Cafe Hostess

"The Cafe hostess knows only one law..... A LADY MUST LIVE!"

A spicy sentiment, it's the closing line in a heartfelt plea for understanding that appears at the beginning of Cafe Hostess (1940).

The flick's title is a polite euphemism for a Bar girl, a shady lady found in nightclubs and other venues where men gather. Employed by management to sucker unsuspecting gents into handing over their dough in the name of a good time, these gals do whatever it takes to make that happen. WHATEVER IT TAKES.

Ann Dvorak stars as Jo, a ballsy B-Girl with a heart of gold (natch). Gal pal to Eddie (Douglas Fowley), the no good owner of the club, Jo's resigned to her hard scrabble life, turning tricks at Club 46. Until a side of beef with a winning smile by the name of Dan Walters (Preston Foster) shows up... A no frills, well executed B, Cafe Hostess compares favorably to 1937's, Marked Women. A feisty drama starring Bette Davis, it covers similar ground.

While Dvorak is no Davis (who is?), she registers nicely as the wounded, Jo. Enhanced by a colorful support cast of tramps and thieves (sorry, no known gypsies), Cafe Hostess holds it own against the better known, Warner Brothers film.

Where it differs is in its resolution. "Women" ends on a note of solidarity, with Bette and her band of fallen females joining forces and fighting back against injustice. Cafe Hostess offers a tamer track for Jo: the possibility of marriage and escape to the suburbs with Dan.

Directed by Sam Saltow, the film features Wynne Gibson as aging whore, Annie. In a surprising act of violence she paves the way for Jo's freedom. It warrants a "You go girl!" Produced by Columbia Pictures.

When the film begins, there is a blurb announcing that the film is about Bar girls, or 'B-girls'...women who work in bars and encourage men to drink and spend their money. Soon the scene cuts to a clip joint run by Eddie where a variety of women of easy virtue work. Their job is to get the money out of the customers...and in some cases this means setting up guys with big wads to get rolled in the alley for their cash or lifting their wallets. An old timer at the club, Jo (Ann Dvorak), is getting sick of the life as well as Eddie's promises to marry her. Into this joint comes a nice guy, a sailor named Dan (Preston Foster). Do Dan and Jo stand a chance? It's unlikely since Eddie isn't the type to just let a girl go without a fight. To Eddie, they're his property.

While it's never said, I assume many viewers realize that in reality, these B-girls did tricks as well...though with the Production Code of 1934, such things could only be vaguely implied....and it's REALLY vague here. In fact, because of the subject matter many things are really vague in the film...such as the implication that Eddie is fooling around with one of the other B-girls. Still, in spite of this, the film is interesting and worth seeing....and awfully seedy for a Post-Code film.

"Cafe Hostess" seemed promising because of its star, Ann Dvorak, an intriguing actress whom Hollywood didn't seem to know what to do with. The film begins stylistically but immediately slows down. It's not until about midway that the drama engaged me mainly because it gives Dvorak something to do other than schmooze with potential johns while picking their pockets. Preston Foster's romantic lead performance is good even though his character is poorly written, presenting him more as a romantic ideal than a real person. I was waiting for a surprise about him that didn't happen. Wynne Gibson is fine as an aging "hostess" even though the script telegraphs early on how she will save the day. Douglas Fowley as the misogynistic gangster is properly menacing and despicable, an interesting surprise since he played the comical, exasperated film director in "Singin' in the Rain" twelve years later. I saw this film as part of a Noir festival at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque.