Alice Adams (1935) review

Wannabe socialite Alice (Katharine Hepburn) - who comes from a rather poor family - goes to a "big dance" in her town of South Renford and it's mostly a disaster for her but she does have the opportunity to meet Arthur Russell (Fred MacMurray) - back home in her less-than-lavish house, her parents argue over money (Pop supposedly has a recipe for a special kind of glue and her Mum wants him to start a business with it) and then Arthur shows up and they want to throw a lavish dinner for him (but it's a wreck).  Nearly every aspect of this movie - which is based on Booth Tarkington's novel (from 1921) - is irritating: Alice is a relentless and pathetic chatterbox whose desire for "status" is grating, her mother is a harpy, and there's absolutely no explanation why rich and sophisticated Arthur - who's involved with another woman of a similar social standing - would ever be interested in her in the first place.  As if that isn't enough, it has the gall to shove an unlikely happy ending at the audience: her Dad gets a reprieve from his boss (a Capitalist is moved by tears!) and Arthur sticks around "because of love."