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.
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.