Party Girl

That scene of the big old car rolling onto the penthouse party floor as though it's an everyday occurrence really grabbed me. Then too, the guests acting like it's an everyday occurrence surprised me even more. Seems as though building elevators were big enough to lift any such cargo in those days. Plot-wise, the flick's got plenty of innuendo and filmy dresses, but never goes beyond that suggestive stage. Looks like even pre-Code had its unwritten limits.

Anyway, the interweaving of sexual scheming and big business likely pleased Depression-era audiences already made cynical by the Wall Street crash of '29. Fairbanks is the hormonal pidgeon of sexy Barrie's plotting, even though he likes the virginal Lott more. Nonetheless, there's riches to be made once the party girls expedite big money deals. So guys and gals do party-on. Meanwhile, Fairbanks' movie dad, St. Polis, makes a fittingly imperious business kingpin, lording it over his listless son. How the various schemes play out makes up the often ragged storyline.

Anyhow, the party girls are all richly upholstered and do well, unlike Fairbanks Jr who appears too bland to score beyond his illustrious family name. Overall, it's a revealing flick at a time when the free-wheeling 1920's were coming to an inglorious end.

(In Passing - on a more somber note: too bad actresses Barrie and Prevost had such sad early ends, {IMDB}. Happily, their contributions live on.)

Wild Women! Bootleg hooch! Hot jazz! Sequins and furs! Blackmail! Suicide! This pre-Code cautionary tale opens with a typical disclaimer stating "It is our earnest hope that this film may arouse you..." Of course, they mean arouse your indignation to help eliminate such vices as you view in this exposé. Or, do they?

Pleasant juvenile Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., headlines along with a bevy of largely talent-free "party girls". Judith Barrie has some especially embarrassing scenes, leading one to wonder whether she may have gotten her part by being a party girl. Almeda Fowler, making her film debut as Maude "Don't call me Madam" Lindsay, and veteran actor John St. Polis put in decent performances adding some humor. The well regarded Earl Burtnett and His Hotel Biltmore Orchestra from Los Angeles provides suitable jazz accompaniment.

The best scene is the party where guests arrive in their automobiles via a service elevator directly to the party. The much commented upon perfumed fountain scene seems to have been excised from the version available from Alpha Video. Altogether, this is a pleasant diversion that pushes the envelope even for pre-Code Hollywood.

There's nothing really shocking or even interesting about this precode, not even for 1930. It's basically about a ring of professional "party girls" that work for one particular madam and go around entertaining bored businessmen. Doug Fairbanks Jr. Is the partying son of the head of a manufacturing concern who crashes one of these parties one night and winds up with two souvenirs he could have done without - a huge hangover and a party girl wife. In the meantime, he's in love with his father's secretary who is a former party girl herself.

What is really notable here is the extremely bad acting. I've seen Doug Fairbanks Jr. In several of his early roles, and even if the films weren't that great, Doug's acting was OK. Here he really hams it up, along with the rest of the cast. I can only chalk it up to bad directing by Victor Halperin who made a number of unmemorable B pictures in the 30's, one of the exceptions to that being 1932's excellent "White Zombie".

The one strange thing that keeps happening in this film that I've never seen before is that everyone seems to think it's OK to drive your car into the service elevator of tall buildings and emerge on the floor of your choice. Fairbanks and his friends do it when they are crashing the party, and the police do the same thing at the end.

My verdict would be to pass on this film, even if you're a precode fan. It's neither cheesy nor entertaining enough to be worth your time.

Dear Me! What a creaky talkie social shocker! Made really in 1929 with absolutely the most primitive sound recording, PARTY GIRL has all those Singin In The Rain sound recording problems (and solutions) evident: like the mic in the vase of flowers or on someone's shoulder or in a lampshade. Often one only one actor in a scene can be heard, or they turn their head out of range etc...all very funny etc. BUT this is otherwise a well staged sex expose made by the never heard of PERSONALITY PICTURES who really sound like a chorus girl racket itself. The film itself is a social morality play about a chorus girl racket and their high rise bed hopping antics ruining young mens lives and contorting business contracts from rightful owners. It also has all those great cliche scenes of tubby old fellers in tuxedos manhandling squealing 18 year old flappers at gin parties at the office. A good scene is a party in a wharehouse where guests actually drive into the goods lift and right up to the 11th floor and zoom directly into the room. Douglas Farbanks Jr is the handsome misled hero bedded by a floozie schemed by her conniving mother! The furniture and clothes alone are enough to watch this genuinely thoroughly modern 20s adult drama. I bought a dvd of this film for $5 in Sydney last week and the quality is quite good.

Party Girl (1930)

** (out of 4)

Jay Rountree (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) is the son of a wealthy banker who spends most of his time borrowing money from dad so that he and his friends can drink and have a good time. Jay ends up at a party and meets Leeda (Judith Barrie) and the next morning she cries that he "ruined" her good girl quality so the weak Jay marries her with no questions asked. This here breaks his heart because he wanted to marry his dad's secretary (Jeanette Loff) but before long he realizes that Leeda is a prostitute who is used at business parties to lure suckers.

Victor Halperin would make a name for himself two years from this film when he directed the Bela Lugosi film WHITE ZOMBIE so it's interesting getting to see something earlier. This film here starts off like a lot of the exploitation pictures of the era with a "warning" telling people that a party girl is a prostitute who tries to get her nails into men and ruin their lives with various scams. I did find it funny that this was warning people against these leech hookers yet they never bothered to tell men to just stay away from them!

With that said, I must admit that I was really shocked to see Fairbanks, Jr. in this role. This was obviously done when he was a struggling actor but it's still strange to see a name like his attached to what's basically a very low-budget exploitation movie. What's even more shocking is that he managed to go on and become a fine actor because his performance here is quite awful. Just check out the scenes where he's pouting about having to get married. Yikes. Loff isn't much better as the prostitute but Barie is good in her small role.

PARTY GIRL is certainly worth watching if you're a fan of exploitation movies or if you want to see an early film from Fairbanks where he's not all that good. Overall the film runs just over a hour so it's decent enough to make it worth watching.