In the early 1930s, plots were far racier than most would today suspect. While nudity was relatively uncommon (but not unheard of), topics like adultery, fornication and even abortion were relatively common! And, in the early 30s, women DID enjoy sex....A LOT! "Expensive Women" is clearly a Pre-Code movie in style. Its leading lady, Delores Costello (Mrs. John Barrymore), is a woman who has an active sex life--though she is single and her boyfriend is already married. Her ditsy friend, Molly, is married and seems to be sleeping with practically EVERYONE! And, the film seems to take a rather morally neutral view of both of them--though Molly is so overplayed and one-dimensional that she's easy to hate.
Delores wants her VERY wimpy lover to divorce his wife and marry her. However, her perspective father-in-law (H.B. Warner) thinks she's a tramp and won't allow his son to do this--and the wimp just goes along with it. What's to happen next? Well, I don't want to ruin the film but you should know that NONE of it makes any sense and someone in the film does get away with murder--again, something you'll see in the Pre-Code era! The bottom line is that the plot seldom makes much sense and the writing is bad. In addition, the characters seldom seem real or likable. As I mentioned above, Molly is truly hateful and the character Costello plays is selfish and nasty--and her boyfriend is worse. The only one who is semi-likable is played by Warren William but the character is so under-written that he seems more like a plot device than a real person. All in all, a salacious but dumb film...period.
Delores wants her VERY wimpy lover to divorce his wife and marry her. However, her perspective father-in-law (H.B. Warner) thinks she's a tramp and won't allow his son to do this--and the wimp just goes along with it. What's to happen next? Well, I don't want to ruin the film but you should know that NONE of it makes any sense and someone in the film does get away with murder--again, something you'll see in the Pre-Code era! The bottom line is that the plot seldom makes much sense and the writing is bad. In addition, the characters seldom seem real or likable. As I mentioned above, Molly is truly hateful and the character Costello plays is selfish and nasty--and her boyfriend is worse. The only one who is semi-likable is played by Warren William but the character is so under-written that he seems more like a plot device than a real person. All in all, a salacious but dumb film...period.