VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

MikeMagi It's hard to believe that "Skyscraper Souls" was made only three years after the advent of sound. The complex, fluid production is set in the offices, elevators, shops and crowded lobby of a New York wonder, a skyscraper that towers over the nearby Empire State Building. It's the brainchild -- and obsession -- of banker Warren William who will do anything to keep it under his control. If that takes bankrupting his closest friends and allies, so be it. When not masterminding a shady stock manipulation, Williams is busily plotting how to dump his mistress, Verree Teasdale, in favor of a newly-hired, naive young secretary, Maureen O'Sullivan. The result is a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of ruthless ambition that could easily have been made today. And probably not as well. Among the stand-out cast members are Anita Page as a model-cum-hooker who can't believe that a decent man would want to marry her, Jean Hershholt as a lovelorn jeweler, future director Norman Foster as O'Sullivan's brash young boy friend, and Hedda Hopper (yes, that Hedda Hopper) as Williams' wife who's happy not to interfere in his extra-curricular love life as long as he writes out large checks.

mrb1980 This movie is a great example--of one of the best--of Pre-Code film-making in the early 1930s. Warren William plays an incredibly unscrupulous businessman who controls a high-rise building in New York. He's having an affair with his married assistant, lusts after secretary Maureen O'Sullivan, cheats all of his business partners, and illegally manipulates stock prices, leading to a startling and tragic end. There's also great support from Anita Page and Verree Teasdale.Along the way is some of the most raw and racy pre-Code stuff around, including leering sex and some very lively dialogue. My only objection is Norman Foster's character, who is so clumsy and oafish that he makes Jerry Lewis look tame by comparison. Still a great experience, just listen carefully for some very off-color remarks by William.

preppy-3 Story about a 100 story skyscraper in New York--David Dwight (Warren William) helped finance the building but is running out of money. He needs more and will do anything to get it. Other characters in the movie are Jenny (Anita Page) a model who openly sleeps with guys for money; sweet virginal Lynn (Maureen O'Sullivan); Tom (Norman Foster) who loves Lynn--but Dwight wants her too; Sarah Dennis (Verree Teasdale) who is Dwight's mistress and Myra (Helen Coburn) who loves her husband but he can't find work..and Slim (Wallace Ford) wants her.As you can see there are multiple story lines crisscrossing each other. The movie moves quick and is pre-Code meaning it was pretty open about adultery, sex, suicide and murder. Nothing TOO racy by today's standards (the TV rating is G) but pretty strong for 1932. The acting is good--William, O'Sullivan, Page and Teasdale come off best. No masterpiece of cinema but quick, fun and well worth searching out--TCM shows it occasionally. An 8.

clyons Back in the early 30's, Maureen O'Sullivan was the quintessential "good girl who wants to be bad", which is to say, she seemed prim and proper on the surface, but a powerfully sexy woman lay right underneath that surface, who would only come out for the right guy--or sometimes the wrong guy. Though she is not exactly the star of this movie, she did get second billing after Warren William, in spite of being so new to the motion picture biz. This was probably in response to her having appeared as Jane in the first Weissmuller Tarzan film, not long before. That remains her best role--she is essentially the protagonist in the first two Tarzan movies--she's the one who is changing, casting aside the sexual mores of her society, and joining Tarzan in his idyllic state of noble savagery.In the urban jungle of "Skyscraper Souls", she plays a less idyllic character, wanting to enjoy both sexual passion and social respectability, along with a decent income. Nobody can offer her everything she wants, so she's left with two imperfect choices--the poor young clerk she likes, who will offer marriage. And the sexy ruthless tycoon she REALLY likes, who will take her as his "ward" (that is to say, his mistress) and possibly cast her aside in a decade or so, assuming he isn't too old to care by that point. Of course, she'd be set for life, even if that happened. But by the point in the film where she gives into him, she almost seems past caring about that. She's tried to follow the rules, and society has only penalized her for it. The man who supposedly loves her doesn't trust her, and she's feeling powerfully drawn to David Dwight, who understands her perfectly, and doesn't stand in judgment of anybody--least of all himself. He's a bastard, who destroys people to get what he wants--but he doesn't pretend to be anything else. He doesn't care about respectability or morality. Very few rich men truly do, but most like to at least pretend.This pre-code film has it both ways, regarding the denouement of this particular sub-plot--you can, if you wish, believe that Lynn is saved from the proverbial Fate Worse Than Death, by the not entirely selfless intervention of her friend, Dwight's former mistress. But in truth, a number of days have passed since Lynn gave in to Dwight's advances, she seems awfully comfortable in his embrace, she's wearing clothes he bought for her, and is obviously living in his penthouse. Dwight is not the kind of man who is going to wait until he gets her on the yacht to have his pleasure. He's already gotten what he--and she--wanted. Even in the pre-code era, this is a bit too subversive, which is why the movie deftly clouds the issue of whether they've had sex or not. But there can be no doubt of her eagerness--by this point, she wouldn't leave Dwight for the bank clerk, even if the clerk could offer her everything she asked for. With Dwight gone, she'll marry her bank clerk, and raise a family, and perhaps count herself lucky to have gotten to experience a bit of the high life before settling down. But one wonders if the bank clerk will end up wondering why their first kid doesn't look like him. I'm reading a great deal into this, of course. I really hated the bank clerk, btw. ;-)