Havana Widows

"Havana Widows" is a film about a couple of chorus girls (Glenda Farrell and Joan Blondell) who have trouble making ends meet. However, when an old acquaintance tells them about a scheme to trick rich millionaires into breech of promise lawsuits, the pair head to Havana...the vacation hangout of the rich and fancy back in the day. Once there, they plan on trapping some poor sap and making him pay! Not exactly a decent or honorable couple of dames, huh?!

Considering how dishonorable and larcenous the women are in this film, you do wonder if Warner Brothers would have made this movie only a year later after the toughened Production Code was adopted. Probably NOT is what I think. But it is high energy as well as entertaining! Plus, having Allen Jenkins, Frank McHugh and Guy Kibbee on hand as supporting actors definitely elevates the quality and fun of this movie.

Blondell & Farrell are excellent. Blondell was edible. This was very funny and I laughed often throughout it. Great dialogue and its loaded with wisecracks. I could've watched it for hours. Tremendous fun to watch.

The intended humor is broad, rather than clever; familiar, rather than original; flat, rather than funny. All the ingredients of classic farce are here, except the wit that makes such farce classic. Allen Jenkins offers his usual dumb-dumb character. Frank McHugh does the supposedly comical screen drunkard - swaying, staggering, falling. Guy Kibbee...well. suffice to say that he plays the same role he did in practically every other picture. That leaves our leading ladies: chorus girls on the make Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell. A promising duo, but comedy teams work best when the performers are opposites, and here the girls play virtually identical characters. Their wisecracks don't have much snap, but then neither does the picture overall. Joan radiates her cheerful charm, as usual, despite being called upon to chew gum throughout. I think she removed it to eat, and during her wedding scene.

Two of the screen's best wisecracking blonds, Mae and Sadie (Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell), star as gold digging showgirls in "Havana Widows," a 1933 comedy also starring Lyle Talbot, Guy Kibbee, Allen Jenkins and Frank McHugh.

After being visited by an old friend who made her fortune in Cuba, thanks to a compromising situation and a sharp attorney (McHugh), two showgirls borrow $1500 from a friend, Herman (Jenkins).

In order to get the money, Herman buys into a complicated scheme involving an insurance policy and a check, which later blows up in his face. Meanwhile, the girls head for Havana.

There, they meet a rich, married mark (Guy Kibbee) and his broke son (Talbot) - who of course falls for Mae. The sharp attorney turns out to be a roaring drunk 24/7, and soon, Herman appears, trying to get his money back and running from his creditor. It makes for good fun.

This is a very light comedy with the fastest dialogue ever spoken, coming out Blondell's and Farrell's mouths like a machine gun. I'm sure the amount of speaking in "Havana Widows" would equal two of today's scripts.

The roles they play are common ones for them - streetwise, hard-working young women with dry wit and a desire for some of life's comforts. They're both very good, Blondell with her adorable Kewpie-doll face and curvy body, and Farrell with that unmistakable voice and delivery. They made a good team.

Frank McHugh is very funny as the attorney - in thirty years, he never changed, and in his last film, Easy Come, Easy Go, he is instantly recognizable. Allen Jenkins as the harried friend gives good support.

All in all, an enjoyable film, nothing groundbreaking.

If the Carry On films of the 60s and 70s were made in America and were made in the early 30s they wouldn't be that different from this. It's got that same feel of amiable silliness with absurd characters whom you know exactly how they're going to behave - because they do the same role in each film. It's sort of rubbish but actually really fun and entertaining to watch. Being from the early 30s however there's more of a 'cheer up everybody' theme going on which of course would have gone down well back then.

The plot is a little lame but that doesn't matter. What you're watching isn't to tax your brain or reveal any great secret of life - it's just an hour of fun. The story, about a couple of burlesque girls trying to chisel money out of rich men would be outrageous these days but back then when opportunities for girls like this to get a bit of money and in many ways, simply to survive in the Great Depression were incredibly hard, it was seen as quite acceptable. Indeed these girls are the heroes, the ones we're rooting for. That's made easier by them being Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell. That they find it so easy to lure these men from their wives is made unquestionably believable by the outfits Joan Blondell is just about wearing!

If you don't expect a memorable or deep film but just want a taste of early 30s fast-talking, frothy light entertainment with Joan Blondell looking amazing, this will definitely tickle your fancy.