A triptych of temptresses who utilize their naturally endowed skills in a full-time (and often fully prone) position! The three girls Schatzi (Joan Blondell), Polaire (Madge Evans) and Jean (Ina Claire) may bicker and argue over who laid who, but when it comes down to it, they’re sisters-in-arms. Schatzi is the mediator between the other two as Polaire, engaged to rich-boy Dey Emmery, fights to keep her beau while Jean leverages her own sexuality against him, his father and then his concert-pianist friend Boris (Director Lowell Sherman). But Boris takes a shine to Polaire so Jean takes a shine to Dey. A chaos of promiscuity ensues.
The film focuses squarely upon our three female protagonists and depicts their wants and concerns, trying to pay their rent (or drinks) without the possibility of employment or education: these are three women trapped within patriarchal patterns unable to makes ends meet so they offer their own ends for meat, so to speak. Yet the film doesn’t portray them as victims of an unfair system; it portrays them as survivors who ultimately must stick together. Lowell Sherman’s direction is sharp and his performance as the egoistic pianist balances charm with his abusive demands. Though the direction is exploitative of the three leading ladies, depicting their scantily clad bodies as merchandise, it also infuses each with a fierce independence. The original title implies them to be prostitutes and the title change now labels them as ex-showgirls, yet the selling of their physical attributes for rent, food and profit remains the same. The film portrays the entitled men in a less-kindly light than its three stars (which is refreshing) but Polaire’s lover Dey is actually a decent man who sacrifices his affair for her future, though they both were deceived by Boris. Legendary DP George Barnes frames the film but really doesn’t add to the structure: his work here is competent yet visually uninteresting. Overall, a rather fun film with three beautiful and spunky actresses who rise above the mediocrity of the script.
Final Grade: (B-)