ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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

Edgar Allan Pooh " . . . don't they raise the bars (to her leading a normal life) for her?" Gold-digging hooker Kay Arnold plaintively asks her latest "sap's" Mommy. By Kay's logic, Mrs. Strong should welcome her into the Railroad Mogul Family with open arms upon Kay's assertion that she's no longer a Walking Venereal Disease. IT'S A WONDERFUL SEX LIFE, director Frank Capra contends during LADIES OF LEISURE. Capra seems to be preaching that the Robber Barons and the Barin' Bobbers should all be friends (to anachronistically paraphrase OKLAHOMA!). Speaking of Barin' Bobbers, most of Kay's infamous nude silhouette strip scene beginning at 42:32 midway through her first sleep-over at Sap Jerry Strong's Bachelor Pad has gone missing from the surviving print of this 1930 Anything Goes Era flick, thanks to the Pope's over-zealous Scissormen who began snipping the "Good Bits" (or "Pinkies") from America's cinematic output, both retrospectively and Forward even until Today, back in 1934. Though some have complained about this method of "filling the Stacks" of the Secret Vatican Library, can you imagine how many Altar Boys and First Communion Girls have been saved from Total Debauchery by this trove of FORBIDDEN H0LLYWOOD?

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.

Alex da Silva Kay (Barbara Stanwyck) and Dot (Marie Prevost) are a couple of slags who share an apartment. They are the gold-digging type of prostitute - not the decent type who do it for the love of their career. Anyway, Kay meets a wealthy painter Jerry (Ralph Graves) who asks her to be his model. She agrees and they fall in love. Jerry has another girlfriend Claire (Juliette Compton) who his parents approve of. However, while Jerry does not see eye-to-eye with his father (George Fawcett), his mother (Nance O'Neill) is more sympathetic to him and his wishes. But even she does not approve of a union between her son and a slut. She visits Kay to warn her off............The film is interesting and has a few good scenes, eg, the confrontation between Barbara Stanwyck and Nance O'Neill and the scenes with Marie Prevost. She provides some funny moments as does Jerry's playboy artist friend Bill (Lowell Sherman). However, there are also drawn out scenes of melodrama that can get quite dull and I didn't think much of Ralph Graves as a leading man.Overall, the film was watchable even though I fell asleep during a melodramatic bit, although this may have been as a result of a large pizza that I had just eaten. It's interesting as a slice of 1930 and the film is OK.

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