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Sadie McKee Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with vintage poster-themed cover art and a few extras.

• Why Do I Dream Those Dreams? (6:59) - The first of three restored Merrie Melodies shorts included here, this 1934 Friz Freleng-directed cartoon musically adapts the story of Rip Van Winkle. It's also one of the first to sign off with "That's All, Folks!".

• Shake Your Powder Puff (6:20) - Friz Freleng strikes again with another black-and-white 1934 short which depicts a lively barn variety show that gets interrupted by a heckling dog.

• Pop Goes Your Heart (6:42) - Another animal themed short directed by Freleng (and presented in two-strip Technicolor), this lively 1934 cartoon features springtime shenanigans in the woods.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (2:10) - This rare promotional piece is in rough but watchable condition.

Sadie McKee Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Clarence Brown's Sadie McKee is a classic Joan Crawford vehicle with solid performances, great music, and sharp cinematography. The story falls a little further behind as this melodrama doesn't quite earn all those twists and turns, but it's still fun while it lasts. Warner Archive shines it to a polish with another rock-solid A/V restoration and a few era-specific extras that fans will enjoy. Recommended to fans of Crawford and pre-Code Hollywood entertainment.