Directed by Frank Capra • 1932 • United States
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou

On a cruise ship en route to Havana, small town librarian Lulu Smith (Barbara Stanwyck) meets Bob Grover (Adolphe Menjou), an ambitious, married attorney with his sights set on public office. It’s the beginning of an illicit, years-long love affair that takes place in the shadows as he ascends to ever-greater political heights and she makes the ultimate sacrifice for love. One of the finest and most overlooked of Stanwyck’s collaborations with director Frank Capra, FORBIDDEN is precision-crafted melodrama that tackles taboo themes with a daring moral complexity and raw emotional frankness.