BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

dougdoepke 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.

judy t 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.

MartinHafer This is a marvelous example of a "Pre-Code" Hollywood film; i.e., a film that appeared before the strict Production Code was imposed in the mid-1930s. As a result of the time in which it was made, it deals with very adult situations and sex in a much more frank manner than you would have seen just a couple years later. This may surprise some viewers, but many Pre-Code films were actually filled with adultery, nudity or crudeness most incorrectly think began only in the 1960s and 70s.Constance Bennett and her snappy-talking friend, Pert Kelton, are both being released from prison as the film begins. Instead of being repentant, they are anxious to find and fleece some rich chumps though their brazen sex appeal and willingness to put out if needed! This certainly is NOT the type of film you thought your grandparents would have watched, is it?! Constance's plans are quickly changed when she is nearly re-arrested for swindling some men, so she quickly jumps overboard and makes her way to a lowly barge. On board, she meets nice-guy Joel McCrea, but she soon leaves to look for a rich sucker--not some poor working stiff like him. Through some lying and deceit, she gets a sugar daddy and lives the life of Riley. A bit later, you find that Pert has also hooked a man, though she actually married him instead of becoming his mistress (like Bennett and her beau).Eventually, though, Bennett tires of her slutty ways and longs to see McCrea and a little romance blossoms. However, since she really does like him down deep, she realizes she's all wrong for him and so she decides to give up her evil ways and get a real job--so she can finally gain some self-respect. Eventually, smitten McCrea catches up to her and they manage to work things out and the film ends on a happy note.As I mentioned above, this is a very scandalous movie compared to later Hollywood films of the 30s and 40s due to its frankness about sex, snappy double-entendres and because the entire plot revolves around the notion of sleeping your way to success!! In this light alone, it's a very entertaining and amazing film to watch. However, underneath all this sleaze, it's a very good film and is well worth your time. A good example of the genre and a good film regardless.

preppy-3 Constance Bennett and pal Pat Kelton get out of prison and will do anything--ANYTHING--to get a man with cash. Bennett eventually falls in love with poor Joel McCrea--but will she be able to tell him about her past?Nothing new story wise but some of the dialogue and situations are pretty frank for 1933. It's made quite clear that Bennett and Kelton have, and will, sleep with men for money. Also one woman is very obviously a kept woman. Very much a pre-Code film.The dialogue is sharp, funny, fast and racy. All the acting is great--Bennett is just beautiful, McCrea is young, hunky and handsome and Kelton is hysterical doing a Mae West imitation.Quick (67 minutes) and worth catching.