Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Of 2025Holiday Watch GuideGotham AwardsCelebrity PhotosSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Play Girl

  • 1932
  • Unrated
  • 1h
IMDb RATING
5.9/10
408
YOUR RATING
Norman Foster and Winnie Lightner in Play Girl (1932)
DramaRomance

A young woman's financial problems continue through a troubled marriage to a gambler.A young woman's financial problems continue through a troubled marriage to a gambler.A young woman's financial problems continue through a troubled marriage to a gambler.

  • Director
    • Ray Enright
  • Writers
    • Frederick Hazlitt Brennan
    • Maurine Dallas Watkins
    • Maude Fulton
  • Stars
    • Winnie Lightner
    • Loretta Young
    • Norman Foster
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.9/10
    408
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ray Enright
    • Writers
      • Frederick Hazlitt Brennan
      • Maurine Dallas Watkins
      • Maude Fulton
    • Stars
      • Winnie Lightner
      • Loretta Young
      • Norman Foster
    • 15User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos7

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster

    Top Cast34

    Edit
    Winnie Lightner
    Winnie Lightner
    • Georgine Hicks
    Loretta Young
    Loretta Young
    • Buster 'Bus' Green Dennis
    Norman Foster
    Norman Foster
    • Wallace 'Wally' Dennis
    Guy Kibbee
    Guy Kibbee
    • 'Finky' Finkelwald
    Dorothy Burgess
    Dorothy Burgess
    • Edna
    Noel Madison
    Noel Madison
    • Martie Happ
    James Ellison
    James Ellison
    • Elmer
    Edward Van Sloan
    Edward Van Sloan
    • Moffatt - the Boss
    Sheila Bromley
    Sheila Bromley
    • Wedding Girl
    • (scenes deleted)
    Betty Farrington
    Betty Farrington
    • Mrs. Braddock
    • (scenes deleted)
    Ralf Harolde
    Ralf Harolde
    • Willie
    • (scenes deleted)
    Nat Pendleton
    Nat Pendleton
    • Dance Hall Plumber
    • (scenes deleted)
    Harold Waldridge
    Harold Waldridge
    • Messenger
    • (scenes deleted)
    Robert Bennett
    • Floor Boy
    • (uncredited)
    Eileen Carlisle
    • Rose, a Salesgirl
    • (uncredited)
    Eddy Chandler
    Eddy Chandler
    • Delivery Man
    • (uncredited)
    Charles Coleman
    Charles Coleman
    • Floorwalker
    • (uncredited)
    Jack Curtis
    Jack Curtis
    • Carpenter in Hardware Department
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Ray Enright
    • Writers
      • Frederick Hazlitt Brennan
      • Maurine Dallas Watkins
      • Maude Fulton
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews15

    5.9408
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    6AlsExGal

    odd title for an odd little film

    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.
    4PeterPangloss

    Loretta was never more beautiful

    Loretta Young is perfectly lit here, which enhances her beauty immeasurably, and she is quite believable in this role. I first saw her in her later movies--and on her TV show, swirling through the door every week--so it's quite a revelation to see her at the absolute peak of her talent and looks. Winnie Lightner does her usual gum-chewing, wisecracking shtick, and the rest of the cast is quite good. The script is a little weak, and things get a bit maudlin at times, although the pre-code one-liners are fun. (Winnie, as her bloomers blow off the makeshift clothesline and out the window: "Oh, that was my last pair of panties!" Loretta: "What will you do?" Winnie: "Stay off of ladders!")
    6boblipton

    Who Will Protect The Working Girl?

    Loretta Young works as a shopgirl in a department store, alongside Winnie Lightner. She has no intention of marrying, but she and Norman Foster fall for each other, and so they are married. Then she discovers he makes his money by gambling. She doesn't like it. They need a reliable paycheck, especially when she falls pregnant. He agrees to get a regular job, but doesn't. Finally she throws him out.

    Although the movie is about Miss Young, Miss Lightner is top-billed, and a few minutes concern her courting by the inept Guy Kibbee. Ray Enright, one of Warners' warhorse directors does a solid job in this soap opera, with a nice small role for Noel Madison, and a definite sympathetic view of the working girl. Look out for Flora Finch as an annoying customer.
    5gridoon2025

    Empty fluff

    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.
    9cfscfs

    Very early Loretta Young film about the impact gambling has on a young couple...

    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.

    More like this

    So You Want to Wear the Pants
    6.5
    So You Want to Wear the Pants
    Rain or Shine
    5.4
    Rain or Shine
    20,000 Years in Sing Sing
    6.8
    20,000 Years in Sing Sing
    The Invisible Ray
    6.5
    The Invisible Ray
    His Glorious Night
    5.6
    His Glorious Night
    Loose Ankles
    6.0
    Loose Ankles
    Vanity Fair
    5.6
    Vanity Fair
    Rembrandt
    7.0
    Rembrandt
    The Magnificent Matador
    5.6
    The Magnificent Matador
    The Falcon's Brother
    6.4
    The Falcon's Brother
    Sudden Fear
    7.5
    Sudden Fear
    A Covenant with Death
    6.0
    A Covenant with Death

    Related interests

    Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monáe, André Holland, Herman Caheej McGloun, Edson Jean, Alex R. Hibbert, and Tanisha Cidel in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Teasing her boyfriend, Buster says to him, "Come on, Gable, get hot!" The line is startling because a few years later Loretta Young would make Call of the Wild (1935) with Clark Gable and have a child by him.
    • Goofs
      Near the start there are brief glimpses of various store departments. In the plumbing department, Winnie Lightner is in the background perched on a sink. That makes no sense, as it is only later on in the story that her character is reassigned from hardware to plumbing. (One publicity still for the film is a closeup of Winnie on the sink, but there is no such scene in the movie; probably a sequence involving Winnie in the plumbing department was deleted, but then Warners decided to use that opening shot figuring nobody would notice Winnie in the background.)
    • Quotes

      Georgine Hicks: [Wind blows away a pair of panties hang drying in the window] Oh! Oh! Oh-oh-oh!

      Buster 'Bus' Green Dennis: What's the matter?

      Georgine Hicks: Oh, there goes my last panties!

      Buster 'Bus' Green Dennis: Well, now what are you gonna do?

      Georgine Hicks: Keep off of step ladders.

    • Soundtracks
      The Wedding March
      (1843) (uncredited)

      from "A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61"

      Music by Felix Mendelssohn

      Played briefly when the passport is shown

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 12, 1932 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Love on a Budget
    • Filming locations
      • Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h(60 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.