Maureen O'Sullivan was MGM's favourite ingenue and she was used quite frequently throughout the 30s. Her most famous role was as the refined Jane to Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan of the Apes but she was usually around as a sweet young thing in such high quality films as "The Thin Man" (1934), "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (1934), "David Copperfield" (1935) and "Anna Karenina" (1936). "Skyscraper Souls" provides her with a different type of role. In this "Grand Hotel" of the business world she plays the mercenary Lynn who is drawn to Dwight and the luxury he can give her.
Tom (Norman Foster), a brash and pretty obnoxious bank teller, tries to pick up pretty Lynn Harding (a ravishing Maureen O'Sullivan) but she doesn't fall for his "charms" - she only has eyes for her boss, the cold and ruthless David Dwight (Warren William). Sarah (Verree Teasdale) is Dwight's secretary and former mistress, who has taken Lynn under her wing. Dwight wants to merge with Seacoast Bank because he stands to lose his entire fortune if he doesn't - it means retrenchment of workers but he doesn't care!!! "The Flat-Iron Building....the Dwight building could put it in it's vest pocket"!! He sees that Sarah is looked after with a trust account of $100,000!!! Lynn works late and finds herself at Dwight's party, where he plies her with champagne until she forgets where she is and falls asleep in Dwight's bed. Sarah gives Tom a tip to put all his money in Seacoast shares - he has been complaining about the fact that he is too poor to tempt Lynn.
Dwight, though, is going to sell short - and that sets the film up for a climax as the market fails and lives are ruined. Myra (Helen Coburn) is broke and goes to Slim (Wallace Ford) in desperation. Slim gambles on the stock market and loses everything and in his despair prepares to rob Jake (Jean Hersholt) a jeweller. Slim is accidentally locked in the time lock safe - he is dead when it is opened the next day. Helen Coburn must take the award as the most callous young woman in films. Desperate to get away from her husband Bill (who seems like a nice chap in the couple of scenes he has) she thinks nothing of going off with Bill and saying nothing about Slim, knowing that he is locked in the vault. Another couple, who do make a go of it are Jenny LeGrande (Anita Page) a model/prostitute and Jake, a jeweller. Typical racy dialogue exchange between them - Jake "you shouldn't gamble...I can afford it, I'm in a very old business", Jenny "Yeah?? Well so am I"!!!
Sarah confronts Dwight about his involvement with Lynn - they are already planning to go away together with Lynn posing as his "ward". Of course at the end Lynn falls into Tom's arms - she has shown that she is completely mercenary and a gold-digger, so who knows if they will be happy. Warren William is his usual perfect self - he had a habit of playing ruthless, chauvinistic men ("Beauty and the Boss" (1932), "Upperworld" (1934)) but still making you like and admire him. Aside from Warren William, Verree Teasdale gave the best performance in the film as the loyal but cast off mistress.
Highly, Highly Recommended.
Tom (Norman Foster), a brash and pretty obnoxious bank teller, tries to pick up pretty Lynn Harding (a ravishing Maureen O'Sullivan) but she doesn't fall for his "charms" - she only has eyes for her boss, the cold and ruthless David Dwight (Warren William). Sarah (Verree Teasdale) is Dwight's secretary and former mistress, who has taken Lynn under her wing. Dwight wants to merge with Seacoast Bank because he stands to lose his entire fortune if he doesn't - it means retrenchment of workers but he doesn't care!!! "The Flat-Iron Building....the Dwight building could put it in it's vest pocket"!! He sees that Sarah is looked after with a trust account of $100,000!!! Lynn works late and finds herself at Dwight's party, where he plies her with champagne until she forgets where she is and falls asleep in Dwight's bed. Sarah gives Tom a tip to put all his money in Seacoast shares - he has been complaining about the fact that he is too poor to tempt Lynn.
Dwight, though, is going to sell short - and that sets the film up for a climax as the market fails and lives are ruined. Myra (Helen Coburn) is broke and goes to Slim (Wallace Ford) in desperation. Slim gambles on the stock market and loses everything and in his despair prepares to rob Jake (Jean Hersholt) a jeweller. Slim is accidentally locked in the time lock safe - he is dead when it is opened the next day. Helen Coburn must take the award as the most callous young woman in films. Desperate to get away from her husband Bill (who seems like a nice chap in the couple of scenes he has) she thinks nothing of going off with Bill and saying nothing about Slim, knowing that he is locked in the vault. Another couple, who do make a go of it are Jenny LeGrande (Anita Page) a model/prostitute and Jake, a jeweller. Typical racy dialogue exchange between them - Jake "you shouldn't gamble...I can afford it, I'm in a very old business", Jenny "Yeah?? Well so am I"!!!
Sarah confronts Dwight about his involvement with Lynn - they are already planning to go away together with Lynn posing as his "ward". Of course at the end Lynn falls into Tom's arms - she has shown that she is completely mercenary and a gold-digger, so who knows if they will be happy. Warren William is his usual perfect self - he had a habit of playing ruthless, chauvinistic men ("Beauty and the Boss" (1932), "Upperworld" (1934)) but still making you like and admire him. Aside from Warren William, Verree Teasdale gave the best performance in the film as the loyal but cast off mistress.
Highly, Highly Recommended.