Shop Angel

Aspiring designer Dorothy Hayes is desperate to break into the fashion world by any means necessary. That includes wearing one of her lingerie creations to a decadent party hosted by the industry's biggest names. She inevitably attracts the attention of millionaire clothing magnate James Walton Kennedy, who invites her back to his palatial estate on Long Island. Kennedy, who has had too much to drink, crashes his car. The two are unhurt, but the press has a field day reporting the rich man's affair with a promiscuous young girl. Humiliated, Dorothy resigns herself to never fulfilling her dream, until she meets Larry Pemberton, Kennedy's former son-in-law. He takes an interest in her, both professionally and romantically, but having been burned one too many times, Dorothy may not be willing to take a chance

A "woman's picture" from the pre-Code era with plenty of sex, sin, and heartbreak, Shop Angel has unfairly fallen through the cracks of film history -- until now. It stars the enchanting Marion Shilling, best known for her leading roles in B-westerns of the 1930s, including The Red Rider (1934) with Buck Jones and The Idaho Kid (1936) with Rex Bell. At 25, she retired from show business to marry Philadelphia real estate mogul Edward Cook, in an odd mirror of Shop Angel 's plotline. (Their marriage lasted until his death in 1998.) Co-star Holmes Herbert is probably best remembered as the concerned Dr. Lanyon in the 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Fredric March.

• drama