At this stage Loretta Young may have only been a pretty face but what a pretty face she had. And in 1930 that was all the studio required of her - 6 movies in 1929, 7 in 1930, she was always decoration and most of the time her acting was bland - the only time she was given prestigious films was on loan outs. And it didn't hurt that she won many "clear speech" awards from various societies, even though critics complained about her precise diction!! But even though she was beautiful and could show a refined emotion, in this movie she seemed to be placed among the old fogies!!! The huge standout for me was Myrna Loy - she had the best role as the mercenary Kara, had some explosive scenes and was able to show off her singing and dancing talents. Sadly Warners didn't realise the prize they had in Myrna and she was dropped the next year, however Warner's loss was the cinema's gain!!
Lovely Phyllis (Young) is engaged to the Imp, Richard Dane (David Manners) but she doesn't have enough life in her for him - he wants to go night clubbing at cabarets, she is content to spend her evenings with a group of "stay at home" old timers. The Imp's guardian, Richard Carewe (Conway Tearle) can see trouble brewing and is determined to make a man of him, to make him worthy of Phyllis!! The first upset, the Imp can't attend his very respectable birthday party, he, er, has to attend a lecture by one of his teachers!! She is the exotic Kara (Loy) a dazzling dancer at the Firefly Club. Loy makes a spectacular entrance, one of the rare chances to see her singing and dancing, this time to the jazzy "Playing Around".
The Imp is already head over heels in love with Kara (Phyllis who??) - she thinks he's made of money and is waiting for him to come "crushing the life out of me and making me like it"!! Alas the Imp finds out on his wedding day that she is an unscrupulous gold digger - her emotion packed scene as she realises his wealth is just a sham makes the movie well worth seeing. Unless it is for Myrna sultrily singing "I Have to Have You Baby" - her marriage to the Imp forgotten she is now singing to someone else - none other than the stodgy Richard who doesn't know of her secret marriage and has paid her $5,000 to be seen about with him so Phyllis won't be hurt. Quite confusing yes?? - you see Phyllis finds a steamy love letter from Kara to - she thinks immediately of the staid Richard and as her emotions take over, it's not hard to see where her affections have been all along.
Also working on the premise - if you love these songs, you'll love all these other Warners/First National movies, sort of a cross promotion. The main theme is "In the Land of Let's Pretend" from "On With the Show" and "Miss Wonderful" from "Paris"!!
Lovely Phyllis (Young) is engaged to the Imp, Richard Dane (David Manners) but she doesn't have enough life in her for him - he wants to go night clubbing at cabarets, she is content to spend her evenings with a group of "stay at home" old timers. The Imp's guardian, Richard Carewe (Conway Tearle) can see trouble brewing and is determined to make a man of him, to make him worthy of Phyllis!! The first upset, the Imp can't attend his very respectable birthday party, he, er, has to attend a lecture by one of his teachers!! She is the exotic Kara (Loy) a dazzling dancer at the Firefly Club. Loy makes a spectacular entrance, one of the rare chances to see her singing and dancing, this time to the jazzy "Playing Around".
The Imp is already head over heels in love with Kara (Phyllis who??) - she thinks he's made of money and is waiting for him to come "crushing the life out of me and making me like it"!! Alas the Imp finds out on his wedding day that she is an unscrupulous gold digger - her emotion packed scene as she realises his wealth is just a sham makes the movie well worth seeing. Unless it is for Myrna sultrily singing "I Have to Have You Baby" - her marriage to the Imp forgotten she is now singing to someone else - none other than the stodgy Richard who doesn't know of her secret marriage and has paid her $5,000 to be seen about with him so Phyllis won't be hurt. Quite confusing yes?? - you see Phyllis finds a steamy love letter from Kara to - she thinks immediately of the staid Richard and as her emotions take over, it's not hard to see where her affections have been all along.
Also working on the premise - if you love these songs, you'll love all these other Warners/First National movies, sort of a cross promotion. The main theme is "In the Land of Let's Pretend" from "On With the Show" and "Miss Wonderful" from "Paris"!!