Ladies Must Love (1933)

Four Broadway gold-diggers sign a contract promising to share all their future gains. Troubles begin when one the girls falls in love with a wealthy playboy, getting rid of the contract.

Director:

Ewald André Dupont (as E.A. Dupont)

Writers:

William Hurlbut (suggested by a play by), Robert Harris (play)

Stars:

June Knight, Neil Hamilton, Sally O'Neil

Cast

Cast overview:
June Knight	...	Jeannie Marlow
Neil Hamilton	...	Bill Langhorne
Sally O'Neil	...	Dot La Tour
Dorothy Burgess	...	Peggy Burns
Mary Carlisle	...	Sally Lou Cateret
George E. Stone	...	Joey
Maude Eburne	...	Mme. Fifi
Oscar Apfel	...	Herman Nussbauer
Edmund Breese	...	Thomas Van Dyne
Richard Carle	...	Wilbur Muller
Berton Churchill	...	Gaskins
Virginia Cherrill	...	Bill's Society Fiancee

Storyline

Four Broadway gold-diggers sign a contract promising to share all their future gains. Troubles begin when one the girls falls in love with a wealthy playboy, getting rid of the contract.

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Plot Keywords:

gold digger | deception | society girl | speakeasy hostess | pooling resources | 

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Taglines:

THERE'S THE DEVIL TO PAY WHEN THEY START TO PLAY! (original poster-all caps)

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Four Wise Girls

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jeanette Loff was announced for a lead role, but was eventually replaced.

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Soundtracks

Tonight May Never Come Again
Words and Music by Lynn Cowan and David Klatzkin

User Reviews

LADIES MUST LOVE is a failed attempt to tell the story of "The Blue Angel" with the genders switched

Did you ever hear someone tell a joke, only the teller doesn't get the joke? That's the feeling I have with this movie.

June Knight is the subject of this movie about four gold-digging women on the make. June and Neil Hamilton fall in love, and neither is sure what it is; neither do her room mates help, since they expect her to contribute to the general welfare.

Perhaps I expected a different story -- this was a staple Pre-Code and after. Perhaps I was expecting a comedy with some good jokes and gags instead of a straight drama. More likely, though, is that DuPont came from the European cinema, where this sort of movie was about the man being doomed by a hopeless love for the Erda figure -- THE BLUE ANGEL is the example most people know.

The Erda figure would combine with the American vamp to become the femme fatale of film noir and it was way too early for anyone to have figured out how that would work. Dupont tried to make it a story of the failed redemption of Miss Knight, was saddled with a happy ending and the result is thoroughly unsatisfactory.