In 1931 Marian Marsh's film future looked very bright. She had caught the eye of John Barrymore who used her (to great fan fare) in his "Svengali" and also his follow up "The Mad Genius" and apparently Charlie Chaplin was very keen to use her in "City Lights" after becoming disenchanted with Virginia Cherrill but nothing came of it. But in 1932 with the big flop "Under 18" suddenly Warners were not that keen on her anymore and by 1933 she was on poverty row and, who knows, may have prolonged her career by appearing in some varied films throughout the thirties. She was given some pretty risqué titles like "Notorious But Nice" and "Daring Daughters" but poor Marian was never asked to be very naughty, only misunderstood.
Comparing this film to "Marked Woman" is a tall order - apart from the general theme of sophisticated Marian trying to keep gullible sister on the straight and narrow, it is nothing like the hard hitting Bette Davis film. Kenneth Thomson again plays a persistent Casanova, a role he had been perfecting since "The Broadway Melody". Here he is giving Terry (M.M.) a hard time, trying to convince her to accept his offer of a Park Avenue penthouse - with no strings attached of course!! (sure!!). He still finds time to romance Betty (Jean Marsh), Terry's naïve and gullible sister and is finding it much easier to convince her that he is a good guy. Streetwise Terry is finding it a full time job to keep Betty on the straight and narrow and Jean Marsh really shows her acting limitations, first playing Betty as a dopey fool, then when she really lets fly, as a tough talking tramp!! There is no light and shade!!
When Terry accepts a lift from Edgar (Allan Vincent) she writes him off as just another wolf but he is sincere and smitten and Terry comes to believe in him as well. Now the shoe is on the other foot as Edgar's uncle feels that she is only after what she can get - especially when he sees them out at a swanky restaurant. There is a lot of talk about Terry - "only out for what she can get" and "taking a guy to the cleaners and leaving him flat" but there is no evidence of this in the movie - she spends all her time refusing dinner dates and parties!!
Things come to a head when Betty, fed up with Terry's restricting rules and boyfriend Roy's persistent overtime, impulsively goes to a penthouse party where things get a bit out of hand. It is Terry to the rescue once again and when Roy, Betty's long suffering boy friend, comes to Terry with a plan to buy his own garage, she puts her "invisible grandma" to the test (a ploy she uses to get rid of pesky suitors) and appeals to Edgar for money to send "grandma to a sanatorium"!!! In a novel twist the money she thinks Edgar has so easily come by, has really been stolen from petty cash....
Again, Allan Vincent proved why he wasn't star material and Charlotte Merriam gives the movie it's only real drama as a battered neighbour who uses the sister's flat as a refuge from her drunken husband. Tower Pictures may have thought it a novelty starring Marian and Joan as sisters, seeing their last name was Marsh but they were not related. Marian's real name was Morgan and Joan was the daughter of cameraman Charles Rosher.
Comparing this film to "Marked Woman" is a tall order - apart from the general theme of sophisticated Marian trying to keep gullible sister on the straight and narrow, it is nothing like the hard hitting Bette Davis film. Kenneth Thomson again plays a persistent Casanova, a role he had been perfecting since "The Broadway Melody". Here he is giving Terry (M.M.) a hard time, trying to convince her to accept his offer of a Park Avenue penthouse - with no strings attached of course!! (sure!!). He still finds time to romance Betty (Jean Marsh), Terry's naïve and gullible sister and is finding it much easier to convince her that he is a good guy. Streetwise Terry is finding it a full time job to keep Betty on the straight and narrow and Jean Marsh really shows her acting limitations, first playing Betty as a dopey fool, then when she really lets fly, as a tough talking tramp!! There is no light and shade!!
When Terry accepts a lift from Edgar (Allan Vincent) she writes him off as just another wolf but he is sincere and smitten and Terry comes to believe in him as well. Now the shoe is on the other foot as Edgar's uncle feels that she is only after what she can get - especially when he sees them out at a swanky restaurant. There is a lot of talk about Terry - "only out for what she can get" and "taking a guy to the cleaners and leaving him flat" but there is no evidence of this in the movie - she spends all her time refusing dinner dates and parties!!
Things come to a head when Betty, fed up with Terry's restricting rules and boyfriend Roy's persistent overtime, impulsively goes to a penthouse party where things get a bit out of hand. It is Terry to the rescue once again and when Roy, Betty's long suffering boy friend, comes to Terry with a plan to buy his own garage, she puts her "invisible grandma" to the test (a ploy she uses to get rid of pesky suitors) and appeals to Edgar for money to send "grandma to a sanatorium"!!! In a novel twist the money she thinks Edgar has so easily come by, has really been stolen from petty cash....
Again, Allan Vincent proved why he wasn't star material and Charlotte Merriam gives the movie it's only real drama as a battered neighbour who uses the sister's flat as a refuge from her drunken husband. Tower Pictures may have thought it a novelty starring Marian and Joan as sisters, seeing their last name was Marsh but they were not related. Marian's real name was Morgan and Joan was the daughter of cameraman Charles Rosher.