Party Girl (1930)

fun Pre-Code drama

Hats off to Alpha/Oldies for their dedication in releasing these long-forgotten classics from Hollywood's Pre-Code days. PARTY GIRL (1930) is based on the "sensational" story by Edwin Balmer (entitled "Dangerous Business") and stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Carefree young playboy Jay Rountree (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) awakens the morning after attending a rowdy party to discover he's married to Leeda (Judith Barrie), a notorious 'party girl' from the wrong side of the social track! In the meantime, Jay's secretary girlfriend Ellen (Jeanette Loff) pines away in the background...desperately trying to cover up her own past as a 'party girl'.

PARTY GIRL is a zippy little Pre-Code gem which runs just over an hour, long enough to tell it's uncomplicated story. The performances are fine, though Fairbanks gets quite hammy, and some of the other actresses (like kewpie-doll cutie Marie Prevost) act like it's a screwball comedy! I was most fascinated by the character of 'party girl' racket leader Miss Lindsay, and Almeda Fowler is great in the part. The role of scheming Leeda is also fabulous; I can definitely imagine a young Bette Davis giving Ms Barrie a run for her money.

This DVD from Alpha/Oldies comes from a very watchable print. Great title for Pre-Code fans. July 4, 2008

Nothing really special about this precode

There's nothing really shocking about this precode, not even for 1930. It's basically about a ring of professional "party girls" that work for one particular madam and go around entertaining bored businessmen. Doug Fairbanks Jr. is the partying son of the head of a manufacturing concern who crashes one of these parties one night and winds up with two souvenirs he could have done without - a huge hangover and a party girl wife. In the meantime, he's in love with his father's secretary who is a former party girl herself. Don't worry though, the local police are about to bust the party girl ring wide open and everything works out in the end.

What is really notable here is the extremely bad acting. I've seen Doug Fairbanks Jr. in several of his early roles, and even if the films weren't that great, Doug's acting was OK. Here he really hams it up, along with the rest of the cast. I can only chalk it up to bad directing by Victor Halperin who made a number of unmemorable B pictures in the 30's, the best being 1932's "White Zombie".

The one strange thing that keeps happening in this film that I've never seen before is that everyone seems to think it's OK to drive your car into the service elevator of tall buildings and emerge on the floor of your choice. Fairbanks and his friends do it when they are crashing the party, and the police do the same thing at the end.

My verdict would be to pass on this film, even if you're a precode fan. It's neither cheesy nor entertaining enough to be worth owning. The video and audio quality are quite good considering the film's age. March 7, 2008

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