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6.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Purchase Price remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you want to see Barbara Stanwyck looking absolutely miserable while holding a pitchfork, this is 100% worth your time tonight. People who love fast-talking 1930s dramas with zero logic will eat this up. But if you need your movie romances to make actual sense, you are going to hate this so much.
The whole setup is just incredibly silly. Stanwyck plays Joan, a torch singer who is trying to escape her annoying gangster ex-boyfriend. So, what does she do? She literally steals another woman's identity to become a mail-order bride in North Dakota. Talk about an overreaction. 🤷♀️
Her new husband is Sam, played by George Brent. He is basically a giant, handsome blockhead who looks like he has never had a single thought in his entire life. Their first meeting is so awkward it actually made me laugh out loud. He expects a simple country girl and gets a lady wearing a fancy fur coat in the middle of a dust bowl.
There is a great bit where she tries to bake bread for him. The loaf comes out looking like a chunk of gray concrete. The way Stanwyck glares at that bread is probably the best piece of acting in the whole film. She looks like she wants to fight the flour.
And her singing early in the movie is... well, weird. She sings this song called "Take Me Away" in a register so low it sounds like a low-key threat. Its not exactly beautiful, but you cannot look away from her. She just has this magnetic presence that keeps the whole mess together.
The movie does not know if it wants to be a funny comedy about farming or a super dark drama. At one point, a creepy neighbor tries to force himself on her during a freezing winter storm. Suddenly, the vibe shifts and it feels as grim as The Way of Lost Souls. Then, like five minutes later, they are laughing about wheat crops again.
The editing is pretty choppy too. Scenes just end right in the middle of a conversation. It feels like the director, William Wellman, was in a massive hurry to get to his lunch break. Some of the background sets look so fake you can almost see the paint dripping on the studio walls.
But honestly? I kind of love how messy it is.
It is only 68 minutes long, so it never has time to get boring. Even when the plot completely falls apart at the end with a sudden shack fire and a very easy resolution, you don't really care. You are just there to watch Stanwyck be a total boss in a muddy field. 🌾
Give it a spin if you want something short and incredibly chaotic. Just do not expect a masterpiece.
IMDb —
1930
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