Ladies of Leisure (Ladies of the Evening) (1930)

Pre-Code Hollywood (700 items)
list by Gauntlet

My Movie Year 2020 (572 items)
list by milica

Movies/Titles I Have (7076 items)
list by cteddiesgirl

CT's Watched in 2019 (357 items)
list by cteddiesgirl

The Movies of 1930 (144 items)
list by vah!

Like Garbo's "Camille", about a woman of lower social status loving a man whose parent disapproves of her. In an early career role, Barbara Stanwyck makes an otherwise unremarkable picture worth watching, her gift for being a sympathetic heroine and tough/cute quality already in bloom. As the best friend, Marie Prevost is shrill at first, lovably heroic at the end. The final scene feels tacked on.

In the first of her remarkable collaborations with Frank Capra, Barbara Stanwyck plays a “party girl” who finds genuine love when she begins modeling for the wannabe-painter son (Ralph Graves) of a wealthy family. But as their relationship grows increasingly serious, her checkered past comes back to haunt her. Graced with sparkling dialogue and striking camerawork by Capra regular Joseph Walker, LADIES OF LEISURE is above all a showcase for the strikingly modern Stanwyck, who, with this film, established herself as one of the first and brightest-burning stars of the talkie era.