Party Girl (1930) User Reviews

wow

[HandsomeBen · 6/10 · 9 March 2021]

A woman hides her past of being a prostitute from a man she is falling in love with, while working as his dad's secretary.

Given the times I was shocked about the material and how mature it was. Usually older movies were more wholesome. Then I remembered about the Hayes code that wasn't yet implemented. I thought the movie itself was pretty good, but mostly because of the sexual themes. The story itself was choppy and confusing at first because of the picture quality, and some of the women look alike and couldn't tell who was who at first. The story did come together and I had mixed feelings about the ending. Is it really true love if you have to hide your mistakes? Also is it fair to lie to someone who thinks they're getting one thing but really it's something else?

Be Careful Who You Party With

[mateox · 4/10 · 27 January 2010]

Wild Women! Bootleg hooch! Hot jazz! Sequins and furs! Blackmail! Suicide! This pre-Code cautionary tale opens with a typical disclaimer stating "It is our earnest hope that this film may arouse you..." Of course, they mean arouse your indignation to help eliminate such vices as you view in this exposé. Or, do they?

Pleasant juvenile Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., headlines along with a bevy of largely talent-free "party girls". Judith Barrie has some especially embarrassing scenes, leading one to wonder whether she may have gotten her part by being a party girl. Almeda Fowler, making her film debut as Maude "Don't call me Madam" Lindsay, and veteran actor John St. Polis put in decent performances adding some humor. The well regarded Earl Burtnett and His Hotel Biltmore Orchestra from Los Angeles provides suitable jazz accompaniment.

The best scene is the party where guests arrive in their automobiles via a service elevator directly to the party. The much commented upon perfumed fountain scene seems to have been excised from the version available from Alpha Video. Altogether, this is a pleasant diversion that pushes the envelope even for pre-Code Hollywood.

Nothing really interesting about this precode

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 21 November 2009]

There's nothing really shocking or even interesting about this precode, not even for 1930. It's basically about a ring of professional "party girls" that work for one particular madam and go around entertaining bored businessmen. Doug Fairbanks Jr. Is the partying son of the head of a manufacturing concern who crashes one of these parties one night and winds up with two souvenirs he could have done without - a huge hangover and a party girl wife. In the meantime, he's in love with his father's secretary who is a former party girl herself.

What is really notable here is the extremely bad acting. I've seen Doug Fairbanks Jr. In several of his early roles, and even if the films weren't that great, Doug's acting was OK. Here he really hams it up, along with the rest of the cast. I can only chalk it up to bad directing by Victor Halperin who made a number of unmemorable B pictures in the 30's, one of the exceptions to that being 1932's excellent "White Zombie".

The one strange thing that keeps happening in this film that I've never seen before is that everyone seems to think it's OK to drive your car into the service elevator of tall buildings and emerge on the floor of your choice. Fairbanks and his friends do it when they are crashing the party, and the police do the same thing at the end.

My verdict would be to pass on this film, even if you're a precode fan. It's neither cheesy nor entertaining enough to be worth your time.

Lurid and Badly Acted, But...

[drednm · 22 December 2007]

This lurid pre-coder is about the use of "party girls" in big business. The idea is that business men are wined and dined at wild parties where there are available girls.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. stars as a college boy who attends a party and is picked up by evil Leeda (Judith Barrie). Next morning she pretends she has been "wronged" and what's he gonna do about it? The sap marries her only to discover that she wants a business deal for her real boy friend in order to Fairbanks to divorce her. What a tramp! His dad's secretary (Jeanette Loff, who sings a couple songs), a reformed "party girl," is heartbroken and so returns to the party circuit only to get caught in a police raid.

This is a pretty racy film even for 1930. There's once scene where the girls fill a fountain with perfume and then the guys grab Marie Prevost (who does NOT get billing in this film for some reason), strip here and bathe her in the fountain while everyone watches.

The acting is just awful, with Fairbanks and Barrie turning in hideous performances, but the film is so suggestive and trampy, it's impossible not to watch.

John St. Polis the father, Almeda Fowler (don't call me madam!) is the madam, Louise Carver is the masseuse, and Lucien Prival is Newcast.

On the plus side, the music is quite good, and there that freight elevator that keeps delivering cars into the party living room!

Acting Lessons

[paulbpage · 4/10 · 4 October 2014]

If you want to study good acting, this film is essential for, well, the flip side of the acting craft. The most basic line readings are spectacularly awful. My personal favorite: a woman, facing two policemen with overbearing warnings, saying, "so - long pause - what?" To be fair, though, the script, just the basic dialogue, is horrible and the plot is just the bare bones material for an audience to get a peek at a lurid world of 'party girls' and Prohibition-era 'gin parties.' The double-meanings are just a step more lurid than the thinly-veiled plots of other "A" pictures. While prostitution is the main theme, the look into how the rich flaunt the alcohol ban is sure to have titillated an audience of the era. The 'perfume' bath given to one of the girls is strongly suggested to be gin. And one cop notes before questioning a girl that the guilty go for a bottle before being interrogated. The class depictions in a film shot at the onset of the Depression also are stark. The rich drink and carouse with poor girls on the margins of society who, as the opening title says, want only to earn a living in a "decent" way. The message to women is clear enough: the workplace is no place for decent gals.

Amazingly bad...even for an exploitation film.

[planktonrules · 1/10 · 16 September 2010]

Seeing this dreadfully bad movie was a real surprise because it starred Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.--and a movie this terrible usually starred complete unknowns. Heck, the acting was WORSE than anything Ed Wood ever made...and I am sure appearing in this film must have haunted him for decades. No matter how many good films he made, none could erase the stench of appearing in "Party Girl"!

The film is a Pre-Code exploitation film about 'party girls'--a nice way of saying prostitutes. For the first 25 minutes or so of this mess, there really is no plot---just lots of people dancing about and acting like idiots--though I am sure this was all meant to be sensational and sexy (it wasn't). Later, for no reason that seemed apparent without massive amounts of liquor, Fairbanks is tricked in marrying one of these professional ladies--and his life becomes a mess. It all has a happy ending when this 'actress' decides to jump out a window to her death. I was thrilled, as she was possibly the worst actress I have ever seen--and I felt like screaming out for joy! The lady simply couldn't annunciate her lines in a manner that sounded better than 8 year-olds reading their lines for a school play! Overall, this is a terrible film--terribly written, stupid and with nothing to recommend it. Perhaps bad movie buffs might enjoy it, but all others be forewarned. It's a mess.

A couple final notes. The Alpha Video print was, not unexpectedly, very grainy. However, I was shocked at the very high quality sound, as most 1929-30 films have wretched sound. So, even though Alpha never includes captioning nor cleans up their prints, this one is watchable.

Dreadful, but not dreadful enough to be delicious

[klg19 · 1/10 · 27 October 2006]

Douglas Fairbanks jr had already been in the movie business for 14 years when he made this film, despite being a youthful 21 years old. Although he would go on to become one of the more delightful actors of the '30s and '40s, he shows little promise of that here, nor any sign of talent acquired during his previous 25 films.

A prologue announces the virtuous intention of depicting a moral scourge so that an informed public can combat it--but this is clearly just a CYA that allows the intriguingly-named "Personality Pictures" company to run this cheesy exploitation flick past the already toothless production code office.

Maude Lindsay (Almeda Fowler) runs a "party girl" service for business functions, and she tries to send her hootchiest coochies to the United Glass soiree. (The only real humor in the entire film comes from her secretary continually addressing her as "Madame Lindsay," and Lindsay admonishing her, "Don't call me madam!") John Rountree is an upright business man who wants to work with the district attorney to eliminate the party girl influence on doing business; his son Jay (Fairbanks) is a ne'er-do-wheel frat boy in love with dad's secretary, Ellen (Jeanette Loff)--a girl with a secret.

Jay and his frat brothers crash the United Glass party, and a drunken Jay is trapped by a party girl, herself in a delicate situation.

The usual confusion ensues.

As the previous commenter notes, the sound quality is abysmal, but it may be just as well--the dialogue is no great shakes. There are certain scenes painful in their laughableness, especially the death scene of a tender young thing who's fallen 6 stories, and yet appears not to have a scratch on her.

It's a dreadful film, and not even dreadful in that delicious "so bad it's good" sort of way.

Party Girl review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 5 May 2020]

Vaguely hysterical exploitation pic in which wastrel rich kid Douglas Fairbanks Jr finds himself tricked into marriage by a prostitute after he and his mates crash a boozy party. Needless to say, Daddy isn't impressed, and neither is love interest Jeannette Loff who was once herself a "party girl." It's the kind of movie that disappeared from movie screens for a couple of decades once the Production Code came into force, but the worst you see is young women sitting on old men's laps.

Leeda and the Swine

[boblipton · 1/10 · 21 December 2018]

This is one of those movies you see in a poor print and decide it deserves it. It can be classed as a PreCode, since it shows a lot of lascivious behavior, with just a fig leaf to cover it -- a rolling title that says this is a very bad thing, and we should try to do something about it -- even though that behavior, and lots of bare limbs is the only reason why anyone would want to see it.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is the son of a moral glass manufacturer and is engaged to marry good-girl secretary Jeanette Loff. When he goes to a wild party, he blacks out. On awakening, he is told by Judith Barne that he has to do right by her. He does.

It's a sloppily performed movie; director Victor Halperin, not the most distinguished of auteurs had his name replaced by a pseudonym on its re-issue. The visuals are pretty good, although there is a bizarre montage near the end; however, the line readings are stagey and unbelievable; Fairbanks, Marie Prevost and others had appeared in earlier talkie pictures and been better than this. Clearly Halperin was incompetent for the task.

It's not the PreCode elements that make this a bad movie; there are plenty of movies of the era that are even more vicious and great movies. It's simply that this one offers nothing but people behaving badly, its culotte of morality without demands or consequence, without any care in the technical issues of performance, that make this one terrible.

Bob

Gold Digging Flapper

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 16 April 2017]

In those days when Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was playing any kind of role other than costume swashbucklers, the better to establish his own identity separate from his father, Party Girl was a typical role for him. In Party Girl he plays a rich young playboy during that era of wonderful nonsense who gets himself tricked into a marriage to a gold digging flapper played by Judith Barrie. If Party Girl did anyone's career any good it should have been Barrie.

Almeeda Fowler plays the procurer for her escort service of which Barrie is part. Various businesses use her girls for 'entertainment' and the girls hope to land a rich husband one way or another.

Party Girl is one primitive talkie and it also bares no resemblance to Party Girl made a quarter of a century later with Robert Taylor and Cyd Charisse. Fairbanks is pretty insipid and that doesn't wear well on him.

Lots of pre-Code double entendre in Party Girl. But overall it hasn't worn well over the decades.

Jeanette Loff Was a True Beauty

[kidboots · 8/10 · 19 June 2013]

Jeanette Loff's main claim to fame was her beautiful long golden hair which was shown to great advantage in the Bridal number from "King of Jazz". She was a true beauty, similar in looks to Ann Harding and Josephine Dunn and she also had a pleasing soprano voice (in "Party Girl" she had two songs "Oh How I Adore You" and "Farewell"). None of these attributes helped her after the first rung of musicals finished, she had a "blighted career", even appearing as "blonde no. 2" in "Hideout" before her career ended in 1934. Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. is also not the type of actor you associate with these poverty row quickies. Around this time Warners saw him as a partner for Loretta Young but somehow he found himself at Personality Pictures for "Party Girl" in between "The Forward Pass" and "Loose Ankles" both with Miss Young.

I think the professionalism of the cast is what makes the film a cut above the merely exploitative. The biggest asset was definitely Marie Prevost who bizarrely wasn't even named in the cast and who put everyone in the shade doing her best Mae West imitation as full tilt party girl Diana. She shares a flat with Ellen (Loff) who has put her "party girl" ways behind her and is now a respectable secretary in love with the boss's son Jerry (Fairbanks). A "party girl" is nothing better than an "escort girl" - someone paid to attend business men's parties and maybe finding the time for a little blackmailing as well!! When Jerry and his drunken pals gate crash one of the parties he is taken in hand by Leeda who works the old "can't you remember what happened last night, do you have to ask? - we'll just have to get married"!!! con! Unfortunately her part is the main dramatic one and as played by James Montgomery Flagg model Judith Barrie it is easy to see why she was only in a handful of films, her performance is quite amateurish!!

A very interesting scene which shows that the film was striving for some sort of excellence was a super imposed shot of Ellen remembering the happy times with Jerry but with the party lifestyle beckoning her back - very experimental and cutting edge for a 1930 poverty rower. This is when the news breaks that Jerry has married Leeda, Ellen is at a low ebb and Diana accidentally lures her to the type of party she has been avoiding. Leeda is picked up by the police and her instant character reversal and hasty exit pave the way for Jerry and Ellen's happiness - provided Ellen can explain just what she is doing at one of "those" parties!!

All good fun and not as bad as some of the reviewers will have you believe!!

Public Service Announcement

[view_and_review · 2/10 · 24 December 2022]

"Party Girl" frames itself as a public service announcement to warn unsuspecting people of the danger of party girls--women hired for entertainment and sex. In fact, the movie begins with a written statement:

"Sex in business--the 'Party Girl' racket--threatens to corrupt the morals of thousands of young girls who seek to earn their living decently. The shameful effects of this practice would be brought home to you more forcibly if your own daughter, sister, or sweetheart were involved.

This may happen!

It is our earnest hope that this film may arouse you and other public-spirited citizens to forcibly eliminate the vicious 'Party Girl' system." ~The Producers

As if they are the bane of civil society and must be stopped. They do nothing but break up families of well-intentioned men who fall prey to their charm and beauty.

And if you believe that I have a bridge in San Francisco that I'd like to sell you.

I must briefly explain what the movie was trying to convey. Party girls were frequently used to land lucrative deals. A company or businessman would host a party and hire these girls through a madam and tell her what he's trying to accomplish.

Businessman: "Madam, please send Beth and Monica, I'm trying to get Tinker Motors to purchase my spark plugs."

Madam: "Say no more."

In this movie a young man named Jay Rountree (Douglas Fairbanks), son of John Rountree (John St. Polis) of the United Glass Company, got suckered into marrying a party girl named Leeda (Judith Barrie). It was a simple plot that could only fool a virgin--and a stupid virgin at that.

Jay got plastered to the point of complete memory loss and woke up in the home of Leeda. He awoke fully clothed and found her crying. When he asked why she was crying she simply said, "Don't you know?" Well, because of the era (can't say or show anything lascivious) and the gullibility of her victim, he filled in all the blanks.

Translation: he got drunk, they had sex, she got pregnant. And even if she didn't get pregnant, he spoiled her. In either case, getting married was the only respectable thing to do.

Little did Jay know that this was a scheme by Leeda to 1.) marry into a rich family and 2.) get Newcast to sign a lucrative contract beneficial to United Glass. It worked flawlessly.

Now, I know some of you are saying, "Yes he awoke fully clothed because they couldn't show nudity. We know implicitly that they had sex."

I get all that. Still, he's an idiot. And I have a hard time believing a rich white kid went down like that. I'm not saying what he or his father would've done to get out of that situation, but marrying a chick like that wasn't on the list. Before he caved to the demands of a scheming escort he would've exhausted all other options.

To get our hapless youngster out of his predicament the writers conveniently killed off Leeda. There's no easier way to fix a complicated relationship than to simply kill off the offending party. Leeda "falling" off of a sixth floor balcony allowed the Rountree name to remain unsullied while also paving the way for Jimmy to marry the girl he really loved: Ellen Powell (Jeanette Loff).

This was a terribly acted film with an anemic plot. The main villain, Leeda , was atrocious. Her lines were more forced than a Trump apology, and her movements so robotic I expected her to say "Danger Will Robinson." It was like these "producers" were in such a rush to warn the public they pushed out a crappy product. At least we all know now to be mindful of the Party Girl.

Free with Amazon Prime.

Downtown Tarts served up hot.

[ptb-8 · 5 August 2004]

Dear Me! What a creaky talkie social shocker! Made really in 1929 with absolutely the most primitive sound recording, PARTY GIRL has all those Singin In The Rain sound recording problems (and solutions) evident: like the mic in the vase of flowers or on someone's shoulder or in a lampshade. Often one only one actor in a scene can be heard, or they turn their head out of range etc...all very funny etc. BUT this is otherwise a well staged sex expose made by the never heard of PERSONALITY PICTURES who really sound like a chorus girl racket itself. The film itself is a social morality play about a chorus girl racket and their high rise bed hopping antics ruining young mens lives and contorting business contracts from rightful owners. It also has all those great cliche scenes of tubby old fellers in tuxedos manhandling squealing 18 year old flappers at gin parties at the office. A good scene is a party in a wharehouse where guests actually drive into the goods lift and right up to the 11th floor and zoom directly into the room. Douglas Farbanks Jr is the handsome misled hero bedded by a floozie schemed by her conniving mother! The furniture and clothes alone are enough to watch this genuinely thoroughly modern 20s adult drama. I bought a dvd of this film for $5 in Sydney last week and the quality is quite good.

"Oh, you'll do alright, they'll like you."

[classicsoncall · 3/10 · 10 October 2021]

With a title like "Party Girl" you just know it had to be one of those exploitation flicks from the Thirties dealing with sex, drugs or alcohol. I love the warnings that came with these types of films, informing the viewer of the illicit nature of the subject matter, and advising that if one were not vigilant, then 'This May Happen'. The big surprise here is the presence of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. In an early role that gave no hint of the swashbuckler he would eventually become on the big screen. What's really embarrassing is seeing how all the old fogeys come on to, and make out with the girls from the Lindsay Social Bureau. They really make fools of themselves, none more so than the elderly gent dancing in a grass skirt. The story basically has Fairbanks' character, Jay Rountree, pressured into a marriage after spending a night with Leeda Cather (Judith Barrie), much to the consternation of fiancee Ellen Powell (Jeanette Loff). It all works out in the end, but getting there takes you through some horrendous acting and even more abominable direction. Most amazing however, are those oversized elevators bringing motor cars to the party venue, climaxing with the arrival of a paddy wagon in the final scene to perform a raid on the social club.

The Party's Over

[writers_reign · 3/10 · 24 April 2011]

It's difficult to find anything at all positive in this pot-boiler shot in 1929 and released in 1930. Presumably they're selling it as 'pre-code' which is, of course, technically correct but the implicit x-rated content is missing if indeed it was ever there. It was one of many exploitation films both pre and post 'code' that masquerade as warnings about promiscuity as an excuse to flaunt it. It is indisputable that 'party girls' did exist and were in reality prostitutes under another name hired then (as now) by large corporations as 'perks' to sweeten business deals. Douglas Fairbanks Jnr is the only name remembered today and the chances are he wouldn't want it on his cv. For the record he's the scion of a wealthy family who winds up at a 'wild' party, gets married on the strength of it despite being in love with another girl who, surprise, surprise, is herself an ex-party girl. One to avoid.

Careful who you bring home.

[dbonk · 8/10 · 11 July 2008]

This tight little programmer (clocking in at just over 1 hour) is a real curio, Pre-Code of course. The film is designed to 'expose' the sordid underbelly of escort services who are only too happy to entertain men in high places(quite literally in this flick) for a fee. Like most movies of this genre, we are treated to a written prologue attesting to the scourge of the subject matter and how these sordid goings-on could be happening in our own town. This frequent framing device at the time would justify the seedy plot, in this case depicting between men of prestige and prosperity with call girls.

Marie Prevost is hot to trot in a secondary role as one of the 'ladies in waiting.' Miss Prevost did make the transition to sound almost seamlessly as an appealing blend between Betty Boop and Clara Bow. Yet, her fluctuating weight would unfortunately relegate her casting to this caliber of portrayals for the rest of her career.

Judith Barrie is the lead 'party girl' here who leads Douglas Fairbanks Jr. character, scion to millions of dollars, down that reckless road to potential ruin. Miss Barrie handles her role with zest and a very contemporary feel. It's a shame she would abandon Hollywood (or vice versa) in two years.

Then there's Doug Fairbanks Jr. who always adds a note of prestige to any frame he appears in. On the threshold of stardom ('LITTLE CAESAR' would be beckoning soon) the swashbuckler's son is treating this role of a young bon vivant who is caught up in Miss Barrie's web of deceit and degradation like a walk in the park. Well, this is a Personality Pictures production, after all. This would be equivalent to summer stock for an A list actor waiting for that phone call from his agent with that really plum role at a 'major' studio.

Of course, there is an obvious moral to our story which is hastened after an on screen tragedy which is quite jolting.

Yet, when the lights come back on, it's still hard to forget those vehicles, packed with eager customers, transported by elevator directly to the 'party girls' living room, the ultimate drive-in escort service.

For Old Flick Fans

[dougdoepke · 4 October 2021]

That scene of the big old car rolling onto the penthouse party floor as though it's an everyday occurrence really grabbed me. Then too, the guests acting like it's an everyday occurrence surprised me even more. Seems as though building elevators were big enough to lift any such cargo in those days. Plot-wise, the flick's got plenty of innuendo and filmy dresses, but never goes beyond that suggestive stage. Looks like even pre-Code had its unwritten limits.

Anyway, the interweaving of sexual scheming and big business likely pleased Depression-era audiences already made cynical by the Wall Street crash of '29. Fairbanks is the hormonal pidgeon of sexy Barrie's plotting, even though he likes the virginal Lott more. Nonetheless, there's riches to be made once the party girls expedite big money deals. So guys and gals do party-on. Meanwhile, Fairbanks' movie dad, St. Polis, makes a fittingly imperious business kingpin, lording it over his listless son. How the various schemes play out makes up the often ragged storyline.

Anyhow, the party girls are all richly upholstered and do well, unlike Fairbanks Jr who appears too bland to score beyond his illustrious family name. Overall, it's a revealing flick at a time when the free-wheeling 1920's were coming to an inglorious end.

(In Passing - on a more somber note: too bad actresses Barrie and Prevost had such sad early ends, {IMDB}. Happily, their contributions live on.)

Fairbanks Had a Career After This?

[Michael_Elliott · 16 September 2018]

Party Girl (1930)

** (out of 4)

Jay Rountree (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) is the son of a wealthy banker who spends most of his time borrowing money from dad so that he and his friends can drink and have a good time. Jay ends up at a party and meets Leeda (Judith Barrie) and the next morning she cries that he "ruined" her good girl quality so the weak Jay marries her with no questions asked. This here breaks his heart because he wanted to marry his dad's secretary (Jeanette Loff) but before long he realizes that Leeda is a prostitute who is used at business parties to lure suckers.

Victor Halperin would make a name for himself two years from this film when he directed the Bela Lugosi film WHITE ZOMBIE so it's interesting getting to see something earlier. This film here starts off like a lot of the exploitation pictures of the era with a "warning" telling people that a party girl is a prostitute who tries to get her nails into men and ruin their lives with various scams. I did find it funny that this was warning people against these leech hookers yet they never bothered to tell men to just stay away from them!

With that said, I must admit that I was really shocked to see Fairbanks, Jr. in this role. This was obviously done when he was a struggling actor but it's still strange to see a name like his attached to what's basically a very low-budget exploitation movie. What's even more shocking is that he managed to go on and become a fine actor because his performance here is quite awful. Just check out the scenes where he's pouting about having to get married. Yikes. Loff isn't much better as the prostitute but Barie is good in her small role.

PARTY GIRL is certainly worth watching if you're a fan of exploitation movies or if you want to see an early film from Fairbanks where he's not all that good. Overall the film runs just over a hour so it's decent enough to make it worth watching.