Party Girl  (1930)

Theatrical Release Information:
Party Girl

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. made his talkie debut in the low-budget but imaginative "exploitationer" Party Girl. Fairbanks plays carefree young bachelor Jay Roundtree, the son of a wealthy industrialist. Though Jay is in love with his dad's secretary, his class consciousness compels him to keep his distance from her. One night, he joins his fraternity pals for a wild penthouse bash, where a group of "party girls" (a 1930 code word for prostitutes) encourage the guests (mostly "dirty old men" in tuxedoes) to wash their inhibitions away with bootleg liquor. Imagine Jay's surprise when, in the course of the evening, he discovers that his office sweetheart was once a party girl herself -- though that's nothing compared to what he discovers about his own father! Though economically produced, Party Girl contains some astounding visual effects, including a hydraulic "car lift" which transports the revellers to their secret rendezvous and a remarkably convincing suicidal plunge from a skyscraper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide