Ladies in Love (1936)

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:

Three Blind Mice

out with the old, in with the new

This is an interesting 1936 film starring Constance Bennett, Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young, Paul Lukas, Don Ameche, and Tyrone Power. Set in Budapest, it concerns three young women who get an apartment together. All wish for love and happiness but soon learn that the course of true love never does run smooth.

And neither does the course of stardom, as the featured stars in this film would soon be replaced by a younger crowd. The Bennett-Lukas affair and Gaynor's adventures with Don Ameche and her magician boss take center stage, while Loretta Young's romance with Tyrone Power gets short shrift. The film provides an excellent showcase for Don Ameche, Power, and Young, all of whom would take over the star roster at Fox within the next two years. Power is flawlessly gorgeous and is delightful with Young. This obviously was not lost on 20th Century Fox as the studio would star the two in four films over the next three years. Bennett and Gaynor were two very early stars, and by 1941, Bennett was doing second leads; Gaynor (who was dating Power) had her last steady work in films in 1938.

"Ladies in Love" has a great feel to it with its Budapest background, European-based stories being so popular in the '30s, and there are some wonderful performances. Bennett is beautiful and glamorous as the one who's been around the block and Gaynor petite and lively as she carries on a love/hate relationship with Ameche.

Simone Simon has a role as a kittenish young woman who arrives at Lukas' apartment as a cousin by marriage. She looks like she's about 16, but in reality, the actress was 25. However, she is playing someone who is in school, and I found her relationship with Lukas a little disconcerting. She was probably supposed to be 18.

All in all, an entertaining film signaling a changing of the guard at Fox.