Les Grecs avaient un nom pour elles

Polaire (Madge Evans), and Schatzi (Joan Blondell), are two Broadway actresses with manageable problems, but when their conniving friend Jean (Ina Claire) returns from Paris, broke and in search of a rich husband, their tranquility is upended. Polaire is trusting, and engaged to the honorable and wealthy Dey (David Manners). Schatzi has Pops, a sugar daddy, who remains off screen. Jean then goes to work trying to break them up, so she can have the men to herself.

Lowell Sherman ably directs and appears as Boris, a famous concert pianist who bets Jean money he can make her fall in love with him, but Boris falls for Polaire instead, allowing Jean an opportunity to wreck another couple. Jean's problem isn't that she's too clever for own good, it's that she needs excitement dull but respectable men can't provide. Once she has the money to send her away, and quiet down any scandal, Jean can do what she loves most: being in the company of Polaire and Schatzi. Adapted from Zoe Akins's play, the film is sprinkled with bon mots, and is a funny and sophisticated look at the complexity of female friendship.

Three "former chorus girls" team up to capture rich husbands. But they spend as much time fighting with each other as they do the men they try to snare. This film is based on a a play by Zoe Akins (THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR IT) which is also the basis for the softer and more genteel 50s version HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE.

In this pre-code version, Ina Claire plays the grasping and back-stabbing blonde who will go to any length to get what she wants. Joan Blondell plays the sensible girl (stocks and bonds), and Madge Evans is the sensitive one. All three dish the dirt while they chase after rich David Manners, that is until Claire decides that his daddy is a better catch! Lowell Sherman directs and co-stars as the Russian pianist (from the Bronx) who also dallies with the 3 ladies (and possibly with Manners?).

Ina Claire is totally outrageous here but fun to watch as she chews the scenery. Blondell, Sherman, and Evans are also very good. Manners is rather bland (as usual).

The Goldwyn production based on Zoe Akin's racy play about three gold diggers has Joan Blondell, Madge Evans and Ina Claire playing the trio, double-crossing each other as the mood suits them with the men falling like tenpins. David Manners, Phillips Smalley, even Lowell Sherman, the director, who doubles as a concert pianist is not immune to their machinations and *ahem* talents. Apparently George Barnes, the director of photography fell in love with Blondell on the set. They married the next year; presumably Claire would have stolen him from her, except every time she put on a new costume, she rushed over to show soon-to-be ex-husband John Gilbert how she looked.

The wisecracks fly fast and furious. Miss Claire, with her cigarette voice and scheming role steals the show every time she's on. It's a crackling Pre-Code, even though the lingerie shots are kept to a minimum

Joan Blondell, Madge Evans, and Ina Claire bring the Zoe Akins comedy, The Greeks Had A Word For It to the big screen. It's the story of three women who have determined that the good times of the 20s won't last and they're all determined to marry men who can support them in good style. By the time the play was making its 253 performance run on Broadway the Depression was upon us. No doubt those in the audience were saying how wise these girls were.

All three are different personality types, Claire's character isn't the noblest of God's creations, but they do have a bond with each other that seems to override all.

Adkins wrote some really great lines and the three of them, especially Blondell deliver those pre-Code zingers with pizazz. Those lines she didn't write Sidney Howard did for the screen and between the two of them we got one good script.

The American cinema has given us four versions of this story, the others being Three Blind Mice, Moon Over Miami, and How To Marry A Millionaire. All of them were updated to suit the times they were made in. An easy task to do because Akins is writing about eternal situations.

For fans of the leads, especially Blondell.

I saw this on a Mill Creek DVD collection of 50 comedies. As with most cheap Mill Creek public domain film collections, the print was not in great shape. The black and white was muddy and the sound squeaky. I hope some one will release a good print on DVD some day.

I won't repeat what other reviewers have said about the plot. Although it is jumpy and confusing, one does have to give it credit for being fast-paced, original and surprising.

Joan Blondell and Ina Claire do a good job of providing the comedy. Madge Evans is really the straight woman here. She is quite beautiful and glamorous and manages to steal the picture.

Besides these three women actresses, the movie has a lot of witty lies and a nice air of frivolity to it. There are some nice, subtle innuendos here and you do have to pay attention to catch the cleverness of the script.

This is a solid woman's picture from 1932 and there really weren't that many made.

If you have to watch the Mill Creek print, turn up the volume a bit.