The tough Wynne Gibson is the live-in girlfriend of brutish William Gargan who goes to prison for beating up cops in a riot at the restaurant where Gibson works. Now fired, she is kicked out of her room by landlady Jane Darwell. Pal Zasu Pitts, a maid, allows Gibson to sleep in one of the rooms where she works while its tenant, Charles Farrell, is out. Gibson, sort of a modern day Snow White (who obviously drifted), is sound asleep when Farrell comes in, and feeling sorry for her, Farrell allows her to stay. In return, she decides to help him find a job by becoming tougher. But when Gargan gets out of prison, the two are in for trouble!
This is the prototype for what made movies so fun before Will Hays came in with his scissors, filled with innuendos throughout and so many witty lines. The script basically burlesques the tough dialog of depression era New York, and Gibson goes to town with lines like "Life begins and ends in the bed. And then some." and "Quit talking like a lollipop. Put some words with hair on them." Even the hand-wringing Pitts gets into the act, quipping with "I figure men are like trees. The more you tap them, the faster the sap comes out." Pitts sums up Gibson's situation with "You may think you're in love with two men, but one of them is just indigestion." Gibson, who stole her brief scene in the all-star "If I Had a Million" as an obvious prostitute who chooses to take her millions, rent a darkened hotel room, and sleep alone, has a presence of nobody else from this era, although it is obvious that she was modeled on Mae West. Farrell, free from those sunny Janet Gaynor musicals at Fox, gets to explore two sides of his character, and Pitts makes the most of every moment she is on screen as well.
The opening credits of the elevated train going through the lower east side of Manhattan are a visual treasure. You won't run into Leo Gorcey or Huntz Hall in this part of the Bowery!
This is the prototype for what made movies so fun before Will Hays came in with his scissors, filled with innuendos throughout and so many witty lines. The script basically burlesques the tough dialog of depression era New York, and Gibson goes to town with lines like "Life begins and ends in the bed. And then some." and "Quit talking like a lollipop. Put some words with hair on them." Even the hand-wringing Pitts gets into the act, quipping with "I figure men are like trees. The more you tap them, the faster the sap comes out." Pitts sums up Gibson's situation with "You may think you're in love with two men, but one of them is just indigestion." Gibson, who stole her brief scene in the all-star "If I Had a Million" as an obvious prostitute who chooses to take her millions, rent a darkened hotel room, and sleep alone, has a presence of nobody else from this era, although it is obvious that she was modeled on Mae West. Farrell, free from those sunny Janet Gaynor musicals at Fox, gets to explore two sides of his character, and Pitts makes the most of every moment she is on screen as well.
The opening credits of the elevated train going through the lower east side of Manhattan are a visual treasure. You won't run into Leo Gorcey or Huntz Hall in this part of the Bowery!