Broadway Bad

A soap opera about chorus girls, Broadway BAD features a strong cast with star Joan Blondell, male lead Ricardo Cortez, and supporting actress Ginger Rogers, who was just about to hit the big-time. The opening shot is rather elaborate, and there's a very nice scene in a dressing room that centers on Joan and Ginger, but that's about it. The rest is a lachrymose story about mother love, not unusual for the times and not particularly well done. Blondell doesn't get to do much, if any, wisecracking, Cortez is not particularly sleazy for a change, and Rogers has only a small role as the best friend, though she's spirited as usual. 3/10.

Covered in gold coin like attachments on a dress that could have been one of the chorus girl outfits in the "We're in the Money" production number in "Gold Diggers of 1933", glamorous Joan Blondell is definitely looking to make off of the bread and chorus lines and onto the social register on this delightful pre-code drama. Fellow gold digger Ginger Rogers is along for the ride, and they aren't taking any prisoners. Perhaps they are just tired of the stage door Johnny's taking advantage of them, but in Blondell's case, she is hiding a divorce and a child, and this infuriates both the ex and the current. Rogers is fine support as a character named Flip, while Ricardo Cortez is pleasant as the man Blondell might reform over. This is pre-code drama at its best, mild on wisecracks but clever enough to be original.

Copyright 7 February 1933 by Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Palace: 4 March 1933. U.S. release: 24 February 1933. 61 minutes. (Formerly vailable on a good VintageFilmBuff DVD). SYNOPSIS: Showgirl's rich father-in-law seeks custody of her son. COMMENT: Director Lanfield starts this one with a wow of an extended one-take bang, and then winds slowly - very slowly - downhill. But as the film only runs for one hour (not two or three), our attention is still pretty high at the climactic power-packed courtroom encounter in which Joan crosses swords with an expertly aggressive Donald Crisp. Despite her prominence in the billing, Ginger not only has a small part but is barely recognizable as the RKO Rogers we all know and love. Ricardo Cortez likewise drops out for a long period. In fact, the plot is as flimsy as the lingerie - but in this delightfully overloaded with showgirls case, only a misogynist would even dream of making a complaint.

This movie's a very entertaining little Pre-Code picture. I'll ***SPOILER ALERT *** this, even though the previous poster didn't: The father was Bob. She just didn't want to lose custody of the baby to that lowlife (if upper-crust) creep, so she lied about it. After all, Bob had been trying to blackmail her prior to discovering the kid, so that makes her justified in doing whatever she must do to keep the child out of his clutches. And Blondell's terrific in this picture, as she was in just about every other movie she ever made. She had a down-to-earth, likable quality that always served her characters.