Mulheres de Negócios

Such a predictable and creaky old film really shouldn't be as entertaining as this!

It's the lightest of light comedies and being made in 1931 with a low budget, it's far from visually stunning however it's actually quite fun.

Big Business Girl seems to be primarily an excuse to show how crazily pretty Loretta Young is and in that respect it's unquestionably successful. If a computer was programmed to create the sweetest, most beautiful girl possible, Loretta Young would probably be the result. She's only eighteen in this but the fact that she is lusted after by an older man, her boss, kind of legitimises us chaps being allowed to stare. She is definitely however not just a pretty face, certainly in this, she is an exceptional actress and manages not just to carry this unremarkable story single handedly but also makes it very watchable.

The first ten minutes are so awfully lame you will be tempted to switch it off but don't, stick with it - it does get better. Director William Sieter eventually picks up the pace and turns what starts out looking like it's going to be a bland melodrama into quite an engaging and lively comedy-drama.

The last ten minutes when Joan Blondell finally arrives is worth the wait. All of a sudden this film transforms itself again from that lightweight comedy-drama into something brilliantly funny; the scene with Joan on piano, fag in mouth, is hilarious - you will have a smile on your face as the credits roll.

It's funny, but for a movie made back in 'the good old days', it's amazingly sleazy--filled with sexual innuendo from start to finish. When the film begins, you learn that Claire (Loretta Young) and Johnny (Frank Albertson) have been 'playing house' (an old euphemism for living together). Now that they are finishing up in college, he has a job offer to take the band to Paris and she wants to stay home and be a career girl. At first, it's tough going for Claire--after all, it's the Depression and jobs are scarce. Eventually, however, she gets a job as a secretary and does quite well. In fact, she's soon made an executive at the advertising agency--partly because of talent and partly because her boss, Mr. Clayton (Ricardo Cortez) thinks she has nice legs! Once in this high-paying position, Claire seems to spend most of her time avoiding going to bed with Clayton--as Clayton is the ultimate horn-dog and CONSTANTLY sexually harasses her.

Johnny arrives home early from Paris and is shocked to see his girl is a business woman. However, they both get off on the wrong foot and soon they are arguing about pretty much everything. Clayton uses this as an excuse to butt in--and he really starts putting a lot of pressure on Claire to either sleep with him or marry him (quite the romantic, isn't he?!). What's next? See it and find out for yourself.

It's interesting that although the film is jam-packed with sexuality, nice girl Claire manages to remain rather pure (other than living with Johnny when the film began). In other words, it's a case of the old expression 'all tease, no please'--as the film seems pretty dirty but nothing especially ever happens. There are lots of folks who think adultery is a new national sport and the film seems to think the subject is quite funny. And, the adultery scenes with Joan Blondell (playing a VERY unusual small part in the film) at the end are pretty funny at that! All in all, a rather salacious film--the sort of thing that was pretty popular in the early 1930s before the toughened Production Code was enacted in 1934. Thereafter, a film such as "Big Business Girl" would either have to be heavily re-written and cleaned up or simply not made at all. An odd little curio that is mildly interesting but not sleazy enough to make it a must-see (such as Loretta's "Platinum Blonde").

... and especially for a Warner Brothers precode. The theme of the story is pretty familiar - boy (Frank Albertson) and girl (Loretta Young) are tight in college but get separated by more than physical distance after graduation, despite their best intentions. Meanwhile, in each case, more worldly people of the opposite sex (Ricardo Cortez and Dorothy Christy) move in and wreak havoc on the relationship, helped along by a generous helping of pride on the part of both boy and girl.

As expected Loretta is lovely, Ricardo is a rat, and that saucy tart Joan Blondell makes the last 10 minutes worth the wait. I know she didn't write those lines, but only she could deliver them so memorably. Best precode scene (non-Blondell that is) - Loretta Young being surprised by boyfriend Johnny's return from Paris while running around her apartment in her underwear. They carry on a casual conversation - she's still in her underwear - as she puts on her makeup and he buffs her bare back with a powder puff. Only in the precode era! The final scene with Blondell is somewhat annoying for reasons that the director could not have been aware of without a crystal ball. As a nervous Frank Albertson talks to card-carrying correspondent (as in divorce) Joan Blondell, the camera spends much of its time focused on Frank Albertson even when Joan is talking. Hard to believe, but for the brief sliver of time in which this film was made, Frank Albertson was a leading man and Joan Blondell was still only a supporting player, so at the time this cinematography actually made sense. Today, the whole thing is like having a billboard blocking a beautiful view.

I'd recommend this one for fans of precode and especially fans of Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, or Joan Blondell.

Big Business Girl (1931)

** (out of 4)

A smart and sexy college girl (Loretta Young) goes to the big city to make good money but once getting there she realizes it takes a nice pair of legs, more than brains, to get anywhere. The girl uses her legs to start moving up but when her boss starts coming onto her this doesn't make the husband very happy. Here's another pre-code dealing with (at the time) "women trying to be men". The story is pretty flat but Young and the cast manage to keep things going throughout. There are some nice pre-code elements at the start of the film including a college party where all the couples are in the backseats of their cars.

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.