Party Girl

Dear Me! What a creaky talkie social shocker! Made really in 1929 with absolutely the most primitive sound recording, PARTY GIRL has all those Singin In The Rain sound recording problems (and solutions) evident: like the mic in the vase of flowers or on someone's shoulder or in a lampshade. Often one only one actor in a scene can be heard, or they turn their head out of range etc...all very funny etc. BUT this is otherwise a well staged sex expose made by the never heard of PERSONALITY PICTURES who really sound like a chorus girl racket itself. The film itself is a social morality play about a chorus girl racket and their high rise bed hopping antics ruining young mens lives and contorting business contracts from rightful owners. It also has all those great cliche scenes of tubby old fellers in tuxedos manhandling squealing 18 year old flappers at gin parties at the office. A good scene is a party in a wharehouse where guests actually drive into the goods lift and right up to the 11th floor and zoom directly into the room. Douglas Farbanks Jr is the handsome misled hero bedded by a floozie schemed by her conniving mother! The furniture and clothes alone are enough to watch this genuinely thoroughly modern 20s adult drama. I bought a dvd of this film for $5 in Sydney last week and the quality is quite good.

There's nothing really shocking or even interesting about this precode, not even for 1930. It's basically about a ring of professional "party girls" that work for one particular madam and go around entertaining bored businessmen. Doug Fairbanks Jr. Is the partying son of the head of a manufacturing concern who crashes one of these parties one night and winds up with two souvenirs he could have done without - a huge hangover and a party girl wife. In the meantime, he's in love with his father's secretary who is a former party girl herself.

What is really notable here is the extremely bad acting. I've seen Doug Fairbanks Jr. In several of his early roles, and even if the films weren't that great, Doug's acting was OK. Here he really hams it up, along with the rest of the cast. I can only chalk it up to bad directing by Victor Halperin who made a number of unmemorable B pictures in the 30's, one of the exceptions to that being 1932's excellent "White Zombie".

The one strange thing that keeps happening in this film that I've never seen before is that everyone seems to think it's OK to drive your car into the service elevator of tall buildings and emerge on the floor of your choice. Fairbanks and his friends do it when they are crashing the party, and the police do the same thing at the end.

My verdict would be to pass on this film, even if you're a precode fan. It's neither cheesy nor entertaining enough to be worth your time.

This tight little programmer (clocking in at just over 1 hour) is a real curio, Pre-Code of course. The film is designed to 'expose' the sordid underbelly of escort services who are only too happy to entertain men in high places(quite literally in this flick) for a fee. Like most movies of this genre, we are treated to a written prologue attesting to the scourge of the subject matter and how these sordid goings-on could be happening in our own town. This frequent framing device at the time would justify the seedy plot, in this case depicting between men of prestige and prosperity with call girls.

Marie Prevost is hot to trot in a secondary role as one of the 'ladies in waiting.' Miss Prevost did make the transition to sound almost seamlessly as an appealing blend between Betty Boop and Clara Bow. Yet, her fluctuating weight would unfortunately relegate her casting to this caliber of portrayals for the rest of her career.

Judith Barrie is the lead 'party girl' here who leads Douglas Fairbanks Jr. character, scion to millions of dollars, down that reckless road to potential ruin. Miss Barrie handles her role with zest and a very contemporary feel. It's a shame she would abandon Hollywood (or vice versa) in two years.

Then there's Doug Fairbanks Jr. who always adds a note of prestige to any frame he appears in. On the threshold of stardom ('LITTLE CAESAR' would be beckoning soon) the swashbuckler's son is treating this role of a young bon vivant who is caught up in Miss Barrie's web of deceit and degradation like a walk in the park. Well, this is a Personality Pictures production, after all. This would be equivalent to summer stock for an A list actor waiting for that phone call from his agent with that really plum role at a 'major' studio.

Of course, there is an obvious moral to our story which is hastened after an on screen tragedy which is quite jolting.

Yet, when the lights come back on, it's still hard to forget those vehicles, packed with eager customers, transported by elevator directly to the 'party girls' living room, the ultimate drive-in escort service.

Wild Women! Bootleg hooch! Hot jazz! Sequins and furs! Blackmail! Suicide! This pre-Code cautionary tale opens with a typical disclaimer stating "It is our earnest hope that this film may arouse you..." Of course, they mean arouse your indignation to help eliminate such vices as you view in this exposé. Or, do they?

Pleasant juvenile Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., headlines along with a bevy of largely talent-free "party girls". Judith Barrie has some especially embarrassing scenes, leading one to wonder whether she may have gotten her part by being a party girl. Almeda Fowler, making her film debut as Maude "Don't call me Madam" Lindsay, and veteran actor John St. Polis put in decent performances adding some humor. The well regarded Earl Burtnett and His Hotel Biltmore Orchestra from Los Angeles provides suitable jazz accompaniment.

The best scene is the party where guests arrive in their automobiles via a service elevator directly to the party. The much commented upon perfumed fountain scene seems to have been excised from the version available from Alpha Video. Altogether, this is a pleasant diversion that pushes the envelope even for pre-Code Hollywood.

This lurid pre-coder is about the use of "party girls" in big business. The idea is that business men are wined and dined at wild parties where there are available girls.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. stars as a college boy who attends a party and is picked up by evil Leeda (Judith Barrie). Next morning she pretends she has been "wronged" and what's he gonna do about it? The sap marries her only to discover that she wants a business deal for her real boy friend in order to Fairbanks to divorce her. What a tramp! His dad's secretary (Jeanette Loff, who sings a couple songs), a reformed "party girl," is heartbroken and so returns to the party circuit only to get caught in a police raid.

This is a pretty racy film even for 1930. There's once scene where the girls fill a fountain with perfume and then the guys grab Marie Prevost (who does NOT get billing in this film for some reason), strip here and bathe her in the fountain while everyone watches.

The acting is just awful, with Fairbanks and Barrie turning in hideous performances, but the film is so suggestive and trampy, it's impossible not to watch.

John St. Polis the father, Almeda Fowler (don't call me madam!) is the madam, Louise Carver is the masseuse, and Lucien Prival is Newcast.

On the plus side, the music is quite good, and there that freight elevator that keeps delivering cars into the party living room!