but still a nifty comedy, boasting solid performances by Ginger Rogers (as always), Walter Connolly, Verree Teasdale, Tim Holt, Jack Carson, Franklin Pangborn, and Louis Calhern. James Ellison as the chauffeur and Kathryn Adams as the spoiled daughter are annoying. But Rogers and Connolly (in a rare starring role) take top honors as the working girl and the baffled millionaire who meet on a bench at the zoo. Lots of social commentary by director/producer Gregory La Cava, one of Hollywood's forgotten directors who was, nevertheless, a big name in the 1930s. What's missing from this film, compared to La Cava's My Man Godfrey, is a sense of zaniness among the rich. Here they are petty, nagging people while in the other, they are unrelentingly silly. Plus no one could play a fluttery matron like Alice Brady (well, maybe Billie Burke). Teasdale is OK, but this kind of part was not her forte; she seems too smart to be playing this kind of brainless twit. This is one of Connolly's best roles and he is wonderful. He died the following year. Rogers seems almost to be in an audition for 1940's Kitty Foyle. The acting style she uses in both films is similar. But Rogers was always worth watching. She has a style that allows her to get very quiet and contained, and it's very effective. While the political issues are very much the same today, it's laid on a bit thick here with the spoutings of Ellison's chauffeur and the mooning daughter. Adams strikes me as being an especially bad actress. Anyway it's worth a look. The house is incredibly cavernous and ugly. Charles Lane, Harlan Briggs, Florence Lake, Ferike Boros, Bess Flowers (as the Civil War debutante), and Alex D'Arcy co-star.
Review of Fifth Avenue Girl
