what can have be on irene dunne mind when she accept the role in this distasteful account of a woman of negotiable moral . certainly and the irene dunne of the 1940 and whose reputation a a faithful roman catholic who publicly abhor smut and and shun any film script or hollywood society and that might be even be remotely construe a corrupt public moral would never have become associate with such a dubious project a this . perhaps and new york cardinal spellman and in his private audience with her and give her a good dress down over this role . that we will likely never know and inasmuch a she never speak of it in late year and though she do denounce her morally suspect and ( though quite successful ) 1932 film and back street a trash . certainly by the time she receive the distinguished st. robert bellarmine award in 1965 for exemplary public catholicism and ann vickers be no longer recall by the general public . suffice it to say that ann vickers work neither a entertainment or social commentary . miss dunne role a an adulterous social worker and who sleep around and ( between reform prison and write a best seller on correctional rehabilitation ) doesn not dovetail with her temperament or on screen demeanor and and one keep suspect that the whole thing be a kind of tongue in cheek gag and ( what else can we think when we witness a montage of miss dunne sympathetic beatific gaze superimpose over a shot of a female prisoner be scourge . ) by films end and she have renounce careerism in favor of marriage and ( to crusty convict walter huston no less and what kind of lunacy would ever conceive of pair these two romantically . ) irene dunne completists will no doubt wish to see this curiosity and if only for the chance to hear her promise to rehabilitate a cocaine addict under her charge represent i be go to get you off the snow cold turkey . well and if nothing else such sordid going on and do present her light year from her usual milieu of operatic trill and furbellowed chiffon and strawberry phosphate cocaine addiction not be the first subject one associate with the irreproachable miss dunne .