Acting honors are split in this film between the two blonde ladies who play the two different kinds of women: innocent senator's daughter Miriam Hopkins and veteran New York party girl Wynne Gibson. Hopkins' father, Irving Pichel, playing quite a different role than he played in many other films, is the epitome of morals and anti-vice as a senator who has been speaking out about immoral corruption in New York City. When his daughter goes to New York on vacation with pal Adrienne Ames, she finds herself falling in love with playboy Phillips Holmes who is already married to Gibson who had basically got him drunk, seduced him and married him against his knowledge. He is desperate for a divorce, not because he wants to marry Hopkins, but because he wants to be free. Gibson is having an affair with on an amoral man who wants her to take Holmes for every cent she can get out of him. This leads to tragedy in a very shocking scene (one of the most memorable in pre-code drama) and scandal for senator Pichel and his seemingly innocent daughter Hopkins, as well as legal issues for Holmes.
Those who found Hopkins too hammy in films made after the code era (especially once she began appearing in films with Bette Davis whom she constantly tried to upstage) will find her riveting in this film as well as many of her other films up through the mid-thirties and through the screwball comedies she made afterwards. Her character alternates between sweetness and feistiness, quite sassy for a girl in her early twenties obviously raised to be ladylike, and finds herself quite out of her element when she visits New York. Scenes with her and Gibson are very well-acted on both sides, and it is hard to choose who gets more sympathy.
It is obvious that Gibson is playing another one of those trashy girls with a heart of gold who has bitten off more than she can chew in life and only has one way out. I have always found Gibson to be a truly underrated, forgotten actress who made the most out of every type of part she played, having found her absolutely delightful in "Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men" I'm fascinated by her ever since. That feeling did not change with this film. Holmes, just coming off his unforgettable performance in "An American Tragedy", plays another dour anti-hero, and I'm not quite sure that he is worthy of Hopkins' love. Josephine Dunn is very funny in a small part that provides the twist in the last real. While "Two Kinds of Women" may not be the best pre-code movie ever made, it is fascinating in its way and once you see it, you may never forget it.
Those who found Hopkins too hammy in films made after the code era (especially once she began appearing in films with Bette Davis whom she constantly tried to upstage) will find her riveting in this film as well as many of her other films up through the mid-thirties and through the screwball comedies she made afterwards. Her character alternates between sweetness and feistiness, quite sassy for a girl in her early twenties obviously raised to be ladylike, and finds herself quite out of her element when she visits New York. Scenes with her and Gibson are very well-acted on both sides, and it is hard to choose who gets more sympathy.
It is obvious that Gibson is playing another one of those trashy girls with a heart of gold who has bitten off more than she can chew in life and only has one way out. I have always found Gibson to be a truly underrated, forgotten actress who made the most out of every type of part she played, having found her absolutely delightful in "Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men" I'm fascinated by her ever since. That feeling did not change with this film. Holmes, just coming off his unforgettable performance in "An American Tragedy", plays another dour anti-hero, and I'm not quite sure that he is worthy of Hopkins' love. Josephine Dunn is very funny in a small part that provides the twist in the last real. While "Two Kinds of Women" may not be the best pre-code movie ever made, it is fascinating in its way and once you see it, you may never forget it.