Ladies Should Listen

Julian de Lussac, an investor with an expiring option in Chilean mineral rights, is frolicking about with any and every beautiful woman in Paris. Unknown to Julian his current amore, Marguerite, is the scheming wife of a dangerous, scheming investor. Both are contriving to part Julian and his mineral option.

The woman who brings him to his senses is the switchboard operator of his apartment building, Anna. Anna knows every detail of Julian's many affairs and has fallen in love with him via listening in on his phone conversations. She knows why each love affair occurred and why each ended. She also knows from her connections with other operators, just what Marguerite and her husband are up to.

Julian is flattered by Anna's adoration, but in no way returns it. From the time that Anna's secret love is out in the open, Anna wages war against the evil couple who are trying to dupe Julian. Her weapon: the switchboard.

A man with the morals of an alley cat just needs the right woman to show him the path to true love.

As the Great Depression deepened during the mid-1930's, audiences sought escape from the grim realities of unemployment, bread lines, and Hoover Towns in dark movie palaces watching films. "Ladies Should Listen" is an ideal piece of escapist fluff for the period, and, surprisingly, the film retains some charm and appeal for contemporary audiences. The telephone operator at a posh apartment building has romantic designs on a handsome womanizer who lives there. The silly nonsense that ensues moves fast, which prevents any lapses in logic or credibility to register. Based on a play, the antics are still somewhat stage-bound, but some of the lines are quite funny, and the cast delivers them with skill.

Although the film was poorly received on release and star Cary Grant was thought miscast, the film remains a light entertainment, and Grant plays an early version of his romantic "Cary Grant" character. The supporting cast is fine, with Nydia Westman a standout as a young bespectacled heiress, who is starry-eyed for Grant. Fussy Edward Everett Horton plays his standard comedic character, and lovely Francis Drake is the designing switchboard operator, although she fails to register strongly.

Gadgets to create the sounds of thunder and rain or to spray the air with perfume aid Grant in his romantic pursuits and, mixed with nitrate options in Chile, a conspiratorial pair of South Americans, a love-lorn doorman, and an cleverly inventive butler, create a light farce with few pretensions beyond diversion. Short and breezily directed by Frank Tuttle, whose career began in the silent era, "Ladies Should Listen" is cute, silly fun, especially for fans of Cary Grant.

Ladies Should Listen (1934)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Julian De Lussac (Cary Grant) is a businessman who is going broke so he falls in love with a woman (Nydia Westman) to try and get her money. Soon she begins to lose interest so while on the phone with her he pretends to commit suicide, which sends switchboard operator Anna (Frances Drake) into his room. It turns out that Anna has been listening to all of Julian's calls and knows everything about him. Before long Julian has a third woman after film.

LADIES SHOULD LEAVE is a pretty darn bad movie on many levels. Well, I guess I should say that it's your typical plot less "B" movie that would have been shown as the second or third feature back in the day. If you took Grant out of this picture then there really wouldn't be a reason to watch it and even with the screen legend it's hard to actually recommend this thing.

The script is a complete mess from start to finish as nothing is ever really explained and things just seem to happen for no reason. Even worse is the fact that the film is a complete bore with only a couple laughs scattered throughout its 60-minute running time. The characters are all rather shallow and boring. Even the switchboard operator is more creepy than anything else.

I can't quite figure out why so many reviewers here don't think this is much of a film. To me, never having seen it (or, quite honestly, heard of it) before, I found it a delightful time-waster and I was surprised at just how good Cary Grant was at comedy this early in the game. The story is fluff and really doesn't make much sense, but you can say that about THE BIG SLEEP (and everyone does) while still enjoying it. Anyway, any film with Edward Everett Horton in his prime is worth seeing, and to have the two of actors together is icing on the cake. (One might want to read the great Christopher Plummer's autobiography just to learn in what awe he held Horton when acting with him in the 1950s.) Frances Drake is also delightful (although I am more used to seeing her in thrillers like MAD LOVE and THE INVISIBLE RAY) and shows a gift for comedy. But the truly inspired performance in this film, which no words can adequately describe - you really have to see it - is Nydia Westman's. She is just a delight as a cute, pliant, headstrong ditz (no other word will suffice). Again, I've never seen anything like it except maybe Marie Wilson's lovably weird secretary to Warren William in SATAN MET A LADY. The performances are not alike, they are just weirdly different from anything you could possibly expect. Watch this and you'll see what I mean. Of course, the film depends totally on the performers - as a viable screenplay it may have a lot of words but it hardly exists - and they come through. Besides, who ever went to see a Cary Grant film for the screenplay? And Westman delivers lines like little lightning bolts from another planet. I thought the whole thing delightful.

An overly familiar romantic comedy, the paper-thin LADIES SHOULD LISTEN is a harmless, if trivial, addition to the genre. Neither the writing or direction is sharp enough to make the material really spark or crackle, but Cary Grant displays his increasing prowess in romantic farce, and the plot line of his character being romanced by the telephone operator who repeatedly saves him through eavesdropping is serviceable if hardly superior. The basic structure (as well as the Paris backdrop) is more than casually reminiscent of Grant's previous film KISS AND MAKE UP, only not as inspired or as energetically performed by the supporting players. Still, the film provides a solid hour of agreeable, lightweight entertainment.