Play Girl

One-third knockabout comedy, two-thirds weepie as mad Winnie Lightner gets top billing and chews up the scenery as Loretta Young's gal-pal, but is really incidental to the story and disappears for long segments. (She does get some good insults in, scrapping with fellow salesgirl Dorothy Burgess.) But the bulk of it is Loretta in distress, falling reluctantly for gambler Norman Foster, marrying him, quitting her job, getting pregnant, then throwing him out of the house when she mistakenly thinks he's returned to his gambling ways after getting an honest job as a garage mechanic. (Where'd he acquire the skill? No idea.) He returns at the darnedest time, just in time for a happy ending. The always dull direction of Ray Enright does nothing to enhance this, and it feels a little like two movies sewn into one one-hour feature, but Gregg Toland's cinematography is lovely, and Loretta in a quintessential suffering-Depression-gal role she played many times is worth watching.

Given her origins--her mother died while giving birth to her--Buster Green (Loretta Young) is averse to taking risks and not inclined to marry. Her plan is to rise above her station as a department store clerk through dedicated hard work. But when she meets Wallie Dennis (Norman Foster) she finds herself succumbing to his spontaneous style and marries him--only to find out on their honeymoon that he makes his "living" as a gambler.

He promises to reform but betrays her faith in him time and again. So when she finds herself pregnant she feels she has no choice but to cast him out and go it alone. Faced with mounting bills and prospect of giving birth to her child in poverty, she turns to gambling herself in a desperate attempt to reverse her fortunes.

19 year old Loretta Young is superb in this cautionary romantic tale; her combination of pluck and beauty make us root for her all the way. Winnie Lightner, playing her stalwart friend and defender Georgine, lends the story a down-to-earth realism as well as comic relief.

Gregg Toland's cinematography is crisp and economical--a highlight is the suspenseful scene that overlays a slow zooming in on Young's reactions over exciting footage of the horses at the track as her horse gains on the others in the race. Ray Enright's pacing of the story is masterful: the last ten minutes as things come to a head will keep you on the edge of your seat.

This general storyline has been filmed dozens of times--but Loretta Young's performance and the taut direction makes this one a keeper!

Warner Brothers should have been embarrassed to release this. The story is both absurd and boring, the characters are as unbelievable as they are annoying and the direction is of the: just read your lines in turn and avoid any interaction with your fellow actors. As for the acting, Loretta Young is the only person who is actually acting giving this movie the impression that her scenes are taken from a different (professional) film which have been spliced into this dreadful piffle.

Worst of all is Winnie Lightner. I don't like to say anything bad about people, she might have been a lovey person but as an actress she is beyond terrible. She's so extraordinary awful that she almost makes this film unwatchable. Words cannot describe just how bad she is!

One slightly interesting line is said by Miss Young which portends her future fling with 'the king of Hollywood' - commenting on her beau's kissing technique she says: 'They can do better in movies - come on Gable, get hot.' There's absolutely nothing else of interest in this.

Maybe the reason this was made was simply to provide evidence to to those people now who believe that films of the 1930s were dreadful?

Transfers at the "Mayfield Department Store" result in beautiful Loretta Young (as Buster "Bus" Green) being assigned to "Infants Wear" while comic relief pal Winnie Lightner (as Georgine Hicks) is sent to "Plumbing Supplies". The women, who share a bed, are unhappy with the new assignments. At home, they arrange a dancing date with Ms. Young's boyfriend James Ellison (as Elmer) and pal Norman Foster (as Wallace "Wally" Dennis), a "blind date" for Ms. Lightner. But, Mr. Foster thinks Young is "hot" and begins to pursue her. The two unexpectedly fall in love, but Foster has a dark secret. He's a compulsive gambler...

Meanwhile, sharp-tongued Lightner is romanced by older man Guy Kibbee (as "Finky" Finkelwald). This is a strange, carelessly scripted story about the effects of gambling. The heroine's problems, caused by her gambling husband, are alleviated by her own gambling; it doesn't make sense. An interesting point of characterization is that when Young's character was born, her mother died; for this reason, she is supposedly reluctant to marry, and have children. She is mistakenly called a "Play-Girl". But, Young and the cast are enjoyable. In real life, Young was close to co-star Foster; he married her sister, actress Sally Blane.

***** Play-Girl (3/12/32) Ray Enright ~ Loretta Young, Winnie Lightner, Norman Foster, James Ellison

Glamour is what is missing from movies today. Alone in our living rooms and Inured to the smaller-than-life figures on our little TV sets, we've lost sight of the larger-than-life gods on the mammoth screens in darkened movie palaces, surrounded by hundreds of our neighbors. Not even Marlene Dietrich photographed by von Sternberg and Lee Garmes could outshine spectacular 19 year old Loretta Young, presented here by the great Gregg Toland. This cautionary tale of a naive young woman, swept off her feet by a glib, compulsive gambler (Norman Foster) should edify young couples everywhere. This mercifully brief, cliche-riddled show should also serve as a reminder that the screenplay is the most important element in any movie.