Beauty for Sale

Another delectable sweet-and-sour pre-Code entry of the early 1930s, nimbly skirting the edges of that era's morality with prodding grown-up material, satirizing the comedic and dramatic possibilities therein. Story concerns three gals who work in a New York City beauty parlor: one is dating a married man, another is pregnant by a no-goodnik, and the third spends her nights with a rich sugar daddy. Society cattiness at its most cynical; colorful performances by Madge Evans, Una Merkel and Alice Brady adds to the fun. Director Richard Boleslawski allows the bracing narrative to degenerate once or twice into slapstick, but if you can overlook that there's a great deal of sharp, salty wit here. Fine supporting turns by Otto Kruger, Hedda Hopper and May Robson. **1/2 from ****

A story like this in the 30s even with its relative mildness to today's movies could've only been made because it belonged to the pre-code era. It does have its share of problems with some outdated views but at the same time, there are a lot of things in it that are progressive even by today's standards. The story itself can be seen as a classic rom-com trope now but the film treats the subject quite bleakly while having enough stuff for levity. It is not much more than a studio movie from the 20s but it has moments of brilliance in the script that make it really interesting. Madge Evans and Una Merkel are charming and powerful on-screen, the two biggest reasons the film works so well. In most of the romantic movies, I've seen till the 50s and 60s the male lead is almost never really convincing enough for me. Maybe it's because of different sensibilities but I feel like it has to do more with how men looked upon themselves than how women chose them at the time. This is one of the rare times where I thought Otto Kruger's character was nearly convincing enough for me to not cringe while watching the romantic scenes.

The subjects of "Beauty for Sale" are three employees of a fashionable Manhattan beauty salon run by the haughty Hedda Hopper. There is Una Merkel, the hardworking but cynical daughter of a rooming house proprietress (May Robson), Madge Evans, a boarder fresh from Paducah, Kentucky hoping to make it in the Big City and Florine McKinney who falls for the charms of Hopper's rakish son (Phillips Holmes).

At various moments the main characters' faces are arranged at sharp angles in close-up as they converse about the hard choices in their lives; or off-kilter flashes of one beauty parlor customer after another engaged in varieties of gossip and small talk; we get glimpses of carefully choreographed throbbing studio-shot street life as we follow characters from plot point to plot point: Eddie Nugent (Robson's loquacious son) on a crowded Brooklyn street as he makes his way home; the minutiae of daily home life: Robson preparing a gargantuan lunch basket feast for a departing tenant; a beauty parlor client (Alice Brady at her ditzy best) fussing with her pillows, her dog, her tea as she chatters away as her long-suffering, patient husband (the elegant Otto Kruger) attends to her every whim. Every scene is filled with little bits of vibrancy and every featured player contributes something solid.

The Madge Evans character gets the most screen time as she struggles to figure out whether to pursue her relationship with the older, married Kruger who is taken with her. This could be Evans's most substantial screen role. Merkel provides her customary sassy humor as she stakes out an even older admirer, hoping to marry into riches. McKinney's romance is another story entirely.

Despite its rather hackneyed story (young women navigating the perils of romance) "Beauty for Sale" is well worth viewing for its details of character, perspective and environment.

Beauty for sale is one of those classic movie treasures that you happen to come across by channel surfing one late, late Tuesday night and stop to watch for no other apparent reason than you happen to like classic movies so you watch. Perhaps it was Madge Evans' polished mannerisms, speaking voice or looks that catch your attention, or Una Merkel who you swear you've seen somewhere but you can't place your finger on it. (I later found out she played Verbena on the Hayley Mill's classic, The Parent Trap - I knew I recognized her) It's an endearing story that's probably been told a hundred times over, but you can't help falling in love with it anyway. Falling in love with married men, men who are old enough to be your father, men who are in no position to ever want commitment, adultery, unwed motherhood, and gold digging - sounds like Jerry Springer. Except this one has class. A wonderful movie, a great cast (including Hedda Hopper and Alice Brady), and even I fell a little for Otto Kruger.

Richard Boleslavski directs this pre-Code drama for MGM about three women in the beauty trade who are there to find husbands, richer the better. All of them have a tale to tell why they want marriage and security in the same male package. Madge Evans, Una Merkel, and Florine McKinney are the three women.

Nothing here in language or really in sexual innuendo that would make the censors frown. I think that what got some tailfeathers ruffled was Beauty For Sale's showing that gold digging was the way to go. The only one who falls hard and has a real romance is McKinney with Phillips Holmes, the son of the women's employer Hedda Hopper. He's idealistic, but weak in the end and it's a formula for tragedy.

Merkel is the comic relief as she usually is and has some really great lines. The girls all live at Merkel's mom's boardinghouse. Mom is tart tongued May Robson and there's a brother Eddie Nugent they'd both like to see out their house and their hair.

The main story line is Madge Evans who falls for married Otto Kruger. He's married to society girl Alice Brady an empty head who likes the money and position Kruger gives her, no way she wants to divorce him. Looks for a while like Evans will to settle if she can't select.

The three girls flesh their characters out fine and there's some snappy dialog especially for Una Merkel. Two years from now, no way this ending would have approved by The Code.