Kay Francis made her last movie under contract for Warners in 1939 and the last years had been one humiliation after another. By the end of 1940 she had flitted between Universal and RKO, each film a little worse than the one before. All through this she was having a ghastly affair with an alleged German aircraft manufacturer, Baron Barnekow and the gossip columnists were at pains to point out Kay's advancing age!!! To top it all Kay was forced to accept pictures like "Play Girl" about an ageing gold-digger who has a showdown at the end with a potential groom's mother, who points out - "He could be your own son Grace" and "You're two years older than me you know". Well may Kay lament (as she does in the movie) "It's tough to be a woman"!!!
You often read where Kay never looked her best in these later movies but I thought she looked positively radiant as Grace Herbert, an older gold-digger fallen on hard times. A young girl, Ellen (Mildred Coles, who finished her sparse career in Westerns) has applied for a job as Grace's secretary, but Grace finds her innocent and conscientious and also finds potential. She will make a new girl of her, she can be her age, have fun and earn money at the same time.
First "cab off the rank" is Bill (Nigel Bruce) an old flame of Graces. Kay shows she has a real flair for comedy as she and Ellen rehearse what Ellen will say and how Bill will respond. Kay is "spot on" in her biting imitation of his remarks - "not got lumbago - well, all the best doctors must be wrong then hahaha"!! that when Bill is actually playing the scene it falls quite flat. While Ellen gets into the swing of it, she has already lost her heart to Tom (Jim Ellison, also from Westerns), a cowboy, who helped them fix a flat tyre when they were on the road. Because he jumped from the train, Grace dismisses him as just a cowboy but when it turns out that he is a millionaire, suddenly Ellen doesn't find gold digging fun anymore.
I really enjoyed it - reading that it was a comedy, I thought could Kay do it - but she did with flying colours. Bill's mother (Katherine Alexander) and Grace become friends and the film ends with Grace happily getting ready to meet an uncle of Bill's, someone who is going to put an end to her "play girl" days. Margaret Hamilton was good as Grace's cynical friend and good old Kane Richmond had rather a small part as a suitor who is not what he appears.
You often read where Kay never looked her best in these later movies but I thought she looked positively radiant as Grace Herbert, an older gold-digger fallen on hard times. A young girl, Ellen (Mildred Coles, who finished her sparse career in Westerns) has applied for a job as Grace's secretary, but Grace finds her innocent and conscientious and also finds potential. She will make a new girl of her, she can be her age, have fun and earn money at the same time.
First "cab off the rank" is Bill (Nigel Bruce) an old flame of Graces. Kay shows she has a real flair for comedy as she and Ellen rehearse what Ellen will say and how Bill will respond. Kay is "spot on" in her biting imitation of his remarks - "not got lumbago - well, all the best doctors must be wrong then hahaha"!! that when Bill is actually playing the scene it falls quite flat. While Ellen gets into the swing of it, she has already lost her heart to Tom (Jim Ellison, also from Westerns), a cowboy, who helped them fix a flat tyre when they were on the road. Because he jumped from the train, Grace dismisses him as just a cowboy but when it turns out that he is a millionaire, suddenly Ellen doesn't find gold digging fun anymore.
I really enjoyed it - reading that it was a comedy, I thought could Kay do it - but she did with flying colours. Bill's mother (Katherine Alexander) and Grace become friends and the film ends with Grace happily getting ready to meet an uncle of Bill's, someone who is going to put an end to her "play girl" days. Margaret Hamilton was good as Grace's cynical friend and good old Kane Richmond had rather a small part as a suitor who is not what he appears.