Skyscraper Souls

Story about a 100 story skyscraper in New York--David Dwight (Warren William) helped finance the building but is running out of money. He needs more and will do anything to get it. Other characters in the movie are Jenny (Anita Page) a model who openly sleeps with guys for money; sweet virginal Lynn (Maureen O'Sullivan); Tom (Norman Foster) who loves Lynn--but Dwight wants her too; Sarah Dennis (Verree Teasdale) who is Dwight's mistress and Myra (Helen Coburn) who loves her husband but he can't find work..and Slim (Wallace Ford) wants her.

As you can see there are multiple story lines crisscrossing each other. The movie moves quick and is pre-Code meaning it was pretty open about adultery, sex, suicide and murder. Nothing TOO racy by today's standards (the TV rating is G) but pretty strong for 1932. The acting is good--William, O'Sullivan, Page and Teasdale come off best. No masterpiece of cinema but quick, fun and well worth searching out--TCM shows it occasionally. An 8.

Made before "the code" removed all "offensive" material from American movies, Skyscraper Souls combines the social commentary of a Warner Bros. film, the class of an MGM production, and the sleaziness of a pulp novel. Warren Williams, a great but sadly overlooked actor, is perfect as the nice-but-slimy David Dwight, bank entrepreneur, who has built a 100-story monument to himself and doesn't have the $30,000,000 to pay for it. How he gets the money and what happens to those who unwittingly fall into his trap, constitutes the main thrust of the narrative. The film is full of diverse characters, all trying to eek out a living in the towering Dwight Bldg. The many plotlines cross and criss-cross, and the end is more realistic than one would expect from a "Hollywood" film. Watch for it on TCM, or on Laserdisc, in the "Forbidden Hollywood" set.

Ultra charming megalomaniac David Dwight (played by Warren William at his most dastardly) will stop at nothing to realize his dream of having total control of New York's tallest (it dwarfs the Empire State Building a few clouds down) skyscraper. By way of style and guile he leads investors into a trap in order to solidify his power base. A bit of a lecher as well he manages to seduce a new secretary who happens to be the niece of his executive secretary / mistress. Exuding ultra confidence Dwight triumphs in both arenas but soon finds himself out on a precarious ledge.

William plays Dwight with passionate bravado and gentle understanding. He charms everyone, including the audience for the first hour as he turns it on for investors and lovers with devastating results. His drive and ambition however bring out the Mr. Hyde in him as he callously jettisons both to achieve aim. William's, pitch perfect snake is greatly aided by William Daniel's cinematography which captures the strikingly lit futuristic slick and sleek interiors provided by Cedric Gibbons and company creating an ideal stage for Dwight's messianic harangues and seductions.

The supporting cast led by Gregory Ratoff, Verree Teasdale and Anita Page down to the minor supporting roles of duped investors are substantive and crucial. The film's biggest misstep is the handling of comic relief through Norman Foster's Harold Llyod like bank teller Romeo. Granted the film is dark but Forster (who would eventually go on to become the most commercially successful film director in history) is little more than obnoxiously abrasive and an annoying distraction.

In addition to the fine cast and luridly engrossing story line there is some powerful exterior imagery that makes for a powerhouse climax as well as the surrealistic image of the newly erected, inferior sized Empire that still has the same impact today.

Made prior to film censorship, Skyscraper Souls allows the conniving Dwight to vividly display his duplicity with élan and without regret. Released during the bleakest days of The Depression it is an uncompromisingly dark portrait for its time that still resonates eight decades later amid investment house failures and in personages that run from Trump to Madoff.

Although Skyscraper Souls develops several good characters, the primary focus is on Warren William the ruthless William Randolph Hearst like tycoon who is obsessed with not only building, but totally owning the world's tallest skyscraper. To emphasize the point of how big this building is, the New York City background shows the newly constructed Empire State Building quite a few feet shorter than Warren William's edifice.

All the other characters in the film revolve around William like so many planets to his sun. Beginning with of course his long suffering wife Hedda Hopper and this may very well have been her best acting part, before she became one of the reigning gossip columnists of movie land. Hedda's not even trying to hold on to him other than financially, Warren just writes her check as she needs in and she keeps her free spending ways. The Marion Davies of the story is Verree Teasdale, William's eternal secretary/mistress who knows where all the bodies are buried in his business. A young woman working as a stenographer in his bank, Maureen O'Sullivan has captured William's attention, but Teasdale watches her like a mother hen and Teasdale's the jealous type. Young bank teller Norman Foster is courting Maureen, but he hasn't a prayer with William intruding on the picture.

These are the personal associates, but the business ones are also revolve around William as he is determined to break any one who wants to gain control of his building. Chief among his rivals is George Barbier who is quite the rich womanizer himself, but is hardly in William's class for brains.

Coming out in 1932 I'm not sure how the movie-going public took to this story about the rich playing with stocks, so many lost their own nest eggs to just such speculation. William is the kind of tycoon people loved to hate that year.

The climax of Skyscraper Souls comes at a big price for William. He gets his edifice, but loses everything else. Let's just say it's quite the melodramatic ending, but still effective. Although the film is firmly dated in the Great Depression, Skyscraper Souls will still grab you by the emotions and by the wallet.

Skyscraper Souls is a witty and provocative look at business in the early 1930's. Full of risque and snappy comments, the movie is a fascinating look at a building and how its builder worked to keep it.

The cast is brilliant led by Warren William as an astute but unscrupulous banker. Verree Teasdale is very sharp as Williams' lovely adminstrative aide. Her mature attitude towards Williams' advances is a highlight of the picture. She accepts that she will never be his wife, even though she loves him. He is too busy maintaining appearences, even though his wife and he are never together. Hedda Hopper is delightful as the wife who maintains a relationship from another continent, but comes to see William for money from time to time.

A subplot involving Maureen O'Sullivan and Norman Foster is rather annoying.

There is social commentary here as the workers in the building attempt to make a living while the big businessmen play with millions of dollars.

The movie is sexy too. A scene with Jean Hersholt and Anita Page is very suggestive as are some scenes with Warren William and Verree Teasdale.

Overall, the movie is very interesting and moves very quickly.