Sorry, this movie sucks

One of my all time favorites.

Blistering performances.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Snappy comedy drama. With all the biting dialogue and crusty dames, I kept thinking '30's Warner Bros. but it's RKO on a Warner's trip. Bennet and Kelton are a couple of hookers on probation looking for a way to get by. So guess what, Bennet meets sugar daddy Halliday who sets her up in comfort after initial misgivings (she probably applied her professional know-how). So it's now a bed of roses except that she can't get over cotton barge captain McCrea. Trouble is he's a straight shooter who might reject her if he finds out about her past. So what's she to do-- stay with sugar daddy or follow her heart and risk rejection. And will Kelton's presence help since she's a constant reminder.All in all, it's a little gem, with sassy Kelton providing spark. Some of the lines are knee-slappers, like the guy who tells the girl he's a boll-weevil exterminator to which she replies, "I ain't done nothin' ". Mc Crea may get top male billing, but it's really Halliday getting the screentime. Note too how the screenplay finesses prostitution even though 1933 is still pre-Code. And that's along with cracks about Prohibition, which was about to end its 13-dry years. Anyway, thanks to the writers including underrated director La Cava, it's a nifty programmer of the sort old movie fans love to stumble across. I know I did.

In order to seduce a rich publisher, Bennett, posing as a newspaper interviewer, wears spectacles. In spite of beauty disguised, Halliday tumbles into her trap. The morning after a boozed-filled night, and although he's wise to her game, what does Halliday do? He tells his valet he'll be apartment hunting that day. Within 12 hours Bennett lands herself in a Bed of Roses. Soon after, Bennett, having grown accustomed to maid service and her super-deluxe apartment, tires of luxury. The pampered and bored Bennett yearns for love - in the handsome face and figure of Joel McCrea. She decides she will find her happiness on his cotton barge sailing up and down the Mississippi. Halliday tells her she'll tire of river boating and cooking and cleaning and looking after McCrea after the honeymoon euphoria wears off- and I agree.The film's message is that a girl won't find lasting happiness in feathers and furs - true - but in self-respect - true - and romance - false. Except for the first 15 minutes of tawdry sordidness where I wondered why Bennett agreed to make this film, I enjoyed watching the Bad Girl turn herself into a Good Girl.

Very Good Little Slice of the Street Life from RKO that is Racy, Yet Playful and Full of Peppery Slang and a Peek at Gold Digger Prostitutes Fresh From the Slammer who Show No Reform and are Back to Their Roots just Outside the Prison Gate.This is Definitive Pre-Code Stuff that would become Forcibly Absent in Hollywood for Decades. The Two Dames, Played by Constance Bennett and Pert Kelton are surely an Eyeful with Skin Tight Dresses and Swagger to Burn. Especially Kelton who is Channeling Mae West and completely Holds Her Own with Star Bennet and then some.Joel McCrea doesn't do much here but is, as Always, a Likable Hunk. There are some Tasty Period Settings including a Sugar Daddy Funded Apartment and a Mardi Gra Party. It's a Hoot of a Movie with some Serious Social Concerns at Play but is Never Preachy and Delivered in a Semi-Comedic Tone.Definitely Worth a Watch for the Pre-Code Daringness and Attractive Actors. It's another Short Movie from the Era and this is the Kind that one Wishes More Screen Time for All involved.

Constance Bennett and Pert Kelton are a comical hoot playing two small-time hustlers on the make for wealthy husbands; Joel McCrea is a riverboat skipper who falls for Constance, who gives the earthy captain nothing but heartache. Extremely brief early talkie directed by Gregory La Cava, who also worked on the screenplay. McCrea is attractive and likable (as usual), and there are several snappy dialogue exchanges, amusing interplay between the gals. Nice collection of character actors in the supporting cast, including Jane Darwell as a prison matron. Nothing extraordinary, but a fairly fun outing with a satisfying wrap-up. ** from ****