5th Ave Girl (1939)

Admirable film.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

In 5TH AVENUE GIRL, director Gregory La Cava seems to have anticipated Howard Hawks's HIS GIRL Friday by giving us a loose remake of MY MAN GODFREY with a key sex role reversal. A down-on-her-luck woman (Ginger Rogers) is thrust into the bosom of a bizarre wealthy family and goes a long way towards straightening them out. 5TH AVENUE GIRL presents a slightly more serious treatment, its family less eccentric and rather more mean than that of GODFREY, and the movie suffers for the changes. It was the second of three straight films that La Cava made with Ginger Rogers, and by my lights is easily the least of the three.On the plus side, the real star of the show is the fine character actor Walter Connolly, getting a rare opportunity to front a major film near the end of his life. As the put-upon manufacturer emotionally deserted by his ungrateful family, he successfully invokes the audience's sympathy and shares a pleasant chemistry with Rogers, who is in full- scale deadpan mode (to an excessive degree in my opinion). The rest of the cast is adequate with the exception of Tim Holt, a dead weight in pretty much everything in which I've seen him with the notable exception of THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRES. A major problem for 5TH AVENUE GIRL is the complete lack of development of its love interest subplot. Indeed, with the exception of Connolly's industrialist, pretty much everything in 5TH AVENUE GIRL remains undeveloped, including the character of the 5th Avenue Girl herself, which remains vague and sketchy throughout (this young lady is remarkably nonchalant about being down to her last $5. Why?). Indeed, we get far more details about the communist chauffeur and the idiot rich girl than we ever get about Rogers' 'Miss Grey'.The whole film leaves me with a shrug of the shoulders. It's overtly sociological but never goes beyond 'the rich are people, too'. It's a comedy but is never really very funny. It's not exactly bad, but not really good, either. I guess I'm a lotta help, aren't I?

After a stressful business meeting, "Amalgamated Pump" millionaire Walter Connolly (as Timothy Borden) returns to his upper fifth avenue Manhattan mansion expecting to receive some "Happy Birthday" wishes. His spoiled, disinterested family has forgotten Mr. Connolly's birthday, however. Connolly goes to Central Park alone and meets sullen, disinterested Ginger Rogers (as Mary Grey). He learns the beautiful apple-chomping woman is homeless and invites Ms. Rogers to dinner. When she spends the night in his guest room, Connolly's family suddenly become interested in the old provider. Connolly invites Rogers to stay and shake up the household...Produced and directed by Gregory La Cava, this story is similar to his "My Man Godfrey" (1936). When Connolly goes to the park, you know he's either going to be mistaken or a bum or find one; after which, we might poke fun at the idle rich and admire the hard-working poor. For good measure, handsome family chauffeur James Ellison (as Michael "Mike" Farnsbother) dabbles in Communism...This is a good film, but it should be much better. The production looks great, the situation is fun and several one-liners work. Sadly, the top-billed cast doesn't really click. Rogers appears too elegant and serious; also, she displays little chemistry with her supporting cast, especially leading men Connolly and Tim Holt (as "Tim" Borden). La Cava should have re-cut Rogers' "kitchen knife scene" and added some romance. Rogers should have toned down her movie star looks and added more playfulness to her homeless character.***** 5th Ave Girl (8/25/39) Gregory La Cava ~ Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly, Tim Holt, James Ellison

'5th Avenue Girl' doesn't work, but it's a fascinating failure. I was especially impressed by Robert de Grasse's superb camera work. On two different occasions in this movie, Ginger Rogers has a conversation with someone while walking down a steep flight of stairs: in both cases, the camera seamlessly precedes Rogers down the stairs, which means that de Grasse and his crew must have made the steep descent facing backward. Elsewhere, rear-projection footage of Fifth Avenue and the Central Park Zoo is blended with live actors (in a multi-level set for the zoo) in a manner that looks much more convincing than usual.The single worst drawback of this movie is the presence of Walter Connolly in a lead role as a Capraesque self-made millionaire who likes poor people. He meets a down-and-out young cynic (Rogers) at the zoo, and -- somewhat improbably -- he invites her to move in with him and work for him. Somewhat improbably, she accepts. Connolly has never impressed me in any of his roles. His high-pitched voice and indecisive manner are annoying. He's so weak and subdued here, we instantly recognise that there's nothing sexual about his proposition to Rogers. Which is part of the problem. This film would have been much better if Connolly's role had been played by Edward Arnold, bringing his usual hint of danger to this character.Franklin Pangborn, an actor who consistently *does* impress me, surpasses himself here in a deft performance as Connolly's sentimental butler. It's a delight to see Pangborn dispense with the 'nelly' mannerisms that he employed in most of his performances. Less impressive here is James Ellison as a chauffeur who spouts Marxist dialectic. Verree Teasdale, whom I've never liked, gives a performance here resembling a female impersonator.One of the consistent pleasures of Hollywood films from the 1930s is the frequent appearance of obscure character actors in delightful vignettes. We get one of those here, from Robert Emmett Keane as a man obsessed with sea lions. Charles Lane is cast against type: doing his usual sourpuss routine, but this time on behalf of the 'little' people.Connolly's character lives in a *huge* mansion overlooking Central Park, and the set by Van Nest Polglase is so sumptuous that it actually works against this film's credibility. There are some nice bits and bobs throughout this movie (including a showy turn by Jack Carson, strumming a ukelele), but we could have done without the lectures on the plight of the proletariat. I'll rate this movie just 4 out of 10.

For some reason, this doesn't really work. It has a sensational cast. It's part fairy tale, part socio-political commentary, and mostly a romantic comedy.The romance comes late, though, and seems slightly tacked on/.Out-of-work Ginger Rogers meets mogul Walter Connolly In Central Park. He's gone there to look at the seals with his butler Franklin Pangborn; and right here something seems a little forced and improbable.Rogers is a sort of tabula rasa who helps Connolly get back together with his wife -- amusingly played by Veree Teasdale. She also heaps his uninterestingly played daughter break down social barriers to get together with family chauffeur and would-be Socialist, hunky James Ellison. And she helps his son Tim Holt settle down and, as we of course knew she would, gets together with him at the end.She is like the Terence Stamp character in Pasolini's fascinating "Teorema" almost 30 years later and like Michael York in the thoroughly disagreeable, arch "Something For Everyone" of approximately that same time. Both those characters are overtly sexual, though Rogers is decently not so here, beginning and ending the movie eating an apple. (Eve she is not. More like her Sue-Sue character from "The Major and The Minor.") It's kind of funny and kind of not very funny.When she and Holt revisit the park bench where she met his father, Jack Carson, playing a Navy man on leave, sits beside them with his lady friend and sings a delightful chanty about temptresses. It's the best I've ever seen him and it's a breath of fresh air and believability for this movie.