The Life of the Party

THE LIFE OF THE PARTY (Warner Brothers, 1930), directed by Roy Del Ruth, is another attempt to capitalize on the presence of Winnie Lightner based on her debut screen character from THE GOLD DIGGERS OF Broadway (1929). Though Lightner appears to be "the life of the party" through her actions and wisecracking methods, the finished product, originally intended as a musical, is a straight comedy minus any party sequences but enough life and laughter only when Lightner is concerned.

Starting off with an amusing inter-title, "New York was originally purchased from the Indians for six dollars and thirty cents. The 30 cents was for Brooklyn," the plot gets underway with its introduction of two lady pals, Flo (Winnie Lightner) and Dorothy "Dot" Stottsbury (Irene Delroy) working as song pluggers for Mr. Foster (Eddie Kane) at the Acme Music Company in the Broadway district of New York City. Unable to interest anyone with popular song hits from the latest shows and motion pictures, the girls end up fired when their friend, Monsieur LeMaire (Charles Judels), comes to visit with Dot, thus disrupting the place when Mr. Foster forces him to leave. The next morning, Dot learns through a newspaper article that the man she loves, Robert Cole, age 23, has married a Mrs. James Halcon, a wealthy widow of 45. She and Flo come the conclusion that the only way to make it through life is to seek millionaires and marry them for their money, the way Bob has done. After acquiring jobs as models for fashion retailer, LeMaire, they trick him into loaning them enough clothes and take with them to Havana, Cuba, where they intend on doing some gold digging. Staying at the Grand Hotel, they make an impression by posing themselves as rich young widows. Along the way, Flo encounters Colonel Joy (Charles Butterworth), a horse breeder (who looks like a horse anyway), while Dot come across a bogus Mr. Smith (John Davidson), a male gold digger, and, through her phony fainting spells, Jerry A.J. Smith (Jack Whiting), inventor of the popular Rush soft drink. Things become more complicated when the excitable Monsieur "Yoo Hoo" LeMaire enters the scene.

What makes LIFE OF THE PARTY most fascinating for film buffs is the opening sequence of the Broadway district with theater marque titles of those 1930 movie releases, mostly Warner Brothers titles, including: "The Silent Enemy," "The Song of the Flame," "Fifty Million Frenchmen," "Courage," and "Journey's End" along with current Broadway shows as "The Last Mile," along with some inside humor of Lightner calling out movie songs from 1929 releases as "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" from "The Gold Diggers of Broadway" and "Singing in the Bath Tub" from "The Show of Shows," each featuring Lightner herself. With some songs deleted prior to theatrical release, the only one that remains intact is Lightner's rendition of "Poison Ivy." Several popular tunes of the day, namely "When the Little Red Rose Gets the Blues for You," are relegated to background scoring.

Often amusing, especially with the now familiar "gold digger" theme and mistaken identity angle, THE LIFE OF THE PARTY weakens as it progresses, especially through the constant annoyance of Charles Judels's frequent "Yoo Hoo" yells that loses its credibility long before its 77 minutes is up. Irene Delroy, the attractive, serious-minded gold digger, has her doses of man trouble, considering how both of them have the last name of Smith, while Lightner, naturally, gets all the laughs. Her funniest moment is where she disguises herself as a male jockey, making every effort staying on the back of the horse (Number 13) during a big race, followed by a series of mishaps until the horse comes across its biggest fear, a black cat on the race track. Rear projection is obvious, making the riding scene look phony or a reminder of a vintage silent comedy starring Ben Turpin. The result, however, are still quite funny. One liners as "We can't even boil water without ever burning it" comes as a hit or miss. Another laugh getter is Charles Butterworth, with his hair combed back and parted in the middle. A natural foil for Lightner, he worked opposite her again in two additional 1931 comedies, SIDE SHOW and MANHATTAN PARADE, which like this movie, can be seen on Turner Classic Movies cable channel.

Initially produced in early Technicolor, circulating prints are now only in complete black and white form, with 1940s orchestration to a song, "He Lied and I Listened" as introduced in the Warner Brothers 1941 drama, MANPOWER, starring Edward G. Robinson and Marlene Dietrich, as its over-scoring instead. I can't swear that the title cards used for the cast and credit listings, but do know this is the way LIFE OF THE PARTY has been shown on August 1990. Considering several films bearing this title, interestingly, in 1996, American Movie Classics, which then contained a film library of mostly 20th Century-Fox and RKO Radio titles prior to 2001, surprisingly aired this 1930 Lightner comedy over its standard 1937 RKO Radio musical as part of AMC's Ann Miller birthday tribute.

Though both are no cinematic masterpieces, the Lightner version is certainly a prime example of the type of movies that turned out during the dawn of sound, and something to consider. One can only hope for a rediscovery of the original Technicolor print along with the original scoring that came with the film's opening credits way back in 1930. (***)

.... is a more apt title as the characters in this film would either kill a room with boredom or have people fleeing the scene in droves in utter irritation at the belligerence of these people. There is nothing funny about Winnie Lightner (Flo) and there is nothing interesting about Irene Delroy (Dot) who play the two girls out to grab a millionaire. We have another unfunny comedy character who is supposed to be a French designer - step forward Charles Judels (LeMaire). There is nothing French about him and nothing realistic about his overacting. His comic partner calling out "Yoo hoo" becomes painful to watch. As does the whole film and I couldn't watch to the end. No need to.

We also get a fashion show with giant transvestites modelling clothes with way too much material - another unintentional misfire. The sets are good but when the funniest thing about a comedy is when the film's dialogue goes out of synch with the character's lip movements, then we are obviously in trouble. That would normally annoy me but when my version of the film did this it became a point of interest! This film is awful.

This great comedy was planned as a musical but the musical numbers were cut out before general release due to the fact that the public had grown tired by late 1930. Only one song was left in the picture. Winnie Lightner is at her best in this All Talking All Technicolor Comedy! Winnie Lightner and her friend (played by Irene Delroy) decide to do some gold digging when they are fired from their job in a sheet music store. They find a dressmaker named Le Maire (played by Charles Judels) to work on and once they got the goods they take off for Havana! Meanwhile the dressmaker is happy thinking he is going to spend the night with the girls along with his friend. He goes wild in a hilarious scene where he starts breaking all the furniture while his friend only says "Yoo-Hoo" and makes him even more irritated! Some of the funny gags in this comedy include a scence where the dressmaker is showing the girls some dresses and says "And this one the prince wanted to wear but his mother would not let him!" This comedy was originally made in Technicolor. The last known print was throwed away by Technicolor Corporation in the 1950's after a black and white print has been made to show on television. But even in black and white this film is a riot! :) Towards the end of the film LeMaire catches up with the two golddiggers and literally destroyed a room shouted "I Will Call The Police If I Don't Get The Money For The Dresses" After he gets a check he says: "And I'm gald I didn't lose my temper!" One of the best early Warner Brother talking comedies.

I love old movies, the older, the better but this was awful. Sure, Winnie Lightner is fun to watch, very expressive with quick and witty one-liners. Charles Ludels ruined it for me, my god, the screaming, the yelling, throwing tantrums all over the place grated on my nerves and made me unsettled. It's an ok story, same old...."down-on-their-luck showgirls seeks rich men...and lots of hijinks ensue" nothing new, same old tired vintage hollywood storyline. Some vintage movies hold up nicely with a budding star or an enlightening story, this was sad, boring, and monotonous. It's fun to watch a 90 year old movie, glad they're still around, but don't expect much here.

Often-witty dialogue can't quite save a predictable, simplistic plot, but Winnie Lightner and Irene Delroy keep the film quite entertaining. The film as a whole is totally inconsequential, but several of the performances, especially those of the two leads, are enough to recommend it.

Lightner's forceful, abrasive, energetic, and often hilarious performance is a perfect foil for Delroy's sweet, dewy, and relatively languid one. Charles Butterworth's underplayed humor is very welcome in a minor role, while the unfunny slapstick subplot anchored by Charles Judels' almost grotesque performance as Monsieur LeMaire throws the film off pitch whenever it resurfaces throughout.

Overall, simple, predictable, and worth a watch.