Vera Caspary Movies
Vera Caspary was one of the most prominent woman authors and playwrights of her generation, and one of the most forward-looking, in terms of her vision of the role of women, ever to succeed in Hollywood. Born in Chicago in 1899, Caspary started out writing advertising copy after leaving high school at age 17, but quit that job out of boredom to begin writing stories, and supported herself for a time by working as an editor of The Dance magazine. Early on, Caspary showed a penchant for serious stories -- her first novel, The White Girl (1929), told about a black woman from the South who tries to pass for white when she moves north, while her second,Thicker Than Water, told of life in a Jewish family from Chicago. In 1931, her play Blind Mice was adapted into the movie Working Girls, but Caspary's real break into the cinema came in 1932, when she wrote The Night of June 13th, which was adapted into a movie of the same name by Paramount, starring Clive Brook and Lila Lee. In many of her books, especially those from the late '30s, Caspary's heroines were often career women, or women attempting to juggle romance and independence, very similar to her own situation. Her output during the 1930s included the stories that became the movies Such Women Are Dangerous, Private Scandal, I'll Love You Always, Easy Living, and Scandal Street.
In 1943, Caspary entered a new phase of her career when she wrote the novel Laura, which was licensed by 20th Century Fox and turned into a movie by producer Otto Preminger. The book had several elements that seemed to come from Caspary's life. The heroine, Laura Hunt, works as a secretary at an advertising agency, but has some daring and ambition; with some unexpected help from columnist Waldo Lydecker, she becomes a top executive at the agency and in the business. At the same time, Laura is forced to balance her professional and personal life, a situation with potentially lethal consequences. Even Caspary's picture of the police detective hero had an immediacy that made him seem a creation of actual life (an attribute that would repeat itself powerfully with all of the characters in The Blue Gardenia a decade later). The production of Laura started out well but ran into trouble when the original director, Rouben Mamoulian, was fired over creative differences early in the shooting. Additionally, studio production head Darryl F. Zanuck was vehemently opposed to using stage veteran Clifton Webb in the key role of Waldo Lydecker; Preminger managed to keep Webb in the movie and took over directing himself. The result, spearheaded by David Raksin's haunting main title theme and its hit song adaptation (to Johnny Mercer's lyrics), was one of the studio's biggest hits of the 1940s, and marked the arrival of three new stars in Webb, Gene Tierney, and Vincent Price. The movie and the story were so popular that Caspary collaborated with George Sklar on a stage version that was a success on Broadway as well as in London (where Raymond Lovell played Lydecker).
Caspary next adapted the Rose Franken book Claudia and David for the screen and co-authored the screen adaptation of her novel Bedelia, which was filmed by John Corfield and Isadore Goldsmith, an Austrian-born producer who became Caspary's husband. In 1948, she wrote the screenplay for Joseph L. Mankiewicz's movie A Letter to Three Wives, which was another huge hit for the studio. Caspary later claimed to have gotten the idea for her own, similar story, entitled Three Husbands, independently, and she and her husband produced the movie adaptation of that story. Over the ensuing years, she was responsible for the screenplays for such popular and unusual films as I Can Get It for You Wholesale, The Blue Gardenia (one of the most charmingly mean-spirited mysteries of the 1950s, and also a story of career women), Les Girls, and Bachelor in Paradise (1961). She retired from the movie business that year and published her autobiography, The Secrets of Grown-Ups, in 1979. Throughout the decades, Caspary saw many of her movies endure in popularity across generations, and her books, especially Laura, get reprinted. Perhaps most significant of all, however, was her vision of an independent career woman achieving acceptance and even dominance. When she died in 1987, Caspary's obituaries commanded as much space as many current best-selling authors. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Bob Hope was in the first stages of his cinematic decline when he starred in Bachelor in Paradise. Hope plays a "romance expert" who is contracted to write an expose on the sexual habits of suburban California housewives. For research purposes, he moves into a subdivision called Paradise, populated exclusively by good-looking young newlyweds. Much to the dismay of the men in the community, all of the gorgeous young wives gravitate to Hope-especially Paula Prentiss, the sexy bride of nonplussed Jim Hutton. Fortunately for all concerned, Hope is "claimed" by the only other single resident of Paradise, the glamorous Lana Turner. Frequent Bob Hope collaborator Hal Kanter cowrote the screenplay of Bachelor of Paradise with Valentine Davies; the script was based on a story by Vera Caspary, who in better days wrote Laura. Henry Mancini and Mack Davis' Oscar-nominated title song is the only true distinction of this lesser Hope farce. He seems to be sleepwalking while the rest of the cast is trying way too hard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Lana Turner, (more)
Les Girls is the Rashomon of MGM musicals. The film is told in flashback, as Mitzi Gaynor and Taina Elg, two-thirds of a popular cabaret trio, attempt to legally block the third, Kay Kendall, from writing her memoirs. Each of "Les Girls" has her own interpretation of the group's previous professional and amorous escapades. To make sense of these wildly diverse recollections, the court must rely upon a fourth party to straighten things out. Enter Gene Kelly, the dancing star who organized "Les Girls" in the first place. But can Kelly be believed? The "truth" of the many reminiscences in Les Girls is secondary to the dazzling beauty of its female stars, and to the delightful musical numbers, the best of which is an extended Marlon Brando parody titled "Why Am I So Gone About That Gal?" This was Gene Kelly's last musical effort for MGM, the studio he joined way back in 1943; the film was the inspiration for the short-lived 1963 TV series Harry's Girls, which starred Larry Blyden, Susan Silo, Dawn Nickerson and Diahn Williams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, (more)
- 1953
After providing excellent support in previous MGM musicals, the singing-dancing team of Marge and Gower Champion were rewarded with their own starring vehicle, Give a Girl a Break. Marge plays one of three actresses competing for the leading role in a Broadway show directed by Gower. The other two girls are Debbie Reynolds and Helen Wood, so Marge is hardly a shoe-in. Another topnotch dancer/choreographer, Bob Fosse, co-stars as the show's leading man. Highlights include the aptly named "Challenge Dance" and the grand finale "Applause, Applause." Kurt Kasner provides a few chuckles as the show's neurotic composer. Several real composers collaborated on the score of Give a Girl a Break, among them Burton Lane, Ira Gershwin, Andre Previn and Saul Chaplin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marge Champion, Gower Champion, (more)
After learning that her boyfriend, a GI in Korea, has found someone else, Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter) impulsively agrees to meet womanizer Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr) for dinner. Norah allows herself to get drunk and accept Prebble's invitation to his apartment. When he tries to force himself on her, she hits him with a poker. Unfortunately, Prebble is found dead the next morning, and Norah, not even remembering how she got home, thinks that she killed him. Meanwhile, newspaperman Casey Mayo (Richard Conte), looking for an angle, invites the "Blue Gardenia Murderess" to turn herself in to him. The high point of the film is the interplay between the vulnerable Baxter and Burr at his smarmiest. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, (more)
- 1951
Money, romance, betrayal, double-dealing -- who knew making dresses could be so interesting? Harriet Boyd (Susan Hayward) is a fashion model who has landed plenty of work with a Seventh Avenue dress-making concern. However, Harriet knows that she can't be a model forever, so she is trying to turn her dreams of being a dress designer into reality. She knows that you have to be tough to succeed in the garment industry, but "tough" is practically Harriet's middle name; the ruthless would-be garment mogul lures salesman Teddy Sherman (Dan Dailey) and production whiz Mr. Cooper (Sam Jaffe) from the company and starts her own shop. Harriet has a genuine talent for designing dresses that look good on ordinary women, and the firm soon develops a solid customer base, but the more luxurious and lucrative department stores are looking for something more upscale. J.F. Noble (George Sanders), who runs one such chain, tells Harriet he'd be interested in carrying her merchandice if she was willing to create a line of designer-style gowns. Teddy is against the idea, feeling it doesn't play on their strengths and would be bad for the company in the long run. Harriet, however, is determined to make a name for herself, and when Teddy and Cooper won't allow her out of their deal, she begins making gowns for Noble on the sly. Once the deal with Noble is sealed, Harriet informs Teddy and Cooper that they have no choice but to go along with her; this does not sit well with either of them, especially Teddy, who has become romantically involved with Harriet, though she toys with Noble out of self-interest. I Can Get It for You Wholesale (also released as Only the Best) was based on a novel by Jerome Weidman; the book was later adapted into a Broadway musical, which is best remembered today for providing Barbra Streisand with her first big break in show biz. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Hayward, Dan Dailey, (more)
Inspired by the 1949 hit A Letter to Three Wives, this takes the other side of the coin with a deceased playboy leaving letters to the husbands accusing their wives of having had affairs with him. Although the 1949 hit was done as a dramatic treatise on the reactions of the wives to the revelations, this movie is played strictly for laughs as the husbands stumble all over themselves trying to dig out the truth behind the allegations. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eve Arden, Ruth Warrick, (more)
- 1949
No relation to the 1937 screwball comedy of the same name, Easy Living is a film about the world of professional sports. Victor Mature plays Pete Wilson, star halfback of the New York Chiefs. Well past his prime, Wilson would like to retire to a coaching job, but his rival Tim McCarr (Sonny Tufts) beats him to it. Financially, Wilson is really in no position to retire; unfortunately, he has learned that he suffers from a potentially deadly heart condition. To make matters worse, he's on the outs with his wife Liza (Lizabeth Scott), who has become disillusioned with the status of "team wife." A brief dalliance with team secretary Anne (an excellent performance from Lucille Ball) results in Anne's selfless efforts to help Wilson put his marriage -- and his life -- back together. Though he was ignored by contemporary reviewers, future talk-show host Jack Paar has an amusing supporting role. Most of the football players seen in Easy Living were drawn from the ranks of the real-life L.A. Rams. The film was based on a story by novelist Irwin Shaw. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Lizabeth Scott, (more)
Three wives, played by Jeanne Crain, Ann Sothern and Linda Darnell, are about to embark on a boat trip when each receives a letter, written by a mutual friend named Addie, informing her that Addie is about to run off with one of their husbands. In flashback, each wife wonders if it is her marriage that is in jeopardy. Deborah (Crain) recounts her fish-out-of-water relationship with her up-and-coming hubby (Jeffrey Lynn); businesswoman Rita (Sothern) asks herself if she's been too rough on her professorial spouse (Kirk Douglas); and Lora May (Darnell), a girl from (literally) the wrong side of the tracks, questions the security of her marriage to a brash business executive (Paul Douglas). The voice of Addie, who is never seen, is provided by Celeste Holm. Thelma Ritter shows up in a hilarious unbilled bit as a slatternly domestic, while an equally uncredited Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer makes a quick entrance and exit as a bellhop. Written with perception and not a little witty condescension by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, A Letter to Three Wives won two Oscars ,both for Mankiewicz. Based on a novel by John Klempner, the property was remade for television in 1985, with Ann Sothern back again in a supporting part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, (more)
- 1947
If Eagle-Lion's Out of the Blue looks more like a slick Warner Bros. product at times, it's because the film was peopled by former Warners personnel, both in front of and behind the cameras. George Brent and Carole Landis play the Earthleighs, tenants in a roomy Greenwich Village apartment. When Mr. Earthleigh isn't being nagged by his domineering bride, he's enmeshed in a feud with his neighbor, loose-living artist David (Turhan Bey). During his wife's absence, Earthleigh makes the mistake of inviting Olive (Ann Dvorak), a glamorous interior decorator who's somewhat the worse for drink, to his apartment. When Olive passes out on his floor, Earthleigh assumes that she's dead-and in the course of subsequent events, so does everyone else. Adding to the general zaniness is Deborah (Virginia Mayo), one of David's sexier models, who weaves in and out of the proceedings at the most inopportune moments, and a huge, cantankerous canine named Rabelais. Despite some formidable competition, the comedy honors in Out of the Blue are won hands-down by Ann Dvorak, in a truly offbeat performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Turhan Bey, George Brent, (more)
- 1946
Margaret Lockwood is cast against type as a "black widow" in the British Bedelia. Wealthy but naïve Charlie Carrington (Ian Hunter) is swept off his feet by the beauteous Bedelia (Lockwood), whose three previous husbands, also wealthy, have died ostensibly of natural causes. While on their honeymoon, the Carringtons are pestered by a young artist named Ben Chaney (Barry K. Barnes), who seems to be falling in love with Bedelia. No matter where they go, the Carringtons are pestered by the persistent Ben. On the verge of tossing the interloper out, Charlie reconsiders-and a good thing, too, since Bedelia has been planning all along to poison him at the first opportunity. In the film's operatic climax, Bedelia discovers that this time she has been set up for a fall! Bedelia is based on a novel by Vera Caspary, of Laura fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Ian Hunter, (more)
- 1946
Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young reprise their roles from the film Claudia, which followed the titular young couple as they dealt with the trials of parenthood. Claudia, a bit wiser than she was in the first film but still charmingly naive and a bit nervous, is struggling with the responsibilities of motherhood when a fortune teller predicts that something horrible will happen to her husband. Since David is soon to travel to the West Coast on business, Claudia tries to persuade him not to go, even though it could mean losing his job. Claudia is next convinced that the baby has contracted a fatal illness, though it turns out to be nothing more than the measles. And jealousy creeps into the relationship when Elizabeth (Mary Astor) starts consulting David on a building project, while Claudia is attracting the uninvited attentions of Phil (John Sutton), who happens to be married. Like its predecessor, Claudia and David was based on a series of short stories by Rose Franken, which also inspired a successful stage play and radio series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, (more)
This adaptation of Vera Caspary's suspense novel was begun by director Rouben Mamoulien and cinematographer Lucien Ballard, but thanks to a complex series of backstage intrigues and hostilities, the film was ultimately credited to director Otto Preminger and cameraman Joseph LaShelle (who won an Oscar for his efforts). At the outset of the film, it is established that the title character, Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), has been murdered. Tough New York detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates the killing, methodically questioning the chief suspects: Waspish columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), wastrel socialite Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), and Carpenter's wealthy "patroness" Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson). The deeper he gets into the case, the more fascinated he becomes by the enigmatic Laura, literally falling in love with the girl's painted portrait. As he sits in Laura's apartment, ruminating over the case and his own obsessions, the door opens, the lights switch on, and in walks Laura Hunt, very much alive! To tell any more would rob the reader of the sheer enjoyment of watching this stylish film noir unfold on screen. Everything clicks in Laura, from the superbly bitchy peformance of Clifton Webb (a veteran Broadway star who became an overnight movie favorite with this film) to the haunting musical score by David Raskin. Long available only in the 85-minute TV version Laura has since been restored to its original 88-minute running time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, (more)
- 1942
The Lady Bodyguard of the title is pretty but somewhat physically frail A. C. Baker (Anne Shirley). An advertising representative for an insurance company, A. C. gets into trouble when she okays several $1000 life-insurance policies as a publicity stunt. One of the recipients is Terry Moore (Eddie Albert), who, thanks to a typographical error, finds that he's been insured for one million dollars. Desperately, A. C. tries to talk Terry into cancelling the policy, but his avaricious beneficiaries don't want this to happen. There are laughs and thrills aplenty as a sleep-benumbed Terry pilots an airplane carrying A. C. and all of those vultures who'd benefit mightily from his demise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Albert, Anne Shirley, (more)
- 1941
John Wayne goes up against the lottery racket, 1880 Louisiana-style, in this passable time-killer from Republic Pictures. Arriving from New England to look into the Louisiana lottery on behalf of uplifter Blanche Brunot (Helen Westley), attorney John Reynolds (Wayne) falls in love with sultry Julie Mirbeau (Osa Munson), who attempts to persuade him that her father's gaming business is on the up and up. When a New Orleans restaurateur, Gaston (Shimen Ruskin), is found murdered, Reynolds begins to suspect that General Mirbeau's (Henry Stephenson) gang is behind the killing. To meet the attorney halfway, Mirbeau fires his chief henchman, Blackie (Ray Middleton), but is himself killed by one of Blackie's men, Cuffy Brown (Jack Pennick). Reynolds, who has been appointed special city attorney, pays his respect to Julie, but the angry girl accuses him of indirectly causing the death of her father and then flaunts her engagement to Blackie. Said engagement, however, suffers a fatal blow when Julie finds her fiancé in the arms of gambling hall hostess Pearl (Jacqueline Dalya). Taking the stand in court against the racket, Julie's testimony is interrupted when a rainstorm sweeps the area, breaking a levee. While pursuing a fleeing Blackie, Reynolds orders a steamship to block the hole in the levee, a plan that ultimately saves New Orleans. Having survived the potential disaster, Julie leaves the lottery racket behind and agrees to become Mrs. Reynolds. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Ona Munson, (more)
- 1940
In this musical, a con man makes a good living by promoting bogus charity shows. He gets the communities all revved up and then skips town with all their money. But then he meets three earnest people wanting to garner financial support for an orphanage. This time the con man's loyal assistant finally catches on to the wicked scam and turns him in to the police. Meanwhile, the newly reformed assistant and one of the charity workers fall in loves. Songs include: "Tequila" (sung by Downs, Terry), "I'm Just a Weakie" (sung by Allen, Gilbert), "What Fools These Mortals Be," and "When A Fella's Got a Girl" (Jule Styne, George R. Brown, Sol Meyer). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Terry, Johnny Downs, (more)
- 1938
In this frothy comedy-drama, a businesswoman owns a successful service bureau for the filthy rich. Her service does everything from handling mundane finances to putting on weddings. Her most recent client wants her to prevent his rube of a nephew from coming to New York to visit him. She does her best and in the end, falls in love with the bumpkin after charming him away from his countrified girl friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Vincent Price, (more)
- 1938
In this often funny crime melodrama, a librarian moves to a small town and finds herself the butt of local gossip. While the town young men strut their stuff before her, the old biddies make her the topic of many bridge parties. The initially harmless gossip takes a nasty twist when a murder occurs and the girl finds herself shouldering the blame. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Louise Campbell, (more)
Financier J.B. Ball (Edward Arnold) -- known in the press as "the Bull of Broad Street" -- may be one of the wealthiest investment bankers in the country, but he also knows the value of a dollar. And when his wife (Mary Nash) spends 50,000 of them on a sable coat, he is driven into such a fury in the ensuing argument on the roof of their Fifth Avenue townhouse, that he throws the coat into the street -- where it promptly lands on the head of Mary Smith (Jean Arthur), a clerk-typist on her way to work, riding on the upper deck of a double-decker bus, ruining her hat in the process. She jumps off the bus to try to return the coat, but Ball insists that she keep it. What she really needs, however, is not a 50,000-dollar sable coat so much as a ride to work -- as she doesn't even have a dime for bus fare -- and perhaps a new hat. Ball obliges, taking her to one of the top clothing stores in New York, buying her an expensive fur hat to go with the coat, and then dropping her at work in his limo. Her superiors, seeing her decked out in a sable coat and a new hat, and getting out of the chauffeured car, conclude that Mary is a kept woman, and, therefore, unfit to work for the boys magazine where she is employed, and they fire her. Now out of work and virtually broke, she seems to have become a victim of random fate, but suddenly the scales start to tip the other way from the very same misunderstanding that got her fired. Having been seen in the company of J.B. Ball -- whose name she didn't even get -- she is rumored to be his mistress; the prissy clothing store proprietor (Franklin Pangborn) spreads this story, and that turns Mary into the object of attention for Mr. Louis Louis (Luis Alberni), the owner of a failed luxury hotel on which Ball's bank holds the mortgage, and is about to foreclose. For reasons that she can't begin to understand, since there is nothing going on between her and J.B. Ball (whose name she doesn't even know), or between her and anyone, Louis moves her into the most luxurious suite in his hotel for a dollar a day, asking her only to inform "that certain someone" of how she loves living there. Mary has no idea of who "that certain someone" is, or what Louis is talking about, but she needs a place to live, and Louis is insistent. She still needs to eat, and, while trying to get a meal at the automat, she crosses paths with a handsome, well-meaning, but inept waiter (Ray Milland), who gets fired for helping her. She takes him into her suite so he has a place to stay, and the two fall in love in the course of finding out about each other. She knows that he is John Ball Jr., but doesn't realize that he is the son of J.B. Ball, trying to make it on his own, nor does she yet realize who J.B. Ball is, in terms of being the man who gave her the coat and the new hat, or one of the wealthiest men in the country. But after the elder Ball spends an innocent night at the Hotel Louis, a gossip columnist named "Wallace Whistling" (William Demarest) prints that he is keeping a woman at the hotel, and suddenly the Hotel Louis, perceived as a fashionable playground for the upper-crust, is filled with guests. This multiple case of mistaken identity plunges through two or three new layers, eventually bringing about an impending stock market crash to rival 1929, before Mary discovers who her would-be benefactor and her would-be fiancé are. She bails them out of the jam that they're in, also restoring the Ball's marriage, her own reputation, and her romance with Ball's son in the process. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, (more)
- 1935
In one of his few movie leading roles, Victor Jory plays an unmarried small-town creamery owner. Jory falls in love with Jean Arthur, daughter of the town's favorite citizen (Charley Grapewin). Jean's former boy friend disconsolately leaves town, leaving behind an unbalanced church budget which the girl must pay out of her own pocket. She phones her ex-sweetheart and complains about "the mess" he's left her in--whereupon a snoopy neighbor, listening in on the town's party line, spreads the rumor than Jean is "in the family way." The angry Jory fires all his workers in retaliation for the malicious gossip, and is nearly run out of town before the citizens realize that they themselves are responsible for all the trouble. Party Wire is a surprisingly frank assessment of small-town mentality--surprising in that the target audience for this sort of "B" film in 1935 was the rural and middle-class moviegoer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Arthur, Victor Jory, (more)
- 1935
The marital strife of a newlywed couple is chronicled in this drama. The couple, and engineer and a former actress, have just barely ended their honeymoon when the troubles begin. When she finds herself pregnant, the troubled wife keeps it to herself. At the same time, her husband has become a thief who quickly squanders his loot. He is then arrested and imprisoned. He lies to his wife telling her that he is on a long-term business trip to Russia. Eventually the two come back together when he is paroled. He then meets his baby son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, George Murphy, (more)
- 1934
Usually consigned to the supporting cast, eccentric comic actress ZaSu Pitts was occasionally rewarded with a leading role. In Paramount's Private Scandal, Pitts is top-billed as Miss Coates, the fey secretary of hotshot young executive Cliff Barry (Philips Holmes). Accused of murdering his boss B. J. Somers (Lew Cody), Barry suspects that Somers' death was a suicide -- but he dare not voice this opinion without ruining the lives of several others. With the help of obnoxious detective Riordan (Ned Sparks), faithful Miss Coates helps to clear Barry, much to the delight of his long-suffering girlfriend Fran (Mary Brian), the dead man's daughter. Private Scandal was co-written by Vera Caspary, of Laura fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, Phillips Holmes, (more)
- 1934
Playboy novelist Michael Shawn's (Warren William) chickens come home to roost in Such Women are Dangerous. Accused of murder, Shawn desperately searches for character witnesses to help him out in court. Alas, all of his former lovers are in a vindictive mood, and all hope to see Shawn fry for what he's done to them. By the time he's been raked over the coals by ambitious DA Stanley (Irving Pichel), Shawn himself believes that he's guilty! The film is ostensibly an object lesson in how a guiltless man can be condemned by a combination of circumstantial evidence and lack of character, but it's doubtful that this theory would hold water in the light of some of the more spectacular real-life murder cases of the 1990s. Such Women are Dangerous is adapted from Odd Thursday, a novel by Vera Caspary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Rosemary Ames, (more)
- 1932
A multi-character drama set in a suburban neighborhood, The Night of June 13th takes place in four households. One of these is inhabited by unhappy husband Clive Brook, who is accused of murdering his wife. Actually, she has committed suicide, but those neighbors who could provide Brook with an alibi remain silent for selfish reasons of their own. Leavening the dramatic content is the comedy relief of Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles as a married couple with in-law problems. Brook is saved at the last minute by an elderly neighbor who blasts the cowardice of the other suburbanites. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook, Lila Lee, (more)
- 1931
Working Girls is a slight, dated, but still entertaining comedy, typical of its era. Louise Adams (Frances Dee) and her friend (Claire Dodd) travel to the city in order to get jobs and hopefully find husbands. There they face the usual complications, but the women persevere and all ends well. The film is notable because its director Dorothy Arzner, was one of the few American women directors of the studio era. Arzner began her career as script-girl where she progressed to film editor. Her editing so impressed Paramount that Arzner was allowed to direct. She went on to have a long career and was the first woman member of the Directors Guild of America. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
