Will he get rid of his extensive list of lovers as well? Well, no, it doesn’t look like it.I think the movie tries to pretend like he’s going this way, but William just can’t sell it. Will she get a makeover, become hot, and convince him to taker her to bed as well? Sure! Will he fire her first? Well, uh, yeah. Soon, the mousy Susie also has a crush on the boss, even though his list of Parisian lovers alone is staggering. In a modern adaptation, they’d probably have to drop that last part since it would get more than a few laughs of incredulity. The baron is skeptical at first, but she gets the job after a brief discussion of social Darwinism I mentioned above and the banker’s shock because of how poor her family is. It’s the Great Depression! It’s depressing! She sneaks past a few gents and gets an interview for the stenographer position. Meanwhile, young Susie Sachs (played by Marian Marsh, proving that someone behind this film loved themselves some alliteration) is out on the street. He says with a straight face, “Pretty women should never think!” I don’t think he ever really changes his mind about that either. He plays impossible to get at first, and then, after firing the girl, he pays her a generous sum and engenders himself to her with some wine and embraces. He has nothing nice to say about his American friends, and quickly returns to his favorite game in Europe: seduce the stenographer. Monica) is a baron banker just returned from a trip to the United States. Let’s head back to the plot and we’ll pick my disgust back up when we get to it.
Forcing a woman into prostitution for your own dignity is pretty ugly no matter what age it’s in, especially when it’s provided in the guise of a romantic-fucking-comedy. Where Beauty and the Boss differs from most of these other films is that the prostitution isn’t some act of equality, but because of the demands of male ego.
I’ve never seen prostitution presented in nearly as positive as a light as its shown in the 30’s: selling your body is just something you can do. Griffith trafficked in for most of the silent era and brought us what can best be described as the post- It girl: sexy, confident and in charge. Most of the ones I’ve watched have ditched the familiar ‘helpless girl’ aesthetics that D.W. That being said, a remarkable number of these films have demonstrated extremely strong and in-control women. During these Pre-Code reviews, I’ve more or less had to tone down the level of objections I would normally have towards the depiction of women: suffrage for women is only ten years old when this era began. Or, if there are, please let me know.īut besides that shameful sentence a moment ago wherein I admitted that I have a thing for busty chicks, I’m normally one who finds gender a fascinating subject for analyzing film. I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but, sadly, there are no busty nerdy chicks writing about Pre-Code Hollywood. The film spends its first hour with the message of “BOOTSTRAPS” firmly implanted on its forehead, and spends the last ninety minutes instead insisting that, while hard work and enthusiasm are fine, maybe spreading your legs for your boss is a pretty awesome Plan B. Hilariously, he’s discussed in the context of social Darwinism, which boils down to a lot of Libertarian philosophy. Mind you, Hoover was still in office when this was written and made, so that’s not super surprising, but then there’s also… “You dictate so rapidly!” “I do everything rapidly.” “Oh, Baron…”.Just to drive how old this film is: “The airplane is the greatest invention of the age!”.
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