Ladies of Leisure

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Movie
Original title Ladies of Leisure
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1930
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Frank Capra
script Jo Swerling
production Columbia Pictures
camera Joseph Walker
occupation

Ladies of Leisure is an American feature film from 1930 directed by Frank Capra and his first collaboration with Barbara Stanwyck .

action

Jerry Strong is the artistically gifted son of a wealthy railroad magnate. One day, disgusted by the superficiality of the guests, he leaves a party given in his honor. He meets Kay Arnold, who has also fled from society, but for completely different reasons. Kay works as a party girl, which is a euphemistic term for part-time prostitutes. Jerry likes Kay for who she is and wants to use her as a model for his picture entitled "Hope". The next day, while Kay and Jerry are discussing the conception of the painting, Jerry's fiancée and good friend Bill Standish join them. Bill is fascinated by Kay and invites the young woman on a trip to Havana. However, Kay has fallen in love with Jerry and is starting to change for him. However, his constant nagging soon gets on her nerves, and only after a dramatic argument do the two find the necessary artistic relationship. Kay is tired after a long session and spends the night on the sofa in the studio. The next morning, the two finally want to confess their love when Mr. Strong, Jerry's father, enters the studio. He only sees Kay as a slut, a gold digger who is after money. He threatens to disinherit Jerry if he continues the liaison. Jerry wants to marry Kay and live with her in Arizona. Just as the two are about to leave, Jerry's mother speaks a serious word with Kay. She points out to the young woman her low origins and dubious reputation, and that marriage would drag Jerry down to her level. Kay is desperate and yet moved by the arguments. She breaks up with Jerry and is on her way to see Bill when Dot Lamar, Kay's best friend, runs over to Jerry and reveals the truth to him. Jerry rushes to the port, but the ship has already cast off. Kay is now so desperate that, barely on board, she jumps over the railing into the harbor to drown herself. But she is rescued and wakes up in the hospital, where Jerry sits by her bed and asserts that everything will be fine.

background

Barbara Stanwyck was a household name on Broadway when she went to Hollywood with then-husband Frank Fay in 1929 . The marriage was stormy from the start, and the fact that Stanwyck did not get any good film roles at first made the domestic misery even worse. Fay was an alcoholic and regularly hit Stanwyck, who had to flee from her husband to her friend Joan Crawford more than once at night . The scenes of their marriage provided William A. Wellman with the direct template for A Star Is Born from 1937. Finally Stanwyck signed a poorly paid contract with Columbia Pictures , at that time still a B-studio without stars or well-known directors. By chance she got the chance in November 1929 to audition for the role of Kay Arnold in the film adaptation of the play Ladies of the Evening , which was to be brought to the screen under the direction of Frank Capra . Capra had become known through several adventure films. The film ended up being the studio's most financially successful production to date. Stanwyck was paid $ 8,000. The director was aware of the richly antiquated morality of the original and played down the melodramatic moments in favor of the feelings between Kay and Jerry. Both have a lot in common: They are lonely and misunderstood and long for recognition and someone who takes them for who they really are. The role of Kay was created by Capra as an outwardly cynical woman who has seen everything and yet still believes in the good in people. He found the ideal cast in Barbara Stanwyck. Stanwyck grew up in the poorest of families in Brooklyn and had worked non-stop for a living since she was 15. She gave the role the required mixture of hardness and vulnerability. For Frank Capra, it was initially an unfamiliar experience to work with an actress who approached the role spontaneously and without bias and who usually offered the best performance with the first shot. He was considerate of Stanwyck and kept the torsion bar to adjust to their pace, not the other way around.

The actress got along well with Capra not only because of this consideration. She stated:

He loved actors. That's another great secret of his. Some directors don't like actors, you know, they really don't, and you can almost smell it. But, he did. And he liked women - not in a lecherous way, he just liked women [..] He didn't demean them in any way.
He loved actors. That's another big secret of his. Some directors don't like actors, they know they just don't like them and can't stand them. However, he liked actors. And he liked women - not in a lustful way, he just liked them. He didn't belittle her in any way.

The two worked together on four other films. Columbia shot a slightly shorter silent film version of Ladies of Leisure , because at the beginning of 1930 not all cinemas in the USA and especially the foreign markets had been converted to sound technology.

The success brought Stanwyck an offer from RKO to take on the female lead in Cimarron , but Irene Dunne got the part in the end. Samuel Goldwyn offered the studio $ 85,000 to win Stanwyck to film Street Scene . The role went to Sylvia Sidney .

criticism

The New York Times critic , Mordaunt Hall , praised the intelligent handling of a sensitive issue.

The [...] photoplay is a searching portrait of a type of metropolitan girl known as a "gold digger" and stands quite alone for its amusing dialogue, the restrained performances of nearly all the players and a general lightness of handling [...] Barbara Stanwyck as Kay Arnold [..] shows a most gratifying ability for comprehending the requirements of her role. [...] Miss Stanwyck's part is easily believable, and one is impelled to sympathize with her trial in sacrificing her accustomed life for a strange one in order to win the love of her man.
The [...] film a precise description of the kind of city girl, who are also known as "gold diggers" and is characterized by its amusing dialogues, the restrained representation of almost all actors and the lightness of the plot. […] Barbara Stanwyck as Kay Arnold [..] shows a remarkable ability to master the demands of the role. [...] Miss Stanwyck is credible in her role and you meet her with sympathy in her endeavors to change out of love for a man and to give up her previous life.

In the magazine Photoplay was carried out:

Halfway through, the audience choked up. Something was happening… a real, beautiful, thrilling wonder had been born.
About halfway through the action, the audience woke up. Something had happened. a real, beautiful, exciting miracle had happened.

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