Coeurs impatients

Three roommates (Crawford, Sebastian, and Page), who just happen to work in the same department store, seek rich husbands during the Great Depression. The stars outshine a somewhat dated and unbelievable script, that was a follow-up to Our Dancing Daughters & Our Modern Maidens. A big moneymaker in its day.

Jerry March (Joan Crawford), Connie Blair (Anita Page), and Francine Daniels (Dorothy Sebastian) are best friends and department store sales clerks. They share an apartment in New York City. Tony Jardine (Robert Montgomery) is the charming older son of the store owner and he has eyes for Jerry. David Jardine (Raymond Hackett) is the less responsible younger playboy brother and he likes Connie. Martin W. Sanderson (John Miljan) flirts with Francine.

Jerry and Tony have a good meet-cute although it's a little creepy in today's world. In a modern movie, Tony would play up the exaggerated visual of being bowled over. The premise remains the same throughout history. Ah-OO-Ga! This is a good setup for a light fun rom-com. The modeling does get a bit repetitive although it was probably daring for its time. The dancing isn't special enough to be good musical work. Then it turns darker and ends in something really dark. This is pre-Code and an early talkie for Joan Crawford as she transitions from the silent era. She is certainly a star in this new cinematic landscape.

Joan Crawford was the top box office star of 1930. That year she made three films: Montana Moon, Our Blushing Brides, and Paid. Even though these films were hits in their day, none have ever been available on home video. That is a shame, because they are all enjoyable.

Our Blushing Brides was the third and last of the "Our" series of films, which started in 1928 with the success of Our Dancing Daughters. It is also the best of the three, with an intelligent script, fabulous art deco sets, and terrific performances.

Joan Crawford stars as Gerry, who works in a department store and lives in an apartment with three other young women, played by Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian. Each of these women is being pursued by rich men.

Sebastian is out for money. She marries a rich man on their first date, after he promises her that she will never have to wake up to an alarm again. Page is in love with the wealthy son of the department store owner, who is in love with her but will not marry her. Crawford is disillusioned and does not trust men. She is the most independent of the three, but even she has trouble resisting the advances of a young and handsome Robert Montgomery, also a son of the department store owner.

When Crawford discovers Montgomery's intentions are motivated purely by lust, after being lured to his art deco tree loft for a midnight rendezvous, she walks out on him and keeps him guessing. Meanwhile, Page and Sebastian find out their men are cads, using them for sex and going out on them behind their backs. Sebastian's husband is arrested, and Page's beau marries someone else, prompting her to swallow poison.

Crawford, in a fit of rage, rushes to the wedding and orders Page's former beau to return to her until she gets well. Montgomery, sensing the reason why Crawford distrusted men, loves her all the more for it. But what will become of Page and Sebastian, and will Montgomery finally be the man Crawford can trust and love? This is an excellent pre-code, with moments of funny comedy and tearful drama. If you want to see a set of actors at their vibrant and youthful best, you have to give this little-known film a chance.

Joan Crawford in another of the alliterative early talkie series she did (others were "Our Dancing Daughters" and "Our Modern Maidens; one shudders to think what they would have done with the letter "C", and perhaps that's why they skipped it!) Jerry (Crawford), Frankie (Sebastian) and Connie (Page) are three NY department store shopgirls who live in a cramped apartment and use a hammer and a nail to open their canned dinner while listening to jazz on the phonograph and conserving the hot water so they can take a bath. Jerry's pals long for rescue by a rich man, but practical Jerry knows better; she's been there, done that, and knows that beaus with bucks only want one thing with a shopgirl, and it's not marriage. Still, though, there is that dreamy Tony Jardine (Montgomery, at the height of his boyish sexiness), son of the store owner, who seems to take a shine to Jerry and vice versa. A telling scene comes when Jerry has to model some lingerie for a store customer in Tony's presence, opening her robe to display herself to his eyes, making her totally vulnerable. While Jerry's pals find the men they think they want, Jerry won't give in to Tony's rather caddish overtures. And there is that nice Joe from the store with the flivver and gin flask. He's not dreamy, but he is solid and upstanding, and that's what Jerry wants. She has second thoughts when both her friends seem to have found love AND riches. But she can't forget Tony's kisses. Maybe she should abandon up her ideals and stop suffering and give in to Tony already.

The cast is wonderful here and Joan has lost her stagy silent mannerisms and you can just see a glimmer of the Crawford that was to come. The Depression was on, but you wouldn't know it by Joan (or this character), who persevered in spite of everything. Joan was the most ambitious actress ever to step tootsie in Hollywood and seems to have been propelled along by sheer force of will, but she did have real acting talent, and this movie displays it. Bob Montgomery plays another of his dependable rich-boy roles and looks great in a tuxedo, chatting idly about Oyster Bay. At one point, Jerry won't make out with him, so he says "Let's have a cigarette," like he just invented it. (Don't you miss smoking? I do). What a great line.

Will Jerry and her pals triumph or will they be crushed by love that was just an illusion? Watch and find out!

This was the third film in the Joan Crawford flapper trilogy - (Our Dancing Daughters (1928)/Our Modern Maidens (1929)/Our Blushing Brides (1930)). The first two were silent, the third was a talking picture. This was not Joan Crawford's first talking picture nor her first film with costar Robert Montgomery - both those honors go to 1929's "Untamed".

You can really see the onset of the Great Depression having an effect in this final film of the trilogy. The first two films involve lots of melodrama, but there is also widespread prosperity and a focus on living it up with partying that reflects the excesses of the 1920's. This final film really isn't about living it up at all. It's more about three shop girls just getting by and how the men in the lives of two of them (Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian) promise the good life but end up raining down tragedy upon them, while the third shop girl, Gerry (Joan Crawford), has her own cynical attitude towards men reinforced by watching the fates of her two friends. That makes the ending seem a little tacked on and even unbelievable to some degree, but it's still a good film.

Unfortunately this film is neither on DVD or VHS. "Our Dancing Daughters" and "Our Modern Maidens" can be found on used VHS copies, but the transfer is pretty blurry. None of the three is on DVD, and considering their place in Joan Crawford's filmography, I find that to be a shame.