Stella Dallas 

Screening as part of BFI's UK-wide season Too Much: Melodrama on Film. See any 3 titles in the season for £24 when you book them together – simply log in and add the tickets to your basket, and the discount will be applied at checkout.

The incomparable Barbara Stanwyck stars as Stella Dallas in this melodrama from director King Vidor, based on the 1923 novel by Olive Higgins Prouty. Within the genre of melodrama, there is a subset of films about the sacrifices that mothers make for their children, and Stella Dallas is perhaps the most well-remembered of these. 

Stella starts the film as a young woman striving to escape her working-class upbringing. She soon marries an upper-crust manager at the mill where she works, and they have a daughter Laurel. The film takes a span of years in its sweep and deals explicitly with ideas of class and divorce. The film foregrounds the relationship between Stella and Laurel in a way that feels utterly believable, nuanced and ahead of its time all at once.

At one time, Stanwyck was the highest paid actress in the US, and this is one of her finest performances. She, along with Anne Shirley, who plays the adult Laurel, were both nominated at the Academy Awards that year, and both give powerhouse performances. It may be a cliché to say, but by the time the film reaches its finale, there is unlikely to be a dry eye in the house. 

Supported by the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funding on behalf of the BFI National Lottery.