Kansas City Princess

One of the many films made by early talkie stars Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell.. This is a fun one, as long as you buy in and go along for the ride. Rosie and Marie are manicurists, trying to get away from the mafia boss Dynamite (Robert Armstrong), and end up getting stuck on a ship that is sailing off to Paris. The antics include meeting up with Hugh Herbert, rich guy "Ashcraft". he is easy going, and easily buys into everyone's story, as they all take advantage of him. there's a bit of slap-stick humor, three stooges style, as they run around the ship, and try not to get discovered. so they are hiding out on the ship, and they take jobs as..... manicurists! of coure, it will all hit the fan, and everyone's secret will come out. it's pretty light and fun. good, fluffy, fun. directed by William Keighley... directed some great actors in great films, (errol flynn, pat o'brien, james cagney, al jolson) but no oscars for him.

Rosie Sturges (Joan Blondell) and best friend Marie Callahan (Glenda Farrell) are manicurists in Kansas City. Marie does not like Rosie's gangster boyfriend Dynamite Carson (Robert Armstrong). There is a ring, girl scouts, and plenty of situational comedy.

This is a gangster screwball comedy thriller. The situation is convoluted. I was expecting more from the girl scouts. There is potential for greater comedy. The concept suggests some more outrageous fun but it doesn't quite get there.

Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell found enough roles between them as wisecracking dames who've been once around the track too often and have learned that they seemed at times to be in every Warner Brothers urban picture for a while in the early 30s. So no matter the quality of the film itself they're always fun to watch and more fun to listen.

The two are like peas in a pod here, a pair of manicurists from Kansas City. One of them is engaged to gangster Robert Armstrong and the other still has oats to sow. But when Farrell loses the engagement ring, both manage to con their way to New York and then Paris. The girls do their manicuring thing on the ocean liner after they're caught without tickets. Armstrong too is resourceful and he hooks up with eccentric millionaire Hugh Herbert. That last sentence is a redundancy.

No use to tell any more of the plot it's pretty fast moving, but also goes off in all directions and becomes incoherent at times. Note also the presence of Osgood Perkins as a phony French private eye.

For fans of Blondell and Farrell, you folks should see Kansas City Princess.

Two smart dames must take it on the lam when a jealous hoodlum goes out of control.

KANSAS CITY PRINCESS was the sort of ephemeral comic frippery which Warner Brothers Studio produced almost effortlessly during the 1930's. Well made & highly enjoyable, Depression audiences couldn't seem to get enough of these popular, funny photo dramas.

Joan Blondell & Glenda Farrell are perfectly cast as the sassy, fast-talking females who use their wiles to get them all the way to Paris. Unlike their other films, the gals have an even parity here, equally sharing the wisecracks and what little romantics the plot tosses their way.

Robert Armstrong does very well as the somewhat dense petty gangster who precipitates the girls' flight. Hugh Herbert, wacky & whimsical as ever, appears as a hapless millionaire who befriends Blondell & Farrell, making use of them in a hilariously inept plan to catch his faithless wife.

Smaller roles are very nicely filled by T. Roy Barnes & Hobart Cavanaugh as two free spirited aldermen who happily assist the girls when they need it most; and Ivan Lebedeff as the wily Russian doctor who is cuckolding Herbert.

Movie mavens will recognize Arthur Houseman as a inebriate getting a manicure from Blondell; and Lillian Harmer as the formidable Girls of America leader, both unbilled.

While never stars of the first rank, Joan Blondell (1906-1979) & Glenda Farrell (1904-1971) enlivened scores of films at Warner Bros. throughout the 1930's, especially the eight in which they appeared together. Whether playing gold diggers or working girls, reporters or secretaries, these blonde & brassy ladies were very nearly always a match for whatever leading man was lucky enough to share equal billing alongside them. With a wisecrack or a glance, their characters showed they were ready to take on the world - and any man in it. Never as wickedly brazen as Paramount's Mae West, you always had the feeling that, tough as they were, Blondell & Farrell used their toughness to defend vulnerable hearts ready to break over the right guy. While many performances from seven decades ago can look campy or contrived today, these two lovely ladies are still spirited & sassy.

Kansas City Princess (1934)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Rosie (Joan Blondell) decides to go out with a man after her best friend (Glenda Farrell) says that her gangster boyfriend (Robert Armstrong) doesn't deserve her. Once out on the date the man steals a valuable ring from her that was given to her by the gangster. Fearing for their safety, the two girls head to New York but of course the gangster finds out and goes after them. No, this isn't a hard-hitting drama from Warner but instead it's a "B" comedy that starts off well but quickly falls apart into a disastrous second half. Blondell and Farrell are so good together that the film actually starts off on a very good note. I thought the two actresses had some nice chemistry together and we get a pretty funny sequence where Farrell is teaching Blondell what to say in order to get a rich man. There's also a pretty good dinner sequence where the two ladies and their dates end up in a bad situation. Once the girls jump on the train and head to New York, the entire film just comes crashing down. As others have pointed out, it really does seem as if the screenplay wasn't completed so the actors, director and others just showed up and starting making things up as they went along. There's really not a single thing in the second half of this picture that makes any sense and for the life of me it just seemed like a bunch of characters talking at one another in order for the running time to reach past the hour mark. Before long additional characters are brought into the chaos and it still doesn't make any sense. The only ones who are going to want to check this out are fans of the two ladies. Both are good in the film but even their charm can't save this stinker.