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.

Pretty college graduate Loretta Young (as Claire "Mac" McIntyre) tells musician boyfriend Frank Albertson (as John "Johnny" Saunders) she's going to chisel out a "Big Business Girl" career in New York while his dance band plays a Paris date. Although Mr. Albertson begs her to go, Ms. Young needs to pay off college loans. She is hired as a secretary to advertising executive Ricardo Cortez (as Robert "RJ" Clayton). Young is ambitious, intelligent, powdered and leggy. She also has a secret...

After being referred to as "office decoration," Young hikes up her skirt and swings her legs around the boss' face. This understandably arouses Mr. Cortez. Young is promoted. Albertson returns from Paris. Romantic misunderstandings ensue. For her "lingerie scene" Young wears a clingy, low-cut slip which shows off her thin figure to great effect. At the subsequent party, flies crawl around her back and down her dress. Also watch for brassy Joan Blondell (as Pearl) to liven up the last act.

***** Big Business Girl (6/12/31) William A Seiter ~ Loretta Young, Frank Albertson, Ricardo Cortez, Joan Blondell

Loretta Young graduates college and marries band leader Frank Albertson. While he tours Europe, she gets a job at Ricardo Cortez's advertising agency. There, her brains, creativity, and legs make her popular with clients and Cortez. He's making his move when Albertson returns; Miss Young has not mentioned a husband.

Miss Young's legs carry the movie as well as the career, what with Albertson being whiny, and Cortez oily. This seems to be a movie for liberated women to enjoy. The best performances are by Dorothy Christy, who tries to seduce Albertson in front of Miss Young, and a very funny turn by Joan Blondell as a professional correspondent.

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.

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.