Girl Missing

This film revolves around two chorus girls named Kay (Glenda Farrell) and June (Mary Brian), who are always looking for their next sugar daddy. Just as their latest benefactor leaves them high and dry, they hear about a former coworker who is marrying a well-to-do young man. When they run into the fortunate social climber, she gives them the high hat.

What begins as a comedy turns into a mystery when the new bride disappears and a corpse is found at the honeymoon hotel. The police are stymied, but the girls---motivated by a sizeable reward offer---set off to investigate.

Though Ms. Farrell has the more assertive role, I found Mary Brian to be a delight. The cast in general is strong. The fast-moving story never flags. A sequel featuring the detective work of the two women (and others from the cast) might have been a winner.

"Girl Missing" is a neat little B-movie which goes from being a comedy to a murder mystery about midway through the picture. It begins with Kay and June (Glenda Farrell and Mary Brian) at a hotel...and June is being pursued by a dirty old man (Guy Kibbee). While Kay and June are looking for a rich husband, this guy is just a creep who won't take no for an answer. Well, when June tells him no, he abandons them...sticking them with a hotel bill.

Now you probably will assume that the rest of the film will consists of the pair hooking husbands....and you'd be wrong! Instead, it becomes a murder mystery and the police are having a hard time putting the pieces together. So, like too many 1930s films, amateurs manage to piece it all together, as Kay and June want the reward money!

Overall, this is a fun and snappy B-movie...the type Warner Brothers did so very well during this era. The acting is very good and the writing, surprisingly, is very good as well. Well worth seeing and fun.

By the way, if you do watch note the opening titles....as they are very creatively done.

Girl Missing (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Robert Florey directed this fast-paced Warner mystery about a couple chorus girls (Glenda Farrell, Mary Brian) who are ditched in Palm Springs after their sugar daddy (Guy Kibbee) leaves them there. They hear about a former friend who has snagged a millionaire (Ben Lyon) but after she goes missing on her honeymoon the girls decide to do their own investigating. GIRL MISSING certainly isn't going to be mistaken for a classic but there's no doubt that the cast is attractive and it all leads up to a pretty good ending. I think the best thing the film has going for it is the cast all of whom fit their roles quite nicely. Farrell and Brian are certainly the strong points as the two work perfectly well together and they know had to throw things back and forth and they really help keep the film moving. The two of them have some nice comic timing and there's no question that they take their parts and rise them a few notches. Lyon is also good in his role as the husband who might have something to hide and we also have Lyle Talbot playing a man who helps the girls out. Kibbee appears at the very start of the film in just a five-minute sequence but he's certainly memorable in the funny bit of a man who wants to "make love" for spending money on the ladies. The opening few scenes contain quite a bit of pre-code comedy aimed at money for sex, which is certainly fun when viewed today. The film has quite a few small issues including the fact that the comedy usually doesn't work. There are some supporting characters who are constantly arguing and this here never gets the laughs. There are also some minor bits with a dimwitted detective that really doesn't work either. With that said, fans of "B" mysteries should enjoy this one as it goes by at a quick pace and there's no doubt that the cast is attractive.

Two gold digging chorines think they can solve the mystery of a criminal's murder and a GIRL MISSING on her wedding night.

Fast-moving & fun, this is another example of the comedy crime picture that Warner Brothers was so expert at producing. Casts & plots could be shuffled endlessly, with very predictable results. While this assembly line approach created few classics, audience enjoyment could usually be assured.

Warners' wisecracking brassy blonde, Glenda Farrell, and pretty Mary Brian play the chorus girls stranded in Florida who must crack the homicide and kidnapping case in order to earn the sizable reward. They are both excellent in their roles, with sassy Farrell especially funny slinging her one-liners.

Ben Lyon plays the newlywed husband with much unexpected trouble on his hands. Lyle Talbot appears as a successful New York gigolo gone adventuring to Miami. Little Ferdinand Gottschalk is the eccentric parent of the purloined bride and wonderful character actor Guy Kibbee enlivens his few scenes as an old lecher desperate to get his hands on Miss Brian.

Movie mavens will recognize Louise Beavers as a maid & Walter Brennan as a garage attendant, both uncredited.

Motor-mouthed Glenda Farrell adds sass and vinegar to this better-than-most crime programmer dating from the early sound era. She and Mary Brian play a couple of New York gold-diggers stranded in Palm Beach when frustrated sugar daddy Guy Kibbee sticks them with an unpaid hotel bill. Spurred on by the prospect of a big reward, they get mixed up in the bridal-night disappearance of yet another gold-digger (Peggy Shannon), whom they know from her days in the kick line, but who managed to snag a millionaire (Ben Lyon).

In the course of their meddling, they encounter an old pal (Lyle Talbot) who seems anxious to get them out of town; a pair of overstuffed hams posing as a society couple (Helen Ware, Ferdinand Gottschalk); and a body in the hotel gardens, still smoking a cigar. Film buffs will catch brief appearances by Walter Brennan, Louise Beavers and Dennis O'Keefe.

Without ever really losing sight of its mystery plot or lapsing into the `comic,' Girl Missing brandishes a lot of racy, pre-Code wit, dished out mainly by Farrell. Most of the credit can no doubt go to scriptwriter Jules Furthman, whose credits include Shanghai Express, Bombshell, The Big Sleep and Nightmare Alley. The rest can go to Frenchman Robert Florey, whose directorial career may not be quite so distinguished but bears watching: Cocoanuts (the first Marx Brothers movie), the first `talking' Murders in the Rue Morgue, and a few noirs like Danger Signal and The Crooked Way. Girl Missing succeeds because of good teamwork, and it had a great team.