Play Girl

Very early Loretta Young film: she's not even top billed. Winnie Lightner is - an interesting younger character actress. But it really is Loretta's movie. The plot involves Loretta's character falling in love with a gambler - and the complications which arise. Norman Foster plays the gambler: ironically, he married Miss Young's sister (Sally Blane) in 1937 - after being divorced from Claudette Colbert. Most memorable scenes in this movie are set in a department store circa 1932.

Movie is also notable as (apparently) the first movie of a very young James Ellison. Neither the title "Play Girl" or the alternate title "Love on a Budget" really describe this film. Entertaining melodrama from the early days of sound.

Predictable story of department store clerk Loretta Young (she's beautiful and erotic and gives an honest performance) marrying compulsive gambler Norman Foster. Winnie Lightner provides the comic relief as her best friend. There is some pre-code innuendo, but it's all rather mild. ** out of 4.

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

Sometimes I think Warner Bros. named these early 30's films just as quickly and casually as they filmed them. There is nothing in this film about "play-girls". Also, although Winnie Lightner is top billed, this is really Loretta Young's picture. Loretta plays Buster Green, a salesgirl in a department store who wants to eventually become a store buyer. She wants no part of marriage and especially motherhood since her own mother died in childbirth. As they say, life is what happens when you are making plans. Buster falls for and marries the charming Wally Dennis, who claims he is a salesman but is actually a professional gambler. She doesn't find out until after they are married about the gambling, but Wally promises to get a real job. Months later, Buster finds out she is pregnant and only then finds out Wally didn't actually get a job like he promised he would - he is still gambling.

Loretta Young does the same wonderful job with this material that I have come to expect from her as she runs the gamut of emotions from hope to disappointment and from anger to terror, and she is one of two reasons to watch the film. The second reason are the antics of top-billed Winnie Lightner, who is actually playing in support here in this, the twilight of her film career. She plays Buster's best friend, roommate, and coworker prior to Buster's marriage. Her comic one-liners and facial expressions are priceless. If you know much about her rather short film career, one of the funniest moments in the movie is when she is scrubbing the apartment bathroom at night while the song "Singin in the Bathtub" plays in the background. That was the song she sang in the Warner Brothers all-talking revue in 1929 - "The Show of Shows" - when she was at the top of her game. Lightner is also quite good opposite Guy Kibbee, who plays the store assistant manager who loves her and won't let her work in any of the store departments where she might meet a man she likes better than him.

PLAY-GIRL (Warner Brothers, 1932) directed by Ray Enright, is an awkward title for a movie that opens with superimpose cast credits over horse racing focus. Play-girl is not the name of a horse nor is it about thoroughbreds and jockeys. It's a typical standard Depression era theme of best friends with different personalities. Starring comedienne Winnie Lightner as the wisecracking character with Loretta Young as the attractive yet dignified woman, it has enough plot elements resolved within an hour.

Set during the Depression era in New York City, Georgette Hicks (Winnie Lightner) and Buster (Loretta Young), two women sharing an apartment together, work as salesgirls for the Mayfield Department Store. Georgette, having the misfortune of working in hardware and later plumbing department, would rather be assigned to Buster's department of infant wear. Georgette, who happens to be older than Buster, is eager to get married. She has a prospect on nabbing a Mr. Finklewald (Guy Kibbee), but any man will do. Buster prefers never to marry, scared of dying in childbirth as did her mother. On an invite date with Elmer (James Ellison), who brings his friend, Wally Dennis (Norman Foster) from out of town as tagalong Georgette, Wally turns his affections towards Buster instead. After a brief courtship, Buster and Wally marry. As Georgette finally nabs Finklewald for her husband, Buster's marriage starts off well until she discovers Wally's weakness for gambling. Also in the cast are Dorothy Burgess (Edna); Noel Madison (Marty Happ); Edward Van Sloan (Mr. Mayfield); and Robert Emmett O'Connor (The Policeman).

Starting off in screwball comedy style in the favor of Lightner, once the Norman Foster character appears, the story shifts towards Loretta Young, with the romance between Lightner and Kibbee only secondary. In typical Warners's fashion, scenes play fast and brief, helping the plot elements without making it overlong and unnecessary. A fine singer in her own right, Lightner gets no songs to plug. Only her signature tune "Singing in the Bath-tub" introduced in THE SHOW OF SHOWS (1929) briefly gets some underscoring. Living up to her surname, Loretta Young is not only young but extremely attractive. While Norman Foster's role could have been played by Young's then frequent co-star, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Foster is satisfactory as the husband. With Young's career on the way up and Lightner's on the way out, both teamed again for the final time and last for the studio for SHE HAD TO SAY YES (1933), with Young heading the cast and second-billed Lightner having little to do.

Never distributed on video cassette but available on DVD disc, PLAY-GIRL keeps from being a long-forgotten programmer with interesting superimposing of horse racing over face of subject matter with occasional broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (**1/2)