Play Girl

Predictable story of department store clerk Loretta Young (she's beautiful and erotic and gives an honest performance) marrying compulsive gambler Norman Foster. Winnie Lightner provides the comic relief as her best friend. There is some pre-code innuendo, but it's all rather mild. ** out of 4.

Loretta Young is perfectly lit here, which enhances her beauty immeasurably, and she is quite believable in this role. I first saw her in her later movies--and on her TV show, swirling through the door every week--so it's quite a revelation to see her at the absolute peak of her talent and looks. Winnie Lightner does her usual gum-chewing, wisecracking shtick, and the rest of the cast is quite good. The script is a little weak, and things get a bit maudlin at times, although the pre-code one-liners are fun. (Winnie, as her bloomers blow off the makeshift clothesline and out the window: "Oh, that was my last pair of panties!" Loretta: "What will you do?" Winnie: "Stay off of ladders!")

Transfers at the "Mayfield Department Store" result in beautiful Loretta Young (as Buster "Bus" Green) being assigned to "Infants Wear" while comic relief pal Winnie Lightner (as Georgine Hicks) is sent to "Plumbing Supplies". The women, who share a bed, are unhappy with the new assignments. At home, they arrange a dancing date with Ms. Young's boyfriend James Ellison (as Elmer) and pal Norman Foster (as Wallace "Wally" Dennis), a "blind date" for Ms. Lightner. But, Mr. Foster thinks Young is "hot" and begins to pursue her. The two unexpectedly fall in love, but Foster has a dark secret. He's a compulsive gambler...

Meanwhile, sharp-tongued Lightner is romanced by older man Guy Kibbee (as "Finky" Finkelwald). This is a strange, carelessly scripted story about the effects of gambling. The heroine's problems, caused by her gambling husband, are alleviated by her own gambling; it doesn't make sense. An interesting point of characterization is that when Young's character was born, her mother died; for this reason, she is supposedly reluctant to marry, and have children. She is mistakenly called a "Play-Girl". But, Young and the cast are enjoyable. In real life, Young was close to co-star Foster; he married her sister, actress Sally Blane.

***** Play-Girl (3/12/32) Ray Enright ~ Loretta Young, Winnie Lightner, Norman Foster, James Ellison

Given her origins--her mother died while giving birth to her--Buster Green (Loretta Young) is averse to taking risks and not inclined to marry. Her plan is to rise above her station as a department store clerk through dedicated hard work. But when she meets Wallie Dennis (Norman Foster) she finds herself succumbing to his spontaneous style and marries him--only to find out on their honeymoon that he makes his "living" as a gambler.

He promises to reform but betrays her faith in him time and again. So when she finds herself pregnant she feels she has no choice but to cast him out and go it alone. Faced with mounting bills and prospect of giving birth to her child in poverty, she turns to gambling herself in a desperate attempt to reverse her fortunes.

19 year old Loretta Young is superb in this cautionary romantic tale; her combination of pluck and beauty make us root for her all the way. Winnie Lightner, playing her stalwart friend and defender Georgine, lends the story a down-to-earth realism as well as comic relief.

Gregg Toland's cinematography is crisp and economical--a highlight is the suspenseful scene that overlays a slow zooming in on Young's reactions over exciting footage of the horses at the track as her horse gains on the others in the race. Ray Enright's pacing of the story is masterful: the last ten minutes as things come to a head will keep you on the edge of your seat.

This general storyline has been filmed dozens of times--but Loretta Young's performance and the taut direction makes this one a keeper!

Sometimes I think Warner Bros. named these early 30's films just as quickly and casually as they filmed them. There is nothing in this film about "play-girls". Also, although Winnie Lightner is top billed, this is really Loretta Young's picture. Loretta plays Buster Green, a salesgirl in a department store who wants to eventually become a store buyer. She wants no part of marriage and especially motherhood since her own mother died in childbirth. As they say, life is what happens when you are making plans. Buster falls for and marries the charming Wally Dennis, who claims he is a salesman but is actually a professional gambler. She doesn't find out until after they are married about the gambling, but Wally promises to get a real job. Months later, Buster finds out she is pregnant and only then finds out Wally didn't actually get a job like he promised he would - he is still gambling.

Loretta Young does the same wonderful job with this material that I have come to expect from her as she runs the gamut of emotions from hope to disappointment and from anger to terror, and she is one of two reasons to watch the film. The second reason are the antics of top-billed Winnie Lightner, who is actually playing in support here in this, the twilight of her film career. She plays Buster's best friend, roommate, and coworker prior to Buster's marriage. Her comic one-liners and facial expressions are priceless. If you know much about her rather short film career, one of the funniest moments in the movie is when she is scrubbing the apartment bathroom at night while the song "Singin in the Bathtub" plays in the background. That was the song she sang in the Warner Brothers all-talking revue in 1929 - "The Show of Shows" - when she was at the top of her game. Lightner is also quite good opposite Guy Kibbee, who plays the store assistant manager who loves her and won't let her work in any of the store departments where she might meet a man she likes better than him.