Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Michael O'Keefe Barbara Stanwyck's fourth movie and famed director Frank Capra presents her the vehicle to start her ride to stardom. Jerry Strong(Ralph Graves)is the son of a wealthy railroad magnet(George Fawcett), but he angers dear old dad by not wanting to follow in his footsteps. Jerry wants to be an artist, although hasn't found his perfect model to pose for him. On a middle-of-the-night drive, the younger Strong rescues the lovely Kay Arnold(Stanwyck)sneaking out of a party. Yes, she describes herself as a "party girl"...this is the mid 30s, OK. Strong has found his model and Miss Arnold really wants the money to pose. It takes a while for a romance to begin smoldering; about the same time Jerry's father demands he leave the girl with the bad reputation alone or more or less lose his inheritance. It is not hard to recognize the beauty of the young Miss Stanwyck. My favorite sequence is watching her through a raindrop soaked window changing into sleepwear. This is a passionate romance drama, of course filmed in Black & White. Ninety-nine minutes passes quickly. Rounding out the cast: Lowell Sherman, Marie Prevost and Nance O'Neil.

cluciano63 A pretty good film of its kind, with Barbara Stanwyck giving her usual high level of performance. I find Ralph Graves, who plays her artist/lover, to be a stiff and totally miscast as an artist. He seems more like an undertaker and the worst part of the movie is trying to figure out why Barbara's character was ever attracted to him in the first place. Otherwise, acting is good and the plot is one that we've seen before; poor, "working" girl in love with son of a rich, important family. Of course they object.The only time Barbara does not ring true is in the emotional scene when his mother comes to ask her to give him up. It is a bit over the top. Again, the problem is Ralph Graves. He is not worth all of that drama and sobbing. And what an odd-looking man he was, with an unusually shaped head.Kind of a ridiculous ending, but so many of the movies of the day had that in common. At least she was allowed to live.

Michael Morrison Barbara Stanwyck looked sweet and innocent, even though her character is supposed to have been around.For someone making only her fourth movie, she was a treat to watch, and not just because of her looks. She gave a terrific performance.Others have criticized Ralph Graves, in his twelfth year of film acting, but I thought he was marvelously realistic, giving a wonderful under-acted performance.Jimmy Cagney said when he, and some others, came to California with their under-acting, they changed Hollywood. Graves might have been just ahead of his time.Lowell Sherman was surely the pluperfect movie cad. In this film, too, he gave a superb performance.Marie Prevost, though, stole the show ... well, she at least came in a close second to Stanwyck. Her brash, brassy character was funny, touching, adorable ... even if she wasn't someone a young man might want to bring home to mother.Again there was a corny, silly telling of the story via a newspaper headline that surely could have been better told some other way; but, over all, this movie is a good story, well told and well acted, and a great look at its time in history.By the way, a note to Yard Bird: Most likely the reason it was made in silent and sound versions was to be sure every theater could play it. At the time, not all theaters had yet converted to sound.It was the sound version that played in May of 2009 on Turner Classic Movies. I would guess it is now available for purchase.Added early on 7 October 2017: In fact, "Ladies of Leisure" is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ8HmUcuJfU

jpb58 The sound version of Ladies of Leisure is immeasurably better than the silent version which has floated around for years. I suspect the silent is easily available because it is public domain and the sound version is copyrighted and being hoarded.A friend in Europe sent me a rare copy of the sound version on PAL disc which I converted to NTSC for myself. The silent version I've had a few years.It was a delight to actually SEE the sets in the sound version, first of all. Clarity is so much better! In the silent version the artist's (Ralph Graves) dwelling looks like a slimy, dirty hovel because the print is so lousy. In the sound version it looks just what it was supposed to be: a very rich guy's penthouse apartment in Manhattan. What a contrast! In the sound version Marie Prevost gets many more scenes; in the silent version her part is cut to practically nil. However in both versions I did get a little ticked off at the script constantly harping on her weight. We all know how Marie died and it's terrible to hear lines constantly like: "If you gain another 10 pounds no one will look at you." Poor dear Marie. It wasn't bad enough she had to hear it in real life, she had to hear it on screen as well! The big problem is she does NOT look fat! She looks NORMAL! Just not a skinny stringbean like so many other actresses. She was a delight no matter what she weighed; why didn't someone help that woman instead of knock her down? She made a lot of money for the studios in her day and then they dumped her when she needed help. Cruel Hollywood!In the sound version the music is MUCH better, more sophisticated. The silent version has a rather horrid piano soundtrack as I recall which made me think of fingernails being scraped against a chalkboard.There are also more scenes with Lowell Sherman in the sound version as well but that didn't make much difference because his part wasn't substantial and neither was his character's personality; just another wolf after the girls for cheap sex. If there is anything that is better in the silent version it is the key scene where the two people, the artist (Graves) and the model (Stanwyck) finally admit they are head over heels in love with one another. That's such a bittersweet scene. Because there are no words spoken in the silent version Ralph and Barbara had to communicate more with their eyes and body language, and that made this key scene more powerful and far less awkward than in the sound version. So for all you readers who have only seen the silent version rest assured you at least can enjoy this beautiful love scene in its best framework.A pleasant precode for the early Barbara Stanwyck fan and interesting to study the differences in the two versions.8 out of 10