Quatre femmes à la recherche du bonheur

"Ladies in Love" is a light comedy romance set in Budapest in the 1920s. The best thing about it is a cast loaded with talent of the day. Most of the cast were well established on the silver screen, but a couple were early in their careers. While the plot is light and just fairly interesting, the cast makes it worth watching. That's so especially for movie buffs, who know and recognize a considerable list of actors and actresses. This film affords an opportunity to see several of them in their early years of the sound era. And, most of the roles are good.

Janet Gaynor and Loretta Young give the best performances as Martha and Susie, respectively. Constance Bennett's Yoli Haydn has been on the party circuit with wealthy men who come to the city for short periods of leisure and enjoyment. She joins the other two so the three can pool their funds to afford an upscale apartment while they work and party with men until each finds her "mister right."

Yoli is waiting for the rich guy who will deck her with jewels, and while she is escorting one now, she doesn't want to bare her feelings toward him because he will be returning to South America and his mines in the wilds. Susie would like to be able to have her own ladies shop and then meet a Prince Charming who will sweep her off her feet. Martha is the more practical one who wants a man she can love and care for, who will love her in return, and provide a home and family.

A fourth woman enters the story in Simone Simon as Marie Armand. She's 26 years old but plays an older teenager. Simon made three dozen movies in America and Europe before she quit acting in middle age.

The story has some drama as well, but the light nature persists as these women meet the various men who will be in their lives - and then out of them for a couple. The best comedy by far occurs between Gaynor's Martha and two men in her life. Don Ameche plays a young psychologist, Dr. Rudi Imre; and Alan Mowbray plays a master magician, Paul Sandor. Paul Lukas has the largest male role as John Barta, the South American mining mogul, who has come to Budapest to find a wife. Tyrone Power is a young duke and acquaintance of Barta.

Surprisingly, most of this cast had a considerable portfolio by 1936. One of them had already won an Oscar - Janet Gaynor in 1929. Loretta Young was the youngest female of the cast - just 23, but she had more films than any of the rest to her credit - 65 since she began in silent films as a child star. She would win an Oscar in 1948 and add two Golden Globes and three Emmys to her career honors.

Two of the men would also win Oscars in their careers. Paul Lukas was the oldest member of the cast at 41, and he would win an Oscar in 1944. Don Ameche is one of the newcomers - having made just four films before this. But his star would rise fast and he would win an Oscar late in his career - in 1986. Of the remaining cast, Tyrone Power was in just his sixth film, and the 22-year-old within a year would become the leading male in all of his pictures, and a super star by the time of his early death from a heart attack at age 44 in 1958.

Power and Young would be in half a dozen movies together. Ameche and Young were in half a dozen; and all three where in two films. Another reviewer noted a sort of surprise ending for this film. Well, it's not the usual Hollywood happy ending, but it seems about right for the people here. It's not sad, but more down to earth and real.

Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Martha Kerenye, "What he does takes just as much science as raising rabbits." Dr. Rudi Imre, "I'm using these for experiments. That's not raising them." Martha, "Well, you started with only two and now you've got 24." Dr. Imre, "Well, that's only a biological coincidence."

Martha Kerenye, "And you're gonna try and explain my feelings to me!" Dr. Rudi Imre, "Well don't you wanna be able to understand your emotional responses?" Martha, "I do understand them." Dr. Imre, "Not thoroughly. See, what we have is a fairly common occurrence. Young woman - type B, with maternal instincts. Comes in contact with masculine type B - temperamental, but exotic personality. Result - young woman is dazzled. Her original drive to protect is transferred into romantic love. It's profoundly simple." Martha, "I am not dazzled." Dr. Imre, "Oh yes, you are. But you don't know it."

My husband and I watched this movie last night and really enjoyed it. The plot was intriguing and the acting was surprisingly superb, especially Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett and Alan Mowbray as the magician. These three actors aren't as well known to modern audiences as Loretta Young, Tyrone Power and Paul Lukas; however, their performances in this film carry the film and give much greater depth and subtlety to the movie.

We couldn't believe we had never heard of this movie before. I've read some of the more negative reviews on this website, and I don't agree with them. I recommend that you give this movie a try. It is most definitely NOT a screwball comedy or lightweight film like "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire." One reviewer mentioned the "European" feel of the film. It is set in Budapest, Hungary and it is true to the mores of the place and time. An excellent movie! If for no other reason, please watch it so that you can better appreciate Alan Mowbray, who is so underused in "My Man Godfrey" and is not remembered much for his great supporting role as the butler in "Merrily We Live."

This is an interesting 1936 film starring Constance Bennett, Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young, Paul Lukas, Don Ameche, and Tyrone Power. Set in Budapest, it concerns three young women who get an apartment together. All wish for love and happiness but soon learn that the course of true love never does run smooth.

And neither does the course of stardom, as the featured stars in this film would soon be replaced by a younger crowd. The Bennett-Lukas affair and Gaynor's adventures with Don Ameche and her magician boss take center stage, while Loretta Young's romance with Tyrone Power gets short shrift.

The film provides an excellent showcase for Don Ameche, Power, and Young, all of whom would take over the star roster at Fox within the next two years.

Power is flawlessly gorgeous and is delightful with Young. This obviously was not lost on 20th Century Fox as the studio would star the two in four films over the next three years.

Bennett and Gaynor were two very early stars, and by 1941, Bennett was doing second leads; Gaynor had her last steady work in films in 1938.

"Ladies in Love" has a great feel to it with its Budapest background, European-based stories being so popular in the '30s, and there are some wonderful performances. Bennett is beautiful and glamorous as the one who's been around the block and Gaynor petite and lively as she carries on a love/hate relationship with Ameche.

Simone Simon has a role as a kittenish young woman who arrives at Lukas' apartment as a cousin by marriage. She looks like she's about 16, but in reality, the actress was 25.

However, she is playing someone who is in school, and I found her relationship with Lukas a little disconcerting. She was probably supposed to be 18.

All in all, an entertaining film signaling a changing of the guard at Fox.

An early example of Darryl Zanuck's favorite formula: three young ladies share an apartment [see THREE BLIND MICE, MOON OVER MIAMI, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING]. This time the setting for their various romantic difficulties is Budapest. Squeaky-voiced Janet Gaynor gets top billing as a poor girl who hawks neckties on streetcorners but also feeds rabbits for young doctor Don Ameche and still has time to perform valet duty for self-absorbed magician Alan Mowbray. Over-eager Loretta Young, on the other hand, obsesses over wealthy nobleman Tyrone Power. As a sophisticated gold-digger, Constance Bennett has the best role, allowing her to underplay effectively. Her plot thread involves an affair with wealthy Paul Lukas, complicated by the unexpected arrival of Simone Simon [who is introduced as a nymphet in a sailor suit]. With all these comic/romantic/tragic ingredients [poison is also involved], this stew is not completely digestible. However, despite awkward shifts in tone and rather flat lighting, it remains interesting as a showcase for a variety of film personalities, some on the rise and some not. Ironically, the most striking performance comes from a subsidiary character: Wilfrid Lawson, who implies an entire world of sophistication in his few scenes as an aging playboy.

Starting off with a bit of perhaps heresy to some, I have never understood the appeal of Janet Gaynor, and this did not help. However, though the long-shot and quirkiest character here, hers was the lucky ticket that paid off. It is interesting to see the former box-office dominating Bennett underbilled to Loretta Young, whose star was on the rise. They say Ms. Young's fan mail always abounded, something the execs kept a close eye on. Despite that, she has a thankless part here, the heir apparent to the young nobleman's second billing, having already been aligned with a worthy marriage candidate, likely by family design. With Young's character, he was shopping for the extracurricular interest in advance. However, it's more the personality type chosen for this character that did not fit Ms. Young, who seemed off balance playing off balance, being more effective as a more self-assured type. Ms. Bennett had the best part and did well enough. The screenwriter(s) did not play true to type and time here in that they only rewarded one of the three young hopefuls, the other two left to gracefully bow out of the venture at the end, perhaps some the wiser. The production values along with interesting players form the lifeline of this one, the script needing recessitation from the beginning, but never receiving it.