Synopsis
In their apartment house, Letty Lawson (Evans) is the neighbor of the Merrick family, Mrs Merrick (May Robson) and her children Carol (Merkel) and Bill (Edward J. Nugent). Bill is fond of Letty but she does not love the somewhat annoying young man. Letty needs work, and Carol gets her a position in the fashionable beauty salon where she works.
The customers of the salon are wealthy middle age and older women, many overweight and homely, seeking the salon’s beauty treatments for skin, hair and nails. The employees of the salon fawn over the customers.
Letty is sent to the home of wealthy Mrs Henrietta Sherwood (Brady) to give her treatments for her hair and nails. Mrs Sherwood is vacuous and self centered. Mrs Sherwood’s pekingese chews up Letty’s hat. Mr Sherwood (Kruger) enters as Letty is scolding the dog. He takes Letty to a milliner and buys her a fine new hat. They strike up a friendship.
Letty declines the marriage proposal of Bill Merrick. Mrs Merrick is offended that Letty does not want Bill. Carol agrees with Letty. Letty moves to an apartment that she shares with Jane, another employee at the salon.
Carol, cynical and wanting money, is seeing a married older man, Freddy Gordon (Charley Grapewin) who buys her expensive gifts. Jane, young and innocent, is secretly meeting with Burt Barton (Phillips Holmes), the spoiled son of Madame Barton (Hedda Hopper), the owner of the salon.
When Henrietta goes on vacation, Letty and Sherwood go out and enjoy each other’s company. Soon they admit to being in love. Sherwood knows that Henrietta will never agree to a divorce, but he does not want to give up Letty.
Letty considers having a clandestine relationship with Sherwood. Freddy is going to Paris for business and pleasure. Carol is going too. She has her own cabin on the ship. On board, she and Freddy will pretend not to know each other. Jane is pregnant and implores Burt to marry her. He agrees, and they set a date.
On the ship, Letty sees Carol off and meets Burt and his mother. Burt is sailing to Paris. That night in their apartment, Jane happily tells Letty that she is going to a wedding. Letty talks about seeing Carol off and mentions that she met Burt and his mother. Jane becomes hysterical and tells Letty about herself and Burt. Letty comforts her. During the night, Jane leaps from the window. She lets out a scream as she falls. Distraught, Letty looks out the window at the body of Jane.
Letty decides that she cannot become Sherwood’s mistress. He understands, and they agree to not meet again.
Letty goes out with Bill who presses her to marry him. With no prospects for happiness with Sherwood, she accepts. As the wedding approaches, Bill’s behavior becomes more tiresome. The day of the wedding, Letty realizes that she cannot marry Bill and walks away from the church.
Henrietta and Sherwood have been planning to build a country house. The architect is a handsome and ingratiating young man. One afternoon, Henrietta approaches Sherwood and announces that she wants a divorce. She is going to marry the architect. Sherwood is astonished but perfectly willing to give her the divorce.
Letty, Carol and a friend take a drive in the country. They visit a handsome house, newly built. The owners are divorcing, and the house is for sale. Letty learns that the house belongs to the Sherwoods. She races to the real estate office to stop Sherwood from selling. He thinks that she is married, but she proclaims that she is still available. They embrace.
Discussion
This Pre-code gem is an example of a film scenario frequently used in the late twenties and early thirties, a comedy-drama about the lives of three independent young women, with an emphasis on their romances. Sally, Irene and Mary, a 1922 play, filmed in 1925, was an early example. Joan Crawford starred in three films based on the basic plot line, Our Dancing Daughters (1928), Our Modern Maidens (1929) and Our Blushing Brides (1930). Three On a Match (1932), starring Joan Blondell, Anne Dvorak, and Betty Davis, is another example.
The film showcases the talents of several outstanding character actresses: Una Merkel plays a cynical, wise-cracking gold digger who finagles her sugar daddy (Charley Grapewin) into financing a trip to Paris; May Robson portrays Merkel’s mother, a warm, loving woman who nevertheless spoils her obnoxious son (Eddie Nugent); Hedda Hopper is the opposite of Robson, a haughty, glacial business woman who also has a spoiled son (the impossibly handsome Phillips Holmes) who impregnates, then abandons his sweet, innocent girlfriend, Jane (Florine McKinney); Isabel Jewell is an alternately smooth and brassy receptionist.
Best of all is the great Alice Brady in her signature role as a shallow, narcissistic matron desperately trying to recapture her youth. Brady could rattle off dialogue at a dizzying pace; one wonders if all those words were actually written in the script or if she made them up as she went along. That she could also do straight drama just as well as comedy seems almost incredible. Just watch her in In Old Chicago (1938) or Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), her last movie, for examples. Her early death at age 42 was a great loss.
Top-billed Madge Evans was a vastly under appreciated and underutilized actress of the 30’s and 40’s. She had everything: beauty, personality, talent, and screen presence. It was her misfortune to be under contract to a studio (MGM) whose roster included Garbo, Shearer, Crawford, Harlow, and Loy. Good parts were hard to come by for Evans. She might have had better luck at a smaller studio like RKO or Columbia. She is radiant and sympathetic in Beauty For Sale.
The excellent photography is credited to one James Howe, whose middle name (Wong) was left out for some reason. The most striking shot in the film is a super closeup of Madge Evans’s shocked expression as she looks down at the body of McKinney, who has just plunged to her death. In a completely different vein is a shot of the fully clothed Merkel adopting the same pose as the nearby statue of a very nude and very curvaceous lady. Those were the days!