Ladies in Love (1936)

“The trouble with us is all we talk about is love.”

            I am not a romantic girl at all. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to be totally in love with someone and have someone be totally in love with me. But those thoughts are usually thought of after I watch a romantic or rom com movie. The next day I am usually so busy thinking of just me with school and work the last thing I want to think about is that someone else in my life. At this moment in my life I cannot handle a boyfriend. Never mind all the drama that usually goes into having one! Two of my best friends have boyfriends. When we are all together they talk about their boyfriends. I do not mind though because I like their boyfriends and they are not the only thing they can talk about. I cannot imagine having friends that all they do is talk about their boyfriends more than I can imagine me having one right now. Thank god! In the 1936 film Ladies in Love all three friends can talk about is love.

            Susie Schmidt (Loretta Young) and Yoli Hayden (Constance Bennett) move into their new apartment. When they walk into the building they find their third roommate and their other friend Martha Kerenye (Janet Gaynor) has already made herself at home by taking a shower. Martha tells the girl an old superstition her gypsy nurse told her: they have to count all the corners in the room then sit down and make a wish. Susie and Yoli count eight and then sit down: Susie wants a hat shop like the one she used to work in and Yoli wants to marry a rich a husband. Martha in the bathroom counts four and wishes for a real home, a husband, and kids.

            One of Martha’s many odd jobs is taking care of experimental rabbits for a Dr. Rudi Imre (Don Ameche). On that particular day Martha was late to take care of the rabbit. Rudi is not too happy with her because the rabbits need to be on a strict schedule for their medicine. She tells him that she moved into a new place a little farther away so it took her extra time to get there. Rudi is upset with her and lets her go.

            At the apartment Yoli boyfriend John comes by with his friend Count Karl Lanyi (Tyrone Power). Susie opens the door and is immediately in love with Karl. Karl asks Yoli to take Susie to a party that night. Susie hears Karl ask Yoli about her going to the party. Yoli tells her that Karl is engaged to another woman already but that does not bother Susie too much. At the party Yoli’s friend Ben tells her he can see that Susie in love it is all over her face. He talks to Yoli about the night she met John. Ben had been talking to her before John walked in. Ben is upset that Yoli is upset about John going away. John and Yoli go to leave the party but happily decide to stay.

            The following day Martha goes to see Susie in the stage show she is in. Martha asks Susie if she knows any men she might be able to sell a tie to. Susie tries to introduce her friend to a magician named Sandor but the magician just brushes Martha off. Martha gets seated in spot very close to the stage. During one of his tricks Sandor calls Martha up on stage. She tries to sell him a tie not realizing she is in the act. Sandor tricks her about buying a tie and giving her money. After the show Sandor needs help getting his shirt off. He fired his help so Martha helps him. He needs a tie too. Martha makes a deal with Sandor to buy a tie for a smaller price and she can become his maid. That day Susie had told Karl she was in love with him. After the show Karl is backstage waiting to take her out to dinner.

            Meanwhile, Yoli and John are at his place. They see legs dangling on the arm of one of his chairs. When they go over a young girl is there. The girl’s name is Marie (Simone Simon) and she is kind of related to John by marriage. Marie tells them that she ran away from. Her mother was trying to make her do something she did not want to do. John is nervous about her staying there and what it might look like to people.

            Martha has been working for Sandor for three weeks. She bosses him around. She tells him to stop drinking and he gives her a bull story that he has a nervous disorder that makes his hand shake just to get her sympathy.

            Susie goes to Karl’s apartment. He is not there but she waits. She sees a note from his fiancé on the table. She reads the letter. The fiancé wrote that they can be married at the end of the week just like he wanted. Beyond crushed Susie leaves the apartment in a hurry.

            Martha goes to see Rudi. She tells him she is working for Sandor and Rudi gets a little jealous thinking she is in love with Sandor. She gets mad at him and leaves in a huff.

            That night Susie goes out with John and Yoli. She sees Karl walk into the club. A man who gossips sees Susie and talks to him about Karl. To avoid speaking to Karl she goes off with the man when Karl comes up to her.

            Rudi waited for Martha outside the theater. He apologizes to her and takes her out to dinner. He gets jealous of Sandor again when Martha mentions the magicians. Martha gets very upset with Rudi for analyzing her when he cannot analyze himself. She storms out of the restaurant.

            Marie has run away from her boarding school. She confesses to him that ever since he had taken her out to lunch when she came sever years ago with her mother for vacation she has been in love with him. That is the reason she ran away from home. Marie manages to get John to marry him and take her to South America. John is truly happy around Marie.

            Sandor admits to Martha that he hired her because he was lonely and he was hoping she would fall in love with him. Martha does not love Sandor in any way. He kisses her and then says he thought he was losing his grip. Martha runs out of the apartment.

            Susie watches from a café Karl walking into a church with his bride to be married. At the apartment Susie drinks too much champagne. Martha shares in a bit of Susie’s misery and drinks some champagne as well. Susie is so depressed she puts sleeping syrup in her drink to kill herself. She put the glass down near Martha’s and Martha winds up picking Susie’s glass.

            Yoli goes to the train station to see John. She sees Marie going with him. Yoli walks off of the platform and Ben is there waiting for her. When Yoli comes home Rudi is there trying to keep Martha awake. Susie feels awful she cannot believe she just almost killed her best friend. Rudi comes to check on Martha and Sandor comes in at the same time. Sandor thinks Martha tried to kill herself because of him. She starts laughing and cannot stop when he says that. Rudi plays some game with Sandor to get him out of the apartment. Rudi tells Martha he got a real job and wants to marry her.

            The ladies move out of their apartment. Susie got her store thanks to some help from Yoli and Ben. Yoli marrying Ben who has really loved her. They all cannot believe all that has happened to them since they had moved into their apartment.

            The cast was fantastic. I loved seeing Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young, and Constance Bennett together. Gaynor was so adorable I could not take it. She looked and sounded like such a little kid she was perfect as Martha because Martha was in so many ways a dreamy little girl. Young was gorgeous and wonderful. I liked how Susie could not stop talking when they first moved in she was so excited. Bennett is a great actress. It seemed like she did not want to be making the film though. Maybe it was the character but it looked like Bennett was not giving the part her all. Don Ameche did not have his mustache and I could not believe how much more handsome he was without it! I loved him and Gaynor together they were so cute. Tyrone Power is actually listed in the credits as Tyrone Power, Jr. His father was an actor so I guess to distinguish the young from the old they put Jr. at the end. Not too long later they dropped the Jr. Power is not really in the film that much. This was mostly likely one of his very early films for Fox.

            Ladies in Love was a cute film. Although I am far from the romantic type I did like the story.  The story was good because Susie did not really get what she wanted. All the ladies had to go through heartbreak and silly things (in Martha's case) to get to where they wanted and what they wanted. Secretly sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be in love. For now I just live vicariously though film characters which is all I have time for right now! Haha. Ladies in Love is definitely worth watching especially if you like any of the cast members. 

After Office Hours (1935)

The year before After Office Hours Clark Gable played fast talking reporter Peter Warne in It Happened One Night. Louis B. Mayer thought he was punishing Gable by sending him to a lesser studio than MGM but the film went on to be one of Gable’s most famous roles and film. Mayer the next year decided to cast Gable in After Office Hours not as a low class reporter but as an editor. He also decided throw in a little class, since we know that MGM was all about being classy, by making Constance Bennett a society girl who wants to work as a newspaper reporter. Gable’s character in this film starts out fast talking and silly like Peter Warne but since this is MGM Gable is more sophisticated and not as silly especially when his character wants to work his way up into high society.

            Jim Branch (Gable) wants to cover a scandalous divorce between a husband and wife with a younger man thrown into the mix. Jim sees that there is much more than what meets the eye with this divorce. His boss wants him to throw the story out because the young man Tommy Bannister has a future political career and the boss wants to be able to get Tommy into Congress. Jim is upset to hear this because he helped the paper up from nothing and made into a popular paper but he agrees to end the story.

            Working in the office is Sharon Norwood (Bennett). She comes from a wealthy family but she wants to work for a newspaper. Sharon has been working at the paper for two weeks. Jim calls Sharon into his office and for some reason I cannot remember fires her. That night Jim takes a girl friend to a play. They get to the theater at intermission but that was Jim’s whole idea. He knows Tommy Bannister and the divorcée Julia Patterson will be there. He was right Tommy would be there but he was not counting on his date being Sharon. Jim immediately wants Sharon back at the office in the morning but she throws it back in her face that she was fired that afternoon.

            When Sharon gets home she finds Jim there chatting very nicely with her mother (Billie Burke). As her mother is in the kitchen Sharon and Jim begin to talk and come to like each other. The following night Jim takes Sharon to a club where he knows yet again Tommy Bannister as well as the Pattersons will be. Sharon is friends with all of them since they are all in the same social circle. Jim gives whatever scandal he has made up an extra push by egging Bannister and Mr. Patterson into an argument. Sharon has enough of Jim and leaves with Tommy. Tommy takes her to his boat house. He notices Julia coming by in her boat. Julia saw him leave with Sharon and she tells him that she does not want what happened to her and her money to happen because of him to Sharon. Tommy accidentally strangles Julia. Sharon is upstairs the whole time but because of the record player being on she heard nothing.In the morning Jim goes to Sharon’s apartment to tell her about Julia. Julia was found dead in her home apparently having died because her husband was drunk.

            Jim is the only one who thinks Julia was killed by Tommy. He wants Sharon’s help in catching Tommy but she refuses since he is her friend.

            Constance Bennett and Clark Gable were wonderful together they had perfect chemistry. Bennett was such a good actress and always seemed to have great chemistry with whatever actor she was starring with. Honestly I think the woman could have had chemistry with a stick she was so good. Gable always played a tough guy and I think Bennett always played a tough lady which made them a great screen pair. Billie Burke was annoying as usual but for some reason I get a kick out of seeing her in films. Maybe that is because I am so used to seeing her as Glinda the Good Witch.

            After Office Hours is a good mix of comedy and drama. The dialogue is fast paced and witty delivered with brilliance by Clark Gable and Constance Bennett. Hopefully After Office Hours will be released on DVD one day, I would very much like to own it.

 

Rockabye (1932)

Rockabye is full of pre-code fabulousness. That was one reason I had to see the film the other because it is the third of four films pairing Constance Bennett and Joel McCrea. It was an over dramatic story to say the least but a few scenes between Bennett and McCrea completely make up for the dramatic scenes.

            Judy Carroll (Bennett) is a Broadway star. Her star is in jeopardy when she defends her gangster friend Al Howard (Walter Pidgeon in a very small role). The prosecutor attacks Judy left and right and hits her right in the gut when he insinuates that a baby she is trying to adopt is a baby she had with Al. Furiously Judy jumps up saying that is not so. Nothing she says can help Al and he is sentenced to jail.

            When she returns home the first Judy does is play with the little girl she plans to adopt. Judy loves the little girl and the little girl loves her. That very same day two people from the welfare home where the girl comes from arrive at the house. Judy thinks they are there with the adoption papers instead they are there to take the girl away because her name is associated with a gangster. Judy and the little girl are heartbroken.

            To get away from everything Judy and her mother go away to Europe for eight months. When Judy gets back she tells her agent she wants to do a show called Rockabye. The play is very similar to her own life and at first her manager forbids her to do it. Judy meets the plays writer Jacobs van Riker Pell (McCrea). Jake says that Judy cannot play his main character. She hears this and starts screaming and yelling. This leads Jake to see that she can play his main character. Judy tells Jake she is feeling low and wants to go out somewhere. She takes Jake to the places she went as she was growing up downtown before she was an actress. They have a great time together. Judy tells Jake to come to her house after they have been out drinking so they can eat something (**will be explained**).

            Judy and Jake have fallen in love. Jake is in the middle of a divorce and promises as soon as the divorce is final he will marry her. On the opening day of the play Jake is nowhere to be found, no one has been able to get in touch with him. At a party at Judy’s house an older woman asks to speak to her. The woman is Jake’s mother. She tells Judy that when Jake’s wife has just had a baby and she never told Jake since they had separated when she had found out. The mother pleads with Judy to let her son go so he can be a father to his own son. Judy is upset and refuses.

            Jake comes to the house. Judy puts on a show in front of him saying she is going to marry her manager (who the whole time as been in love with her). Jake is upset with her he still loves her and still wants to be with her. Judy tells him they cannot be together anymore since he has a son now.

            So much pre-code wonderfulness in this film I do not know where to begin. First off, Constance Bennett’s character is defending a gangster which would later be a great big no, no. I love the insinuation by the prosecutor that the baby Judy was trying to adopt was her baby with Al Howard. The best scenes were the kitchen scene between Bennett and Joel McCrea and the one the following morning. The kitchen scene was so great. The two of them were playing around chasing each other when McCrea pushes Bennett into a cabinet, she then slaps him back. This whole scene plays out for a minute or two and they just push and slap harder. Next Bennett throws a pie in McCrea’s face, he grabs her, pulls her down to the floor, and they role around together. The next day McCrea has filled Bennett’s room with dozens of balloons. They hear her manager at the door and she tells McCrea to get into her bed as a joke. Since the manager is in love with Bennett he is none too happy to see McCrea in bed with Bennett. I think I nearly died with these scenes I loved them so much and they were seriously very sexy for an old film.

            Constance Bennett and Joel McCrea were perfect together. I love their chemistry in all their films. Bennett was great but there were times when she overacted. Her best scene was when she was with the little baby again on a picnic with McCrea. She and the baby were pretending to talk on a play phone. I cannot even begin to tell you how adorable that was and how fantastic Bennett was. McCrea really did not have too much to do in the film. He was outrageously handsome. There were some scenes where he was a little hammie too but all is forgiven because he is such a good actor.

            Rockabye is not one of the best pre-codes but it is a very good example of such films during the time period. This is definitely a film to catch on TCM if they ever air the film again (it aired over the summer when Joel McCrea was part of TCM’s Summer Under the Stars and this month for Constance Bennett as the stations Star of the Month) if you love pre-code and are a fan of Joel McCrea and Constance Bennett and their pairing. 

Bed of Roses (1933)

“I like a woman with some spunk. But don’t make a habit of it.”

            When most film fans think of the greatest screen couples they think of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, William Powell and Myrna Loy, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and so on. The last screen pairing anyone would think of or would probably ever know is Joel McCrea and Constance Bennett. McCrea and Bennett made four films together starting with Born to Love in 1931 and ending with Bed of Roses in 1933. McCrea and Bennett do not disappoint in their last film together.

            Lorry Evans (Bennett) and her friend Minnie are ex-hookers who have been released from jail. For a while it seems that both of them will go back to their old ways. They board a riverboat that will take them to New Orleans. They take advantage of some rich men and take their money for their tickets but one of the men is onto Lorry and has her brought to the attention of the captain. Instead of being thrown back in jail Lorry jumps overboard into the river. The night is so foggy that no one can see where she is.

            Lorry swims to a barge that is captained by a man named Dan Walder (McCrea). As he pulls Lorry up he makes her lose her money she stole. She gets mad and kicks Dan overboard. He gets back on the barge, picks Lorry up and tosses her back into the water! As they sail along in the barge Dan and Lorry come to like each other. On the last day of their trip Dan takes out the bag that has the pay for his crew. Lorry takes a great interest in the money. When Dan wakes up the next morning he finds that Lorry is gone and the money for the pay is gone. He is mad but not too mad saying that she must have needed the money pretty badly if she had to steel it.

            Not too long later Lorry looks up a wealthy man named Stephan Paige. He is a publisher and she goes into his office with a big story looking for a job. She gets him to give her a drink, she asks if he will drink with her and he says no but by the end of the night Lorry has Stephan pretty smashed. The next morning he wakes up in his robe and no memory and Lorry walking out of his room. Lorry fakes a fit and makes it look like she is unstable saying she is going to kill herself if he is not nice to her. Stephan carries on an affair with Lorry and gets her an apartment.

            Lorry eventually finds Dan again. She gives him the money she stole. They still have feelings for each other and Lorry realizes that she really loves Dan. She tells Dan that she is a governess for a wealthy family so he will not know what she is really doing. Stephan has Lorry followed he knows she went to the barge and demands that she not go there anymore. After their argument Lorry runs back to Dan and he proposes to her and tells her to runaway with him on the barge. Back at her apartment she calls Minnie to tell her the news but Stephan is standing over her. He is willing to let her go but he is going to tell Dan about her past if she does not. Instead of telling Dan about her shameful past she does not go to the barge leaving Dan heartbroken.

            Lorry moves out of the apartment Stephan was paying for, moved into a small attic room and works as a shop girl. Stephan wants Lorry back and arranges with Minnie to have them meet by “accident.” The plan backfires Lorry does not want to go back to him.

            Dan eventually finds Lorry in her apartment. She tries to tell him that she is no good but he will not listen all he knows is that he loves her regardless of what she was and has done.

            Constance Bennett and Joel McCrea were excellent together. Bennett never fails to be amazing. She has such a fabulous attitude especially when she swims up to the barge. I love the tough 1930s female characters and Bennett is one of the best. McCrea plays the nice poor boy with the heart of gold who Bennett falls for. He was so incredibly handsome and so sweet that when Lorry does not go with him you are really made at her! Hell, if I ever met a man who was handsome like McCrea I would surely run away with him! What I like about Joel McCrea and Constance Bennett’s paring is that they were really good looking together. Let me tell you they have one of the best screen kisses I have ever seen! Bennett oozed this sex appeal that, while McCrea was incredibly good looking anyway, made him look even more good looking and incredibly handsome. I really wish their screen pairings would be more recognized they were so good together.

            Bed of Roses is not a stand out film but with Constance Bennett as the star and Joel McCrea as her leading man it is worth sitting through. Bed of Roses is unfortunately not available on DVD nor is it on youtube. Try to catch the film if it ever airs on TCM again. 

Two Faced Woman (1941)

“He’s impossible.”

“He’s in love.”

           

            When any classic film buff is asked about the great Greta Garbo the first thing they may say is she was mysterious and gorgeous. Garbo’s roles of the late 1920s when she came to Hollywood from Sweden to the mid-1930s were usually of a vamp whose beauty tempts men to do something wrong for her and then in the end to save the man she loves she sacrifices herself. Yeah, those are some pretty heavy roles but Garbo tackled them like a pro and looked beautiful doing it. So guaranteed if you only know that Garbo did dramatic roles and uttered the immortal line “I want to be alone” you do not know that she actually made two comedies. The first one was Ninotchka which is considered one of the greatest comedy films of all time (and it is I loved it) and her second comedy Two-Faced Woman happened to be her last film.

            Larry Blake (Melvyn Douglas) is a business man from New York on a vacation in the mountains. An employee asks him if he would like to ski and at first he says no but once he gets a look at the beautiful ski instructor he changes his mind. He asks for a private lesson with her and gets his way. The instructor’s name is Karin Borg (Garbo). Larry is not good at all on skis he is terrible to every inch of the word. Karin gets a little frustrated with him after a while. Larry is so bad he manages to lose control and fall off the side of a huge snow drift.

            That night Larry and Karin are nowhere to be found. His work partner O.O. Miller (Roland Young) has been called in. Finally the instructor and the instructed come back and with a surprise. Larry tells O.O. that they have been away all day because they have gotten married! O.O. is not happy at the marriage at all, for some reason he does not like Karin.  He gives Larry a magazine that has not been printed right and decides to head back to New York the next day. In their bedroom Larry tells Karin that he wants to go back. This news leads to a very heated argument of them going back and forth between going and not going. Each is very adamant about their decision. They do make up and go to bed happy.

            The next morning though, all is not right between the couple yet again. Larry thought that Karin agreed to go with and Karin thought Larry was going to stay. They argue again but Larry eventually leaves. Weeks go by before Karin has had enough of not seeing Larry that she calls his secretary Miss. Ellis up telling her she is coming to New York and not to tell Larry.

            Miss. Ellis tells Karin that Larry is at the theater watching rehearsals for his ex-girlfriend’s play. The ex-girlfriend, Griselda Vaughn (Constance Bennett), was not happy at all when she found out Larry had gotten married on vacation but she seems to be dealing with it in the theater… mostly because Karin is not around. Karin sneaks into the theater. Unfortunately they do not see her and Larry and Griselda walk out of the theater arm in arm. Now she definitely does not want Larry to know she is in New York she wants to go back home. At that moment O.O just happens to pull up to the theater as Karin and Miss. Ellis are leaving. The two women run into the theater and Karin hides. Miss. Ellis covers for Karin saying that Karin is actually Katherine, Karin’s twin sister. O.O is amused and is immediately taken by “Katherine.”

            Karin plays Katherine with a sexy, outgoing personality. O.O is immediately taken with “Katherine.” He takes her out to dinner and cannot take his eyes off of her. Larry is at the restaurant where O.O and “Katherine” are with Griselda by his side. Larry cannot believe his eyes seeing Karin in New York but she manages to play off Katherine really well and Larry is completely taken by her as well. But not believing in Katherine he calls the snow lodge where Karin is and they say she is not there she is in New York.

            Since Larry knows Karin’s game he plays along and falls in love with Katherine. Katherine is alluring and sensual. She stays out all night with O.O and a young man named Dick. Karin sees that Larry wants a vamp not a nice quiet woman like her. This is something Karin cannot handle.

            Eventually Larry and Karin make up.

            I did not in any way make this story sound interesting or funny but believe me it really was. The reason it is funny and why this double-identity plot works so well and does not get boring is because of Garbo.  As I said many people know her image of this beautiful, mysterious, and serious woman that they do not know she made two comedies. She was fantastic as Karin/Katherine and this is because she was such an incredible actress, she was very versatile. But I guess what it comes down to is that since Garbo made mostly dramatic films that seeing her in a comedy is surprising and seeing her play a comedic role catches you off guard. I love this in an actress or actor because it shows just how good and believable they are. This is only the second Greta Garbo film I have seen and I have to say I adore her and I truly understand why she is praised like she is. As I said about Norma Shearer in Lady of Chance the reason she was popular is because she was watchable. The same with Garbo she was so watchable you cannot take your eyes off the screen when she is in a scene.

            My favorite scene in the film is when Karin drunks calls Miss. Ellis. She has been living it up as Katherine and went out drinking Champaign with O.O and Dick. I forget what exactly she tells Miss. Ellis but she was so funny. Oh and Garbo also dances. Apparently she was really embarrassed having to dance but she just looks so natural and like she had a good time. It is not funny I just had to mention it.  

            I have not seen Melvyn Douglas in too many films yet but the more I see of him the more I adore him as well. His character was brutish and very much a man of the late 1930s early 1940s with that he-is-the-man-and-should be-listened-to-and-be-obeyed shtick. I love Douglas though I do not know why but I do I always love to see him in a film.

            Constance Bennett in her few scenes was funny. When Larry tells Griselda that he is married she covers the phone and screams then calmly gets back on the phone and talks to him, but as she calmly talks to him she throws things. I died laughing when Griselda talks to “Katherine” in the ladies room at the restaurant. She thinks that Katherine is in love with Larry so she just wants to make sure. When Karin leaves Griselda looks in a mirror and screams. Bennett was just as biting and witty and beautiful as she was in her earlier films.

            Two-Faced Woman, depending on what reviews and stories you read, got a lot of slack and is cited as the reason why this was Greta Garbo’s last film. Some reviewers say that the film did not do well because the US was officially in WWII and was not what people wanted to see and that the poor reviews embarrassed Garbo so much she did not want to make any more films. Bull on that, during the War she went back to Sweden and had the chance to make another film when she returned but it fell through and that really embarrassed her into never making another film. Two-Faced Woman is very witty, funny, and entertaining. I enjoyed every minute of it.