Ep 44: Irene Dunne in If I Were Free (1933)

Before she put her trademark on screwball comedies, Irene Dunne was the queen of melodrama. Irene's Sarah Casanove decides she's had enough of a husband (Nils Asther) who holds her at gunpoint. What saves her in this picture is work. Sarah opens an antique shop and finds purpose. Since this is a Pre-Code, she can take up with a married man (Clive Brook) without any consequences. Irene Dunne showed women in the audience how to absorb the slings and arrows from living in a man's world without losing their wits.