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.

LeonLouisRicci Very Good Little Slice of the Street Life from RKO that is Racy, Yet Playful and Full of Peppery Slang and a Peek at Gold Digger Prostitutes Fresh From the Slammer who Show No Reform and are Back to Their Roots just Outside the Prison Gate.This is Definitive Pre-Code Stuff that would become Forcibly Absent in Hollywood for Decades. The Two Dames, Played by Constance Bennett and Pert Kelton are surely an Eyeful with Skin Tight Dresses and Swagger to Burn. Especially Kelton who is Channeling Mae West and completely Holds Her Own with Star Bennet and then some.Joel McCrea doesn't do much here but is, as Always, a Likable Hunk. There are some Tasty Period Settings including a Sugar Daddy Funded Apartment and a Mardi Gra Party. It's a Hoot of a Movie with some Serious Social Concerns at Play but is Never Preachy and Delivered in a Semi-Comedic Tone.Definitely Worth a Watch for the Pre-Code Daringness and Attractive Actors. It's another Short Movie from the Era and this is the Kind that one Wishes More Screen Time for All involved.

tmpj Actually, not a bad film for an old antique. Bennett and Kelton are two prosties with no shame in their game. The films open with the girls having served their time---either for soliciting or theft--and getting booted out of the clink. Bennett rolls a drunk for his bankroll aboard a barge headed down the river. She gets busted by an adamant Matt McHugh, and jumps overboard rather than face the music and go back and do more time. She is fished out of the river by Joel Macrae, who skippers a cotton barge. Despite his kindness to her, she rolls him too--for the whole payroll...and skips. But this time, her conscience gets to her...and she discovers love. She pays him back...instead of blowing a fuse, he proposes to her. But she is busy milking another sucker, a sugar daddy she meets by way of deceit. He falls for her, and takes her in, giving her some stability. But...love will out...she's ready and willing to throw it all away because she loves the cotton barge skipper. But , she has a past that needs to be reconciled, and sugar daddy beats her over the head with it. So, with love in her heart, but with low self esteem and fear of rejection by the lover she has at long last found, she dis-appears, even gets a job ! Remarkable. Macrae finally finds her, and what happens is the stuff fairy tales are made of. The film is a worthwhile watch, though I am certain that audiences of the early '30s did not look upon it the same way they would some half a century later with the likes of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Pert Kelton gets special mention...she steals her share of scenes and was quite a siren of the screen during that period...she had sex-appeal that oozed and dripped from the screen. Maybe it did her more harm than good, but she is one of the sexiest women on the screen during this period. One line she utters that I really like is "...I'll take vanilla", one of the strident wisecracks of the screen during this time. Also, Mildred Washington appears, playing a maid. Mildred did not shuffle, and was a star in her own right on the Black circuit. Her unfortunate early death robbed us of a presence on film that was both intelligent and vivacious. See this film...despite its age, it deals with the subject matter realistically, for the most part, is well made, and very entertaining.

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.