Girls About Town (1931)

Girls About Town
Directed by George Cukor
Written Raymond Griffith and Brian Marlow
1931/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/YouTube

[box] Give me a good script, and I’ll be 100 times better as a director. — George Cukor[/box]

George Cukor brings extra class to this delightful pre-Code comedy.

Wanda Howard (Kay Francis) and Marie Bailey (Lilyan Tashman) are “party girls” who get paid $500 a pop for being nice to rich old men in night clubs.  Wanda is getting bored and disgusted with the life but the wise-cracking Marie is out for every last dime she can get out of it.  One day their boss offers them work for a weekend on a yacht with Benjamin Thomas (Eugene Pallette).  Wanda reluctantly accompanies Marie.

Benjie turns out to be a specialist in bad practical jokes.  To Wanda’s delight, he brings rich young man Jim Baker (Joel McCrea) with him.  They kill time by “pretending” to like each other and by the time they disembark are in love.  Comic complications arise when we find out that Wanda has an estranged husband who expects to get rich on any divorce.

Oh for the days when “party girls” were dripping with jewels and furs and people spent their evenings in formal attire at nightclubs!  This one is heavy on snappy dialogue delivered by people who know how.  This picture also has Joel McCrea with and without his shirt and my friends know how that makes my heart go pitter pat!   Recommended.

Clip – Louise Beavers seen briefly as a maid