Women of Glamour

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.

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.

This 1937 Columbia Pictures feature stars Virginia Bruce as the call girl (read hooker) with a heart of gold who falls in love with a rich guy. It's a part many of her contemporaries played and she does more than a decent job with it. The film is a remake of a remake, the nearest predecessor being Frank Capra's superb 1930 version of the story that made a star of Barbara Stanwyck. Bruce is a fine actress, but Barbara makes much more of the part, thanks in no small part to what you could say and do in those pre-Code days. The 1937 sanitized version palls in comparison, partly because it is only staged competently without Capra's flair by Gordon Wiles, a former art director like Mitch Leisen who directed. Melvin Douglas plays the rich boy/ painter to perfection, and is supported by a first rate cast: Reginald Dennis as the playboy drunk and others. Seeing Pert Kelton as the wise cracking, cynical gold digging roommate reminds us why she was Jackie Gleason's first choice for Alice Kramden.

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.