ThedevilChoose
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Taha Avalos
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
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.
bkoganbing
Bed Of Roses is the fourth and final film that Joel McCrea and Constance Bennett did which certainly should qualify them as a screen team. Paired by RKO Pictures the two worked well together.The fact that both Bennett and Pert Kelton are a pair of prostitutes recently released from prison qualifies this film as a before the Code classic. The picture is quite frank about what they do.In fact they're back doing it as soon as they're released shows they haven't repented. But both are looking for some comfortable permanent arrangements. For Kelton she manages to rope a traveling salesman, but in that same dodge Bennett jumps off a Mississipi riverboat fleeing from the captain after she's caught rolling another of the salesman for his dough.Where she's picked up by Joel McCrea who runs and lives on a cotton barge. Thanks, but no thanks says Bennett, she's after bigger game and lands it in the person of New Orleans millionaire John Halliday.I won't say any more, you know how this will end. And remember this is before the Code went in place. The lack of the Code made motion pictures a lot more free with details, but the American movie-going public expected stories to go a certain way.What might have been nice is a bit more of Pert Kelton, her scenes have some real bite to them, but Bennett and McCrea acquit themselves well here.
wes-connors
Incorrigible and beautiful Constance Bennett (as Lorry Evans) and her gin-loving pal Pert Kelton (as Minnie Brown) are released from prison on the same day. Dressed to the nines, the pair set out to seduce and rob wealthy men on the way to New Orleans. Ostensibly a prostitute, Ms. Bennett nonetheless avoids sex by getting her victims too drunk to perform. An old trick. En route, Bennett meets and falls literally and figuratively for tall, dark and handsome Joel McCrea (as Dan). After robbing Mr. McCrea, Bennett installs herself as well-kept mistress to wealthy publisher John Halliday (as Stephen "Steve" Paige). As the film progresses, Bennett and the cast realize what you knew all along, but Bennett's past and present could prevent her future happiness with McCrea… ****** Bed of Roses (6/29/33) Gregory La Cava ~ Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, Pert Kelton, John Halliday
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.
