Havana Widows (1933)

Two golddiggers go fishing for millionaires in Havana.

Director:

Ray Enright

Writer:

Earl Baldwin (screenplay)

Stars:

Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbee

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Joan Blondell	...	Mae Knight
Glenda Farrell	...	Sadie Appleby
Guy Kibbee	...	Deacon R. Jones
Allen Jenkins	...	Herman Brody
Lyle Talbot	...	Bob Jones
Frank McHugh	...	Mr. Duffy, the Lawyer
Ruth Donnelly	...	Mrs. Emily Jones
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Mr. Otis, Invincible Insurance
Ralph Ince	...	G.W. 'Butch' O'Neill
Maude Eburne	...	Mrs. Ryan, the Landlady
George Cooper	...	Paymaster Mullins
Charles C. Wilson	...	Mr. Timberg (as Charles Wilson)

Storyline

Mae and Sadie, impecunious chorus girls, chisel some money from an admirer and head for Havana to "dig gold" among the millionaires. Posing as rich widows, they prepare to fleece wealthy Deacon Jones, but his penniless son Bob catches Mae's eye. The whole enterprise is endangered when Herman, their original cash source, shows up...

---

Plot Keywords:

chorus girl | drunkenness | insurance | gambling | lawyer | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 November 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Viúvas de Havana

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

62 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the girls arrive in Havana, Glenda's scarf/collar keeps changing the way it is draped, buttoned over the left, and buttoned over the right, back and forth, several times.

---

Quotes

Sadie Appleby: You're not so low you have to let em throw pennies at ya!
Mae Knight: Throw em? In Passaic, they use slinghots.

---

Connections

Referenced in Complicated Women (2003)

---

Soundtracks

"Pretty Lady"
(uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Played during the opening chorus line scene

User Reviews

Misses Blondell & Farrell Go Cuban For Comedy

Two hard-luck but crafty ladies decide to act like HAVANA WIDOWS by sailing to Cuba to meet & blackmail rich gentlemen...

This was the sort of ephemeral comic frippery which the studios produced quite effortlessly during the 1930's. Well made & highly enjoyable, Depression audiences couldn't seem to get enough of these popular, funny photo dramas.

Joan Blondell & Glenda Farrell are perfectly cast as the frantic, fast-talking females who will go to great lengths to make a little dishonest dough. Although Joan gets both top billing and the romantic scenes, both gals are as talented & watchable as they are gorgeous.

Handsome Lyle Talbot plays Joan's persistent suitor, but he's given relatively little to do. Chubby, cherubic Guy Kibbee appears as the girls' intended target. Whether awakening to find himself in the wrong bed or being chased across the roof of a Cuban hacienda in his long johns, he is equally hilarious. Behind him comes a rank of character actors - Allen Jenkins, Frank McHugh, Ruth Donnelly, Hobart Cavanaugh, Maude Eburne, Dewey Robinson - all equally adept at pleasing the toughest crowd.

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited James Murray as the suspicious bank teller with the forged check. This very talented actor was pulled out of complete obscurity to star in King Vidor's THE CROWD (1928), one of the silent era's most prestigious films. Hopes were high for a great career, but his celebrity faded quickly with sound pictures. After a long string of tiny roles & bit parts, broke & destitute, his life ended in the waters of a New York river in 1936. He was only 35 years old.

While never stars of the first rank, Joan Blondell (1906-1979) & Glenda Farrell (1904-1971) enlivened scores of films at Warner Bros. throughout the 1930's, especially the eight in which they appeared together. Whether playing gold diggers or working girls, reporters or secretaries, these blonde & brassy ladies were very nearly always a match for whatever leading man was lucky enough to share equal billing alongside them. With a wisecrack or a glance, their characters showed they were ready to take on the world - and any man in it. Never as wickedly brazen as Paramount's Mae West, you always had the feeling that, tough as they were, Blondell & Farrell used their toughness to defend vulnerable hearts ready to break over the right guy. While many performances from seven decades ago can look campy or contrived today, these two lovely ladies are still spirited & sassy.