Women of Glamour

Virginia Bruce, one of those WOMEN OF GLAMOUR who go out to parties with rich (and generally inebriated) guys like Reginald Denny when they aren't dancing in some nightclub chorus, becomes a model for rich, moody artist Melvyn Douglas, and falls in love with the surly lout (who is a good guy, because he does not paw her like the usual surly artist). Even though she comes up short in the breeding/class department, will she end up with the guy, even though society disapproves?

This is one of those mid-30s, slightly on the cheap remakes, that littered the schedules of the studios in those days. In this case, the Production Code makes a hash of the original plot of the Frank Capra opus, Ladies of Leisure, and Virginia Bruce makes a well-dressed, but nonetheless messy hash of the role that was originally portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck. What's left is some nice sets, some nice dresses, some rather campy "Unite Against the Oppressors" artwork purportedly painted by Douglas, and a plot that goes nowhere in particular. The movie isn't terrible, but it is rather dull, and it is not screaming out for rediscovery. Bruce, Douglas and Denny all have done the shtick they do here in far better films.

Melvyn Douglas is a painter who wants to paint something important. At a party where he unveils his latest, he's disgusted by its lack of meaning. He goes off driving, only to run into Virginia Bruce, a hardened showgirl, fleeing from a wild party. Sh drives him home and he asks her to model for him. As she does so, and he talks about the philosophy behind the painting, about beauty arising from generous thoughts, they begin to fall in love.

This is the third version of LADIES OF LESIURE. It's well acted by all hands, including Reginald Denny as the rich drunk who makes a play for Miss Bruce, and Pert Kelton as her even more cynical friend. Denuded of its Precode wildness, though, there's little to show of the ugliness of the high life save the indistinct figures in the painting's background. Director Gordon Wiles can dress a beautiful set, but he can't bring anything superior to the movie, which remains a standard Code-Era romantic comedy, entertaining on its own terms, but lacking any depth.

A dissatisfied artist (Melvyn Douglas) finds new inspiration from a cynical, chance-met showgirl (Virginia Bruce). But will her modelling for him lead to more than just art?

This is a flat, light romantic drama, an anemic remake of Frank Capra's pre-Code Ladies of Leisure. Bruce has the impossible task of following in Barbara Stanwyck's footsteps, all of the pre-Code edges in the original version have been sanitized into blandness, and Capra's storytelling verve is sorely missing from this re-do. Douglas was the only element here that was an upgrade from the original, but even then there's still not much of a spark between our two leads.

Women of Glamour, the title alone caught my attention. Not sure exactly what I was expecting based on the title alone but it wasn't what that title conjured up in my mind. There were two main women and a couple dashes of glamour, but not really all that. The story is one that has been covered in film literally hundreds of time, and a few I can think of were more interesting than this particular version. Yjod one didn't really go very deep and was rather surface tension only. Oh, the acting was solid all-around, the sets and costumes, while not exactly distinct, were satisfactory. Women of Glamour was rather average, but still could be worth checking out for the truly curious.

Many folks have complained that Hollywood relies way too much on remakes. Well, this phenomenon is not just a recent thing and in the 1930s and 40s, films were routinely remade. Sometimes it was because the story was originally a silent movie and a talking remake seemed reasonable...but often films were remade simply because it was a cheap and quick way to milk more out of story. Often, the remakes did little to improve on the original...and I wondered if "Women of Glamour" was better than its 1930 version, "Ladies of Leisure"...a film which was actually a remake of a silent 1926 version. Well, I have never seen the silent version but I loved the 1930 one...and just assumed I'd prefer it to the 1937 flick. Could I be wrong? I often am, as my wife and daughters will be only too happy to tell you!

The story is about a tempermental high society artist falling for his lower-class model. Unfortunately, his friends and family are not thrilled with this and make it tough on the newlyweds.

In some ways, this remake is good and in others it isn't. The original remake (1930) was directed by Frank Capra and starred Barbara Stanwyck...and the direction and starring lady clearly were better than the 1937 version. Virginia Bruce is okay...but it's hard to compare her to Stanwyck. However, Melvyn Douglas also stars in the 37 film...and he's nice though VERY restrained compared to his usual persona. The direction of the latter film isn't as good and the melodrama seems a bit overwrought towards the end of the film. Overall, the good in the 1930 version easily outweighs the good in this remake...so why not just watch the earlier one?

By the way, Bruce's comic sidekick, Pert Kelton, became famous later for playing the first Alice Kramden on "The Jackie Gleason Show". She was later dropped due to her leftist past...a victim of the Red Scare.