Big Business Girl

BIG BUSINESS GIRL (1931) is an unspectacular pre-Code talkie with a bit of a racy edge. Eighteen-year-old Loretta Young plays a college grad trying to make it in the business world. At her advertising company, she is quickly promoted from a secretary, but finds out she's being paid merely to "decorate the office". What she doesn't realize is that her boss (Ricardo Cortez) is underpaying her by more than half what her talents are worth, but this is not the main issue in the film. She wants to climb the ladder and is willing to play the game if that's what it takes. The sudden appearance of her long-distance boyfriend (Frank Albertson) throws a monkey wrench in her plans and the movie becomes a will-they-won't-they waiting game to see if the young couple can work out their misunderstandings.

Fourth-billed Joan Blondell doesn't appear until the very end of the film, but she's fantastic as a professional correspondent in divorce set-ups. She plays cards in her negligée with nervous husbands as they await the private detectives. It's a living. Streetwise Blondell can handle herself and, as she says, with the type of husbands she works with it's safer than working in a beauty parlor. Blondell is a great comedienne and her scenes are easily the highlight of the film.

Once again, as so often in movies of the pre-Code era, here's a woman with brains, beauty and the drive to get ahead who loves a guy who has none of the above (including acting talent). Naturally, she props him up by getting him a big job without his knowing it (although this unpromising lead is dropped and doesn't become a plot complication). Throw in the lecherous boss she uses to make the boyfriend (actually her secret hubby) jealous, and the cliche is complete. That said, it's still what you do with the story that counts, and here nothing whatsoever is done with it! No clever dialogue, no revealing moments, no amusing supporting character players, no special qualities in the narrative timing, sets, camera or lighting. Nothing unexpected whatsoever. That is, nothing until Joan Blondell steps in at the very end as a brassy professional co-respondent. Her performance and the dialogue, as she and the husband play cards while they wait for the photographer to arrive, suddenly bring the film to life and give it a decent finish. Still, one of the weaker Warners of the period. WEEKEND MARRIAGE, a similar film made the following year, also with Loretta Young, is much more interesting.

Loretta Young stars with Ricardo Cortez and Frank Albertson in "Big Business Girl," a pre-code from 1931.

Beautiful Claire McIntryre (Young) goes to New York to find a job, leaving behind her new husband Johnny (Albertson) who has a band that is going to be working in Paris. Thanks to a mismanagement fluke in an office, she is hired to work for Robert Clayton (Cortez) as a secretary in an advertising firm. Ambitious, she writes some ad copy, which Clayton finds passable and gives her an office. Actually it's excellent work, but he low-balls her salary and over the intercom, she hears he thinks she's got a good chassis.

'Mac' as she is known, doesn't mention she's married and plays the game, flirting with Clayton and dazzling the clients. Then Johnny shows up unexpectedly.

This movie is a real blah except for a couple of things. One is one of the secretaries saying she had ambitions at one time to make a "man's salary" - and just think, 86 years later, in some fields, you can still say that. However, she continues, a big career won't keep you warm at night.

The other item of interest is Joan Blondell, hired when people need to prove adultery before getting a divorce. She's hilarious as the no nonsense, down to earth Pearl, and she's the biggest spark in the film, other than Loretta's clothes.

Cortez is smooth and Albertson is dull. Loretta here was about 18. She's stunning and natural.

All in all, not much.

It's no great classic. Assembly line Hollywood stuff, about the same quality as Erin Brockovich, circa 1931. But it's worth watching, especially if you're already into pre-code-era stuff, or if you're interested in feminist themes in cinema, or if you're awake at 3 AM and it's on cable. An honest and accurate film, it gets the male-female dynamic just about right, for 1931, 2002, or whenever. Loretta Young was casual and charming and perfect for the role. 6.5/10, rounded down to 6/10.

Big Business Girl (1931)

** (out of 4)

A smart and sexy college girl (Loretta Young) goes to the big city to make good money but once getting there she realizes it takes a nice pair of legs, more than brains, to get anywhere. The girl uses her legs to start moving up but when her boss starts coming onto her this doesn't make the husband very happy. Here's another pre-code dealing with (at the time) "women trying to be men". The story is pretty flat but Young and the cast manage to keep things going throughout. There are some nice pre-code elements at the start of the film including a college party where all the couples are in the backseats of their cars.