O Benzinho de Todas

Even critics at the time thought this was rubbish but I loved this absurd, weirdly acted nonsense. There's something magical in its badness. Something charming in the way it really does take itself seriously.

Unlike so many awful very early talkies this is not unwatchable, terribly acted, static nor stagey, nor indeed a very early talkie anyway. This is a high budget feature - big(ish) stars, flashy sets and decent photography. It's still an awful film but somehow an entertaining and enjoyable one!

Paramount acquired the rights to film this popular novel originally intending it to be a Paul Lukas and Kay Francis vehicle. Then, to get their money's worth from their departing star they replaced Lukas with Bill Powell. To spice things up they threw in his then fiancé, Carole Lombard as Francis' love rival.

This is Bill Powell's last film for Paramount before his move to Warners. There, maybe because that studio was renowned for its penny pinching technique of using as little film stock as possible, ensuring every inch of film was crammed with as much dialogue as possible, they'd probably talk at about twice the speed they do in this. If this were a WB picture they'd have done it in about half an hour. It's the strangest style of directing I've ever seen and as the film progresses the talking gets even slower with longer and longer .......dramatic .......pauses.

Although an old film, it's not a really old film, so it shouldn't be like this - it feels like one of those very, very early talkies from the late twenties. A critic at the time explained this by suggesting that Mr Mendes couldn't direct. That's wrong, he just had his own rather unique technique. For example, how he makes his dramatic finale even more dramatic is to make the dramatic pauses even longer. At one point there are long pauses between eve....ry syl......a.......ble. If you can adjust your playback speed, try watching this at x1.5, it honestly seems more natural but still about 60% is pauses!

If you can overlook the atrocious direction, nonsensical plot and absurd script, you might enjoy this. Carol Lombard doesn't do much but William Powell, resplendent in top hat is more urbane than any human could be. Kay Francis takes sexiness to Jessica Rabbit levels - even wearing a dress similar to a Dalek suit I had when I was seven and carrying a giant hand muff which looks like she stole a roller from a car wash. This really is so bad it's good.

"I'm with you, and yet it seems as though you are alone." "I'm always alone."

William Powell plays a guy who is having an affair with both a married woman (Olive Tell) and her daughter at the same time (Carole Lombard), and yet he's given the appearance of being gentlemanly rather than lecherous, even after he meets and falls for yet another woman (Kay Francis). With the former two women he seems to have a resigned sense of calm, but with Francis's character, he truly lights up, excitedly telling her "I'm the little man who can show you this big city," and that they can spend the night together on the town:

"Dance a little. Drop in a musical piece. Catch an act at the opera. And then a midnight flight above the city. We could turn the plane over and over. The town would go round like a wheel with you sitting on the hub. You'll never know New York until you see it as the moon sees it. Then a nightclub or two and out in time to catch the sunrise somewhere along the Hudson. Ah, the sun does some of its very nicest rising around here."

He's nonplussed when with this potential new love interest he runs into the mother in one restaurant, and then the daughter, who is intoxicated, at another. Lombard is hilarious playing a miserable drunk, and it's probably the highlight of the film. As she goes on and on, embarrassing him, he asks "Rachel, will you do me a big favor?" to which she slurs "Do you any flavor, honey." I also loved how she delivered her last line at the restaurant, "Never mind, I'll handle it," which seemed so modern. She then shows up at Powell's apartment, and in a very nice bit of acting, threatens to kill herself if he doesn't marry her. To her brother who turns up and wants to get out of there she says "Home? Let you make you make an entrance with the erring sister and a couple hallelujahs? Ha ha, and ha," emphasizing the ha's. It was in all of these moments where the film had the most life.

That's not to say that Francis and Powell didn't have chemistry; just look at the way she looks at him when they plan to get married. The trouble is it doesn't go very far before everything crashes down around him when the husband finds out he's been cuckolded. The pacing in the film doesn't help either, as most of it seems to be moving slowly, dampening any sense of passion.

The film takes its most unfortunate turn when it spends energy justifying Powell's character. First we have Lombard's character saying that any woman who gets used by him only has herself to blame, which is soon followed by Powell defending himself to Francis, saying he's a moral as anyone else because he's honest about what he does, and that ever since he was young, he simply discovered he could make money through the attention of women. He's lonely despite all the attention he gets and knows he's "low and unspeakable" for his actions, and is thus portrayed as a reluctant, honorable gigolo of sorts.

It's remarkable how much he's allowed to be the good guy here, to appear like a dignified gentleman for being a "kept man," when we know how women would be portrayed in the reverse case, and certainly not allowed to eloquently justify themselves. On the other hand, in a similar way to the fate of many such women in film, Powell's character does pay a price for his "sinful" life. The film would have been better had he had at least a bit of rascal in him, but it seemed like it wanted to neutralize as many aspects of what was a sordid concept as possible. That's true all the way up to that nauseating final line from Francis, trying to put some kind of happy face on the ending.

Every now and then a truly unusual film from the early thirties resurfaces which proves to be a revelation. "The Ladies Man" definitely fits that description. Mature, sophisticated, intelligent and uncompromising, to watch "The Ladies Man" is a breath of fresh air for anyone who is used to finding most of the movies produced in the early talky era crude, formulaic claptrap with "a happy ending".

William Powell is one of my favorite actors, and in this silkenly produced 1931 Paramount bauble he gives a startling world-weary, downbeat, and even tragic performance. He plays an unrepentant gigolo who seems all too aware his dissipated lifestyle dooms him somehow, he just doesn't know when the other shoe is going to drop. Kay Francis was never more appealing and glamorous, and Carole Lombard gives perhaps the first great performance of her career, playing a drunken playgirl driven nearly crazy by her mixed feelings towards Powell's strangely sympathetic cad. To say more would be to spoil a well-directed, well-paced film.

Definitely recommended for anyone with adult tastes and looking for something that's not the same-old same-old.

Although the acting is very good in "Ladies' Man", the film has one huge strike against it....you don't care very much for the main character. In some stories, this doesn't matter but for a romance, that's a significant problem!

Jamie (William Powell) is a gigolo who is romancing BOTH a woman (Carole Lombard) AND her mother at the same time! Now that really takes nerve! But what takes even more nerve is his beginning to date a third person (Kay Francis) at the same time! The daughter (Lombard) is pretty unstable and you can't help but think bad things will come of all this.

As I already said, the acting is very good and the story isn't bad. But you can't help but not care very much about Jamie or his exploits, as this guy uses women and has no interest in working and having a real job. Enjoying the high life off of women is his only goal in life....though meeting Norma (Francis) shakes his resolve. Watchable and interesting but no more.

This is precode, which I find interesting at the movies moved from silent to talkie/precode and then talkies with ratings/warnings.

I liked this movie, and would watch it once.

Powell always holds his own, and he didn't want to do this movie. Still, it is solid, and when you have these three actors, they will deliver compelling performances. It also approaches tough topics; it is almost a classy soap opera. This film features some pretty sordid choices as to what someone has decided to do with their lives.

The downside is that the love interests some times fall in love within a day, which makes it not so plausible. It weakens the viewer's investment in the characters. It's just not as believable.

I still enjoyed it and Powell commits; Lombard plays a very believable drunk at times; Kay Francis facial expressions and commitment are in depth. I enjoyed seeing these wonderful actors.