Ladies in Love (1936)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Edward H. Griffith

Writers:

Melville Baker (screenplay)
Leslie Bush-Fekete (play)

Release Date:

9 October 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Three working girls in Budapest pool their resources to get a better apartment and impress their dates...

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Playboy | Servant | Wish | Dancing

Cast

Janet Gaynor	...	Martha Kerenye
Loretta Young	...	Susie Schmidt
Constance Bennett	...	Yoli Haydn
Simone Simon	...	Marie Armand
Don Ameche	...	Dr. Rudi Imre
Paul Lukas	...	John Barta
Tyrone Power	...	Karl Lanyi (as Tyrone Power Jr.)
Alan Mowbray	...	Paul Sandor
Wilfrid Lawson	...	Ben Horvath
J. Edward Bromberg	...	Franz Brenner
Virginia Field	...	Countess Helena
Frank Dawson	...	Johann
Egon Brecher	...	Concierge
Vesey O'Davoren	...	Fritz - Barta's Servant
John Bleifer	...	Porter

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2563) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

While the onscreen credit states the movie is "based on the play" by Ladislaus Bus-Fekete (Leslie Bush-Fekete) and Hollywood Reporter production charts stated the play was called "Three Girls," no performance of that play has been found. Another Hollywood Reporter news item in December 1935 stated that Fox purchased Bus-Fekete's novel, "Ladies in Love" to be published in England in 1936. The book was published in the United States in 1937.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Frank Dawson is credited onscreen as "Johann," but he is called "Josef" in the film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

Soundtrack:

Maria, Marì (Oh Marie - Oh Marie)

Great Cast, Bad Story

Ladies in Love (1936)

** (out of 4)

Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young, Constance Bennett, Simone Simon, Don Ameche, Paul Lukas and Tyrone Power highlight this all-star cast but the final film doesn't do any of them justice. Set in Budapest, three women (Gaynor, Young, Bennett) move into an apartment and soon we see them struggle with love and work issues. The cast here is extremely good but the screenplay is extremely poor. It's clear Fox wanted to throw all their stars in the pot but it's too bad they didn't bother coming up with a better screenplay. The movie is pretty much all dialogue and there's way too much of it and none of it comes off too interesting. The actors all do fine work on their own but the screenplay doesn't give them too much to do and the relationships never come off believable. Gaynor steals the film as a poor girl who sells ties trying to make ends meet. Ameche is also very good as the doctor who doesn't realize he's in love with Gaynor's character.