La avenida de la tentación

This film is one of my favorites, with a charming cast and fabulous characters. Ginger Rogers plays her trademark sassy and street-smart heroine effortlessly. Other standout performances are by the hapless and bewildered Walter Connolly and the often hysterical Verree Teasdale. Their children are well portrayed also, and Tim Holt has become one of my favorite actors, though he was largely undervalued throughout his career. A refreshing comedy about life and success, no matter what side of the tracks you come from.

The ridiculously rich (look at that mansion) and the perfectly groomed poor. Ginger Rogers proves that she was one of the best comedic, deadpan actresses of her time, even without dancing. The bratty kids, the wise ass chauffeur, the horse faced butler. The clothes, love that 1930-40's look. it must have been a real ego trip to be stinking rich during a time of world wide depression, which made the rich even richer. Great writing, acting and directing. As good as "It happened One Night". There were many movies made in 1939, a couple of them like GWTW and TW of Oz, get all the press but this movie is a gem. Walter Connolly and Verre Teasdale as high society husband and wife are great.

After a stressful business meeting, "Amalgamated Pump" millionaire Walter Connolly (as Timothy Borden) returns to his upper fifth avenue Manhattan mansion expecting to receive some "Happy Birthday" wishes. His spoiled, disinterested family has forgotten Mr. Connolly's birthday, however. Connolly goes to Central Park alone and meets sullen, disinterested Ginger Rogers (as Mary Grey). He learns the beautiful apple-chomping woman is homeless and invites Ms. Rogers to dinner. When she spends the night in his guest room, Connolly's family suddenly become interested in the old provider. Connolly invites Rogers to stay and shake up the household...

Produced and directed by Gregory La Cava, this story is similar to his "My Man Godfrey" (1936). When Connolly goes to the park, you know he's either going to be mistaken or a bum or find one; after which, we might poke fun at the idle rich and admire the hard-working poor. For good measure, handsome family chauffeur James Ellison (as Michael "Mike" Farnsbother) dabbles in Communism...

This is a good film, but it should be much better. The production looks great, the situation is fun and several one-liners work. Sadly, the top-billed cast doesn't really click. Rogers appears too elegant and serious; also, she displays little chemistry with her supporting cast, especially leading men Connolly and Tim Holt (as "Tim" Borden). La Cava should have re-cut Rogers' "kitchen knife scene" and added some romance. Rogers should have toned down her movie star looks and added more playfulness to her homeless character.

***** 5th Ave Girl (8/25/39) Gregory La Cava ~ Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly, Tim Holt, James Ellison

Ginger Rogers is out of work and Walter Connolly has just the job for her in "5th Ave Girl," also starring Verree Teasdale and Tim Holt.

Connolly is a pump manufacturer (not shoes, the other kind) who is filthy rich and, though he lives with his family, is estranged from them. His two brat kids pay no attention to him, and his wife is always making the gossip columns for running around - with someone and without her husband.

So he hires Ginger to shake things up and make them think he's got a life without them, too. It's a cavernous, ugly house of the kind seen in "Holiday" and so many '30s films, and it's filled with malcontents.

The daughter is in love with the chauffeur who spouts Communist propaganda and hates the rich, the wife panics when she sees Ginger, and the son, against his will, has to take over the family company because his father is so distracted with his new young girlfriend.

Rogers plays this role in an offhanded manner, with sardonic line delivery. It works fairly well but it's a little too one-note. However, you definitely catch the character's underlying fear and vulnerability. She takes life as it comes - but when it's not what she expected, she's unnerved.

Walter Connolly is excellent - I especially loved him practicing the rumba in the doorway. Verree Teasdale does a good job as the wife - attractive, imperious, and vain. Unfortunately, while Tim Holt is good as the son, he and Rogers have no chemistry, so their connection seems to come out of left field.

This is an enjoyable film but somehow it lacks spark. A little variation in Rogers' performance might have helped, and more development of the relationship between Holt and Rogers.

For some reason, this doesn't really work. It has a sensational cast. It's part fairy tale, part socio-political commentary, and mostly a romantic comedy.

The romance comes late, though, and seems slightly tacked on/.

Out-of-work Ginger Rogers meets mogul Walter Connolly In Central Park. He's gone there to look at the seals with his butler Franklin Pangborn; and right here something seems a little forced and improbable.

Rogers is a sort of tabula rasa who helps Connolly get back together with his wife -- amusingly played by Veree Teasdale. She also heaps his uninterestingly played daughter break down social barriers to get together with family chauffeur and would-be Socialist, hunky James Ellison. And she helps his son Tim Holt settle down and, as we of course knew she would, gets together with him at the end.

She is like the Terence Stamp character in Pasolini's fascinating "Teorema" almost 30 years later and like Michael York in the thoroughly disagreeable, arch "Something For Everyone" of approximately that same time. Both those characters are overtly sexual, though Rogers is decently not so here, beginning and ending the movie eating an apple. (Eve she is not. More like her Sue-Sue character from "The Major and The Minor.") It's kind of funny and kind of not very funny.

When she and Holt revisit the park bench where she met his father, Jack Carson, playing a Navy man on leave, sits beside them with his lady friend and sings a delightful chanty about temptresses. It's the best I've ever seen him and it's a breath of fresh air and believability for this movie.