Ladies of Leisure (1930)

I love this movie so much

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Fresh and Exciting

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

After starring in two flops, Barbara Stanwyck found herself with a Columbia contract (at that time not something to brag about) at the same time that Frank Capra, Columbia's whiz kid director was casting "Ladies of Leisure" from the 1924 play called "Ladies of the Evening". Stanwyck was not Capra's idea of Kay, the shopworn heroine and Stanwyck, who had had some awful filmic experiences (and being married to egomaniac Frank Fay didn't help) was unco-operative and had no confidence so she and Capra initially clashed. She apparently snapped "Oh Hell, you don't want any part of me" and walked out but Capra looked at some earlier tests and realised how wrong he was and a marvellous film team was born. Released in 1930, the movie became Columbia's greatest box office success to date with Stanwyck and Capra earning the highest praise.The story was a blend of "Pygmalion" and "Camille" with Jerry (Ralph Graves) becoming bored one night with yet another riotous party (Lowell Sherman as Bill has a marvelous scene when he paints a picture on a party-goers back!!) drives down to the waterfront and encounters hard boiled Kay (Barbara Stanwyck). She is also escaping from a boat party - she is a "party girl" and proud of it!! She is amazed that he is such a gentleman - "30 miles and not even a pass!!" Jerry is a painter and thinks he has found the perfect model for his picture of "Hope". As the sessions progress Kay finds she has deep feelings for him and during a heavy rainstorm when he convinces her to stay the night (again he is a proper gentleman), she awakes dewy eyed but he is all business.Jerry's mother (Nance O'Neill) is all set to like her but a chance meeting with bubbly Dot (Marie Prevost) convinces her that Kay is only a gold-digger and when she finally meets Kay, she is already convinced that she will bring Jerry down. To leave Jerry free to reconcile with his parents Kay goes to Havana with Bill, but on the boat attempts suicide when she can no longer keep up the charade. Stanwyck builds the dramatic intensity as the movie progresses, initially she is a good time party girl, shallow and glib but you start to see the deeper feelings come out. It wouldn't be a Stanwyck movie without a scene of high emotion and she definitely has a couple of those, especially her scene with Nance O'Neill.Another person who counted "Ladies of Leisure" as a milestone was Jo Swerling. She had been churning out poverty row productions for Columbia and confidently convinced Capra he could make "a silk purse out of a sow's ear" - she ended up becoming Harry Cohn's right hand woman!!!Highly Recommended.

This is the first Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Capra collaboration, and it's obvious that while both have yet to perfect their craft, they already possess the raw talent that indicates great things to come. It's a melodrama, with perhaps a unique enough story to stand out. A professional party-attendee (i.e. a pretty girl to paid to pad the attendance) mets an artist and heir at the party, who decides to paint her and they fall in love, but their differences in status threaten to tear them apart.Already in 1930 Stanwyck was portraying one of her trademark hard-outside- soft-inside-sassy-all-over roles, even though she was a tad too smushy in this one - probably because the script demanded it. It's not the most sparkling of screenplays, but the highlight here is Stanwyck anyway, and Capra captures her magnificently.

Barbara Stanwyck looked sweet and innocent, even though her character is supposed to have been around.For someone making only her fourth movie, she was a treat to watch, and not just because of her looks. She gave a terrific performance.Others have criticized Ralph Graves, in his twelfth year of film acting, but I thought he was marvelously realistic, giving a wonderful under-acted performance.Jimmy Cagney said when he, and some others, came to California with their under-acting, they changed Hollywood. Graves might have been just ahead of his time.Lowell Sherman was surely the pluperfect movie cad. In this film, too, he gave a superb performance.Marie Prevost, though, stole the show ... well, she at least came in a close second to Stanwyck. Her brash, brassy character was funny, touching, adorable ... even if she wasn't someone a young man might want to bring home to mother.Again there was a corny, silly telling of the story via a newspaper headline that surely could have been better told some other way; but, over all, this movie is a good story, well told and well acted, and a great look at its time in history.By the way, a note to Yard Bird: Most likely the reason it was made in silent and sound versions was to be sure every theater could play it. At the time, not all theaters had yet converted to sound.It was the sound version that played in May of 2009 on Turner Classic Movies. I would guess it is now available for purchase.Added early on 7 October 2017: In fact, "Ladies of Leisure" is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ8HmUcuJfU

LADIES OF LEISURE, adapted to the screen from a play, is another in a long line of Frank Capra-directed films that pits the lower orders against the upper through the device of a romantic entanglement. In this case it's "lady of leisure" (read: prostitute or good time gal) Barbara Stanwyck against the slightly bohemian scion of a wealthy banking family (Ralph Graves). The theme of the movie is set right away as we see a bustling Manhattan street at night. Suddenly bottles fall from the sky and explode on the sidewalk, narrowly missing pedestrians. They are coming from a group of drunken young women who are tossing them over a penthouse terrace balcony for kicks. These party girls have been hired by dissolute swell Lowell Sherman, a friend of Graves, who, offended by the crudity of the party scene, hops into his roadster for a drive into the country. He stops by a lake where he sees a young woman (Stanwyck) dressed in an evening gown rowing herself ashore in a canoe. It turns out she too is a party girl and is also escaping a wild party, this time on a yacht. He finds her attractive and offers her a ride back to the city. As is her habit, she picks his pocket while he's driving. Thus the plot line is set. We know what will happen by the end. Along the way we are treated to a beautifully etched characterization by Stanwyck who covers a wide range of acting territory from crude and lowdown to transcendentally idealistic. The equally inventive Marie Prevost provides generous support as her overweight roommate. Lowell Sherman, playing the same type of hard-drinking, pleasure-loving sophisticate as he often did in other movies (Bachelor Apartment, What Price Hollywood), is also excellent.For whatever reason, Ralph Graves cannot perform like a flesh and blood human being. His movements are stiff and unmotivated, his emotions seem forced and sudden. Even the expression on his face looks pasted on from some other character in some other movie. All wrong. One is not surprised to see that within a few years he was playing uncredited bit parts in third-rate movies. His silent film credits are numerous and go back to the teens so one can only wonder what his appeal was. He is not bad looking, so one must assume that his substantial silent film career owed a lot to his appearance.