Sunday, May 30, 2010

Movies



Havana Widows (1933) Gold-digging duo Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell head for Havana to hook a couple of millionaires. Things don't go as planned. Comedy relief amply provided by Guy Kibbee, Allan Jenkins and a perpetually intoxicated Frank McHugh. The real interest to me was fantastically luscious Blondell, and the remarkable clothes she was squeezed into. She jogs, strides and bounces around in negligee and a delightful knit pantsuit, and poses in suggestive traveling and formal attire which emphasize her natural charms to a remarkable degree. For the Blondell-lover this is pretty hot stuff. Glenda Farrell, with fewer curves, is given amazingly huge collars of all varieties. The hats are uniformly nifty as well. Otherwise, the dialogue is smart and peppy, it's short enough not to get tiring, and Lyle Talbot is not offensive as Blondell's eventual beau. Not entirely clean fun but good fun. 9/10

I love this gown with its invisible top and floating shoulders.