Play Girl

1941
6.3| 1h17m| en| More Info
Released: 07 March 1941 Released
Producted By: RKO Radio Pictures
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

When a gold digger starts to get a little old to ply her trade, she teaches a younger woman all her tricks.

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RKO Radio Pictures

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Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
wes-connors A Lake Placid skiing trip ends poorly for gold-digging Kay Francis (as Grace Herbert) when she fails to obtain any money from handsome young Kane Richmond (as Don). Wise-cracking companion Margaret Hamilton (as Josie) advises Ms. Francis to give up her routine of obtaining financial settlements from wealthy playboys. The women go to Miami and meet curvy young Mildred Coles (as Ellen Daley). Realizing her age is no longer an asset, Francis teaches Ms. Coles the "escort" profession. Complications occur when Coles shows real interest in handsome cowboy James Ellison (as Thomas "Tom" Dice)...This appears to be a cleaned-up story about upper-class prostitution, topped off with an unanswered question about the relationship between Francis and Ms. Hamilton. It's very allegorical, consisting of $50,000 kisses planted with all the passion of a grandmother. Doubtful such exchanges would result in either the cash or scandal insinuated. Nicely playing her age, Francis and director Frank Woodruff make it work. Hamilton is great. Nigel Bruce (as William McDonald Vincent) amuses as a Chicago native who picked up an accent abroad. And, Katharine Alexander (as Mrs. Dice) helps during a pivotal scene.****** Play Girl (1/29/41) Frank Woodruff ~ Kay Francis, James Ellison, Mildred Coles, Nigel Bruce, Margaret Hamilton
kidboots Kay Francis made her last movie under contract for Warners in 1939 and the last years had been one humiliation after another. By the end of 1940 she had flitted between Universal and RKO, each film a little worse than the one before. All through this she was having a ghastly affair with an alleged German aircraft manufacturer, Baron Barnekow and the gossip columnists were at pains to point out Kay's advancing age!!! To top it all Kay was forced to accept pictures like "Play Girl" about an ageing gold-digger who has a showdown at the end with a potential groom's mother, who points out - "He could be your own son Grace" and "You're two years older than me you know". Well may Kay lament (as she does in the movie) "It's tough to be a woman"!!!You often read where Kay never looked her best in these later movies but I thought she looked positively radiant as Grace Herbert, an older gold-digger fallen on hard times. A young girl, Ellen (Mildred Coles, who finished her sparse career in Westerns) has applied for a job as Grace's secretary, but Grace finds her innocent and conscientious and also finds potential. She will make a new girl of her, she can be her age, have fun and earn money at the same time.First "cab off the rank" is Bill (Nigel Bruce) an old flame of Graces. Kay shows she has a real flair for comedy as she and Ellen rehearse what Ellen will say and how Bill will respond. Kay is "spot on" in her biting imitation of his remarks - "not got lumbago - well, all the best doctors must be wrong then hahaha"!! that when Bill is actually playing the scene it falls quite flat. While Ellen gets into the swing of it, she has already lost her heart to Tom (Jim Ellison, also from Westerns), a cowboy, who helped them fix a flat tyre when they were on the road. Because he jumped from the train, Grace dismisses him as just a cowboy but when it turns out that he is a millionaire, suddenly Ellen doesn't find gold digging fun anymore.I really enjoyed it - reading that it was a comedy, I thought could Kay do it - but she did with flying colours. Bill's mother (Katherine Alexander) and Grace become friends and the film ends with Grace happily getting ready to meet an uncle of Bill's, someone who is going to put an end to her "play girl" days. Margaret Hamilton was good as Grace's cynical friend and good old Kane Richmond had rather a small part as a suitor who is not what he appears.
blanche-2 Kay Francis is a "Play Girl" in this 1941 film that was yet another attempt by Warner Bros. to get rid of the expensive Francis, though none of their ploys worked. Here, they've lent her to another studio, RKO.Francis plays Grace Herbert, a woman who has lived her life as a gold-digger, except now she's getting too old to dig and no one wants to give her any gold. She meets a young woman, Mildred (Ellen Daley) and teaches her the gold-digging game, with the idea that the young woman will actually get married to someone wealthy, something that Grace never did. But Mildred's conscience takes a hit.One of the best things about this film is that one of the marks is a rich guy from Chicago, played by the very British Nigel Bruce. Just goes to show you the attention paid to the casting.It's not a great film, but Francis makes it more than palatable, and it's a pleasant way to pass the time. Worth seeing for Francis.
boblipton Warner Brothers continued its campaign to get Kay Francis to break her contract not just by lowering the quality of her vehicles, not just by loading her dialogue with 'r's or putting her in horse operas, but now by lending her out to other studios. She was the highest-priced actress on the Warner's lot and they didn't want her any more. But she was not going to give up that contract.In this lend-out to RKO, Miss Francis, as usual, gives a wonderful performance. In fact, given the cast of minor players -- including a few long-time favorites of mine like Nigel Bruce and Kane Richmond -- and they give fine performances too, even if we are expected to believe Mr. Bruce hails from Chicago, in this minor comedy. It's about a professional adventuress who is getting a lot too old to play wealthy men for suckers. It's a little slow-starting, but by the half-way mark, it is moving along at a good clip. Definitely worth your while.