Bed of Roses (1933)

Lorry and Minnie are ex-hookers who leave prison, determined to find the good life with rich men. Along the way Lorry meets and falls in love with cotton barge owner Dan. She must choose ... See full summary »

Director:

Gregory La Cava

Writers:

Wanda Tuchock (by), Gregory La Cava (dialogue by),

Stars:

Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, John Halliday

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Constance Bennett	...	Lorry Evans
Joel McCrea	...	Dan
John Halliday	...	Stephen Paige
Pert Kelton	...	Minnie
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Father Doran (as Samuel Hinds)
Franklin Pangborn	...	Floorwalker
Tom Herbert	...	Salesman (as Tom Francis)

Storyline

Lorry and Minnie are ex-hookers who leave prison, determined to find the good life with rich men. Along the way Lorry meets and falls in love with cotton barge owner Dan. She must choose between living on a barge with her love, risking his learning about her past, and remaining the mistress of wealthy Stephen Paige.

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Plot Keywords:

barge | prison | mistress | cotton | mississippi river | 

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Taglines:

The girl who took a shortcut down the primrose path!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 July 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lecho de rosas

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

67 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Same theme music is used in The Lady Takes a Sailor.

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Quotes

Lorry Evans: Minnie!
[spotting Minnie's wedding ring]
Minnie: I had to give in sometime, you see the hips was gettin' away from me. You know, I can't stand obesity.
Lorry Evans: You can't stand what?
Minnie: Let it go.

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Soundtracks

"Can't Yo' Heah Me Callin' Caroline?"
(1914) (uncredited)
Music by Caro Roma
Lyric by William H. Gardner
Sung offscreen by the crew on Dan's barge

User Reviews

The dirtiest 15 minutes you'll ever see from the 1930's!

I have watched many movies of the 1930's and I think I can make the following statement in clear conscience: the first 15 minutes of 1933's "Bed of Roses" is the dirtiest sequence of main stream film to grace the screen for the next 25 years! Wow, it is awesome. The great Constance Bennett, and her hooker partner Minnie, both just out of jail, need a ride to New Orleans. Minnie cozies up to a truck driver, asks for a ride, he says "what's your offer?" Then, a minute later, Bennett sidles up, and Minnie asks her, "can you drive?"! Implied yet relatively explicit is the suggestion that Minnie will be "paying off" the driver in the back of the truck! Wow! Then, once on the riverboat, the two girls are short of cash, so Minnie quite obviously whispers a rude offer into the steward's ear. He rejects the offer, but she doesn't mind - "nothing personal" she declaims. Judy Garland never behaved this way with Mickey Rooney over at MGM!

Folks, I am ever-grateful that the "Code" forced Hollywood to keep its movies very clean for 2 or 3 decades: the art of that period will never be surpassed again. But taking this path makes all those slightly naughty movies of the early 30's that much more fascinating and wonderful to see, like they got away with something, and we are the beneficiaries of that daring.

Another interesting decision the director makes is to take about 15 minutes worth of early action, which takes place on the Mississippi River, and have it all occur in a quite heavy fog. The hazy sheen in which the actors perform is noteworthy for how long this goes on for. Again, daring and interesting.

Constance Bennett is fantastically seductive, cynical, world-weary and manipulative. Joel McCrea is great being himself. And Samuel Hinds, one of my favorite minor character actors, with his perpetually silvery hair, is his usual fatherly best.

A great one from the early days, not to be missed, even if not one of the characters has a Louisiana accent.