The Florodora Girl

The Florodora Girl (1930)

*** (out of 4)

Set during the Gay Nineties, this film stars Marion Davies playing a chorus girl who is being taught how to play the "game" by a couple veterans. The game consists of landing a rich husband and she has one guy (Lawrence Gray) interested but the friends are constantly messing up the relationship. Soon the man finds himself broke and his mother objects to him marrying someone without money. It's funny but I never really considered Davies one of my favorite actresses but after viewing this movie I realized that I had seen the majority of her sound work, which is a lot more than I can say for some of my favorites. What I've come to realize with Davies is that even when the film isn't all that good and even when her performance might not be right, she still manages to come across very charming and fun. Whenever she is on she can be dynamite and that's exactly what she is in this piece, which has to be one of the best, if not the best film she did during the sound era. I was really impressed with how wonderful her performance was here because the comic timing was perfect but so was the more dramatic moments. I thought the first hour was extremely tight and well directed with Davies really going all out. There are countless funny situations and the majority of them work extremely well including one bit where she's on a swing with Gray. There's also a very funny sequence dealing with a "becoming a father" joke. Gray is also very good in his spot as the boyfriend and the rest of the supporting cast are good as well. With that said, there's no doubt that this film belongs to Davies. The final ten-minutes were originally shot in Technicolor but it has faded so bad that the sequence looks orange but I still enjoyed seeing Davies in somewhat color.

The late 1890's are lovingly reconstructed, with wonderful costumes and nice sets. Very good script. Marion Davies as a chorus girl who doesn't want to be a rich man's toy has lots of chances to show her stuff. There is only one Floradora dance routine and it is quite calm. The final scenes are in two color Technicolor.

This is an interesting historical drama from the 1930's. It is set in 1890's about an unlucky Floradora girl named Daisy. In New York at the Floradora club, all of the chorus girls seem to be having the great fortune of snagging and marrying wealthy men, except the naive Daisy Dell played by Marion Davies. Her fellow dancers help her catch the eye of wealthy Jack Vibart (Lawrence Gray), using their "tricks"...think cramp in the water tricks.

The story goes beyond Daisy and Jack's initial romance as Jack looses his family's money, they break of their wedding...

The story is ok, but the real reason to watch this Marion Davies film is for the historical depictions...like the early automobile, beachside antics of the time...including a resuscitation, a football game in which wealthy attendees watch from their cars or carts, an amazing country picnic with a tree swing large enough for two and the Floradora performances themselves.

Maybe a must see for fans of either Marion Davies or the 1890's. I did enjoy that Jack's mother didn't have the typical disapproving role.

While not one of her most entertaining outings, "The Florodora Girl" has much to recommend it, especially in its musical interludes which a provide a feast of 1890's songs. Just about all these are well rendered by Miss Davies and chorus. Mr Gray, "who sings better than he talks" (as Mordaunt Hall aptly commented), has only the one number and irritatingly not only fails to join in singing the climactic, real Florodora hit, "Tell Me, Pretty Maiden", but actually louses it up. This is the way of the plot which tends to hamper the movie at every turn of its routine screws.

Some poorly contrived humorous interludes with over-enthusiastic Walter Catlett, and Harry Beaumont's rather routine, static and uninspired direction do little to help; but fortunately the movie offers plenty of visual compensations by way of its lavish sets and costumes, in addition to the aural appeal of its music score.

"Floradora Girl" is an early sound picture that starred Marion Davies and a little known Lawrence Gray. Both had been leads in silent films and had some success transitioning to sound. But his career faded fast as many new male actors were getting established in sound pictures. Davies' career also faded fast, but that was mostly because of her personal life. She wasn't a great actress, but a good one in several films. It depended on the material she got, and a few years into sound pictures, she wasn't getting the scripts that many new and up-and-coming actresses were getting.

The plot for this film isn't exceptional, but Davies is okay as Daisy. The cast is sizable, but except for a couple supporting actors, there are few familiar faces in this cast. What lifts this film some, is its very good portrayal of some period things of history. The setting is supposed to be in the 1890s. Of special interest to sports fans are scenes of a football game that show players with minimum equipment, and a couple of very unusual plays, including, the wedge.

There is some humor - the funniest scene being efforts by a crowd of people to resuscitate Daisy (Davies) after she faked drowning to be rescued by Jack (Gray). Except for the scenes of turn of the 20th century things of interest, there isn't a lot to recommend this film as above average run-of-the-mill.