Pretty Ladies | |
---|---|
Directed by | Monta Bell |
Written by | Alice D. G. Miller Joseph Farnham (Titles) |
Starring | ZaSu Pitts Conrad Nagel Tom Moore Joan Crawford |
Cinematography | Ira H. Morgan |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 74 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Pretty Ladies is a 1925 American silent comedy drama film starring ZaSu Pitts and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is a fictional recreation of the famed Ziegfeld Follies. Directed by Monta Bell, the film was written by Alice D. G. Miller and featured intertitles by Joseph Farnham. [1] Pretty Ladies originally featured musical color sequences, some in two-color Technicolor. [2] However, the color sequences are now considered lost. [3]
As described in a film magazine reviews, [4] Maggie, a homely but lovable musical comedy star yearns for love, a home, and children. She marries Al Cassidy, a happy-go-lucky fellow. Her happiness is complete at the birth of a baby. Her husband leaves on business and gets into trouble with another woman. A friend of Maggie’s informs her of this. When her husband begins to confess, she seals his lips, declaring everything untrue and foolish.
The film was set in New York City shot at MGM Studios in Culver City, California. [5] The film's sets were designed by the art directors James Basevi and Cedric Gibbons.
Pretty Ladies marked the first credited appearance of "Lucille Le Sueur", soon to be known as Joan Crawford. According to Lawrence J. Quirk, author of The Films of Joan Crawford, this film was the only time Crawford was credited by her real name [6] (Crawford is also billed as LeSueur in the 1925 promotional film MGM Studio Tour). [7] It was also one of the first screen appearances of Myrna Loy (then still performing under her real last name Williams), [8] who signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. in 1925 and then finally signed with MGM where she became a star in 1934 with the release of The Thin Man . [9]
The Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 American musical drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and produced by Hunt Stromberg. It stars William Powell as the theatrical impresario Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., Luise Rainer as Anna Held, and Myrna Loy as Billie Burke.
Joan Crawford was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison".
Myrna Loy was an American film, television and stage actress. As a performer, she was known for her ability to adapt to her screen partner's acting style.
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. While synchronized dancing indicative of a chorus line was vogue during the first half of the 20th century, modern theatre uses the terms "ensemble" and "chorus" to indicate all supporting players in a stage production.
Lilyan Tashman was an American stage, silent film, and sound film actress.
The term "Ziegfeld Girl" is used broadly to describe the "singers, showgirls, comediennes, [and] dancers" who appeared in Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.'s theatrical Broadway revue spectaculars known as the Ziegfeld Follies.
The Joan Crawford filmography lists the film appearances of American actress Joan Crawford, who starred in numerous feature films throughout a lengthy career that spanned nearly five decades.
Hugh Ryan "Jack" Conway was an American film director and film producer, as well as an actor of many films in the first half of the 20th century.
Sally, Irene, and Mary is a 1925 American silent comedy drama film starring Constance Bennett, Sally O'Neil, and Joan Crawford. It is based on the 1922 play of the same name by Eddie Dowling and Cyrus Woods and takes a behind-the-scenes look at the romantic lives of three chorus girls and the way their preferences in men affect their lives. The play was adapted again in 1938, again titled Sally, Irene, and Mary and directed by William A. Seiter. That version stars Alice Faye, Joan Davis, and Marjorie Weaver in the title roles, and co-starred Tony Martin, Fred Allen, and Jimmy Durante.
When Ladies Meet is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Ann Harding, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, Alice Brady, and Frank Morgan. The film is the first adaptation of the 1932 Rachel Crothers play of the same name. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons.
When Ladies Meet is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, Herbert Marshall and Spring Byington. The screenplay by S.K. Lauren and Anita Loos was based upon a 1932 play by Rachel Crothers. Made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, director Leonard also coproduced along with Orville O. Dull. The film was a remake of the 1933 pre-Code film of the same name, which had starred Ann Harding, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery and Frank Morgan in the roles played by Garson, Crawford, Taylor and Marshall.
The Only Thing is a 1925 American silent romantic drama film starring Eleanor Boardman. The film's scenario was written by author Elinor Glyn, and was based on a story adapted from Glyn's novel of the same name.
The Merry Widow is a 1925 American silent romantic drama/black comedy film directed and written by Erich von Stroheim. Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film stars Mae Murray, John Gilbert, Roy D'Arcy, and Tully Marshall, with pre-fame uncredited appearances by Joan Crawford and Clark Gable.
Hunt Stromberg was a film producer during Hollywood's Golden Age. In a prolific 30-year career beginning in 1921, Stromberg produced, wrote, and directed some of Hollywood's most profitable and enduring films, including The Thin Man series, the Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald operettas, The Women, and The Great Ziegfeld, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1936.
Parnell is a 1937 American biographical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, the famous Irish politician. It was Gable's least successful film and is generally considered his worst, and it is listed in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. The movie addresses the sex scandal that destroyed Parnell's political career, but its treatment of the subject is highly sanitized in keeping with Hollywood content restrictions at the time.
The Squall is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Alexander Korda and starring Myrna Loy, Richard Tucker, Alice Joyce and Loretta Young, and based on the 1926 play The Squall by Jean Bart.
Myrna Dell was an American actress, model, and writer who appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs over four decades. A Hollywood glamour girl in the early part of her career, she is best known today for her work in B-pictures, particularly film noir thrillers and Westerns.
What Price Beauty? is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Tom Buckingham and starring Nita Naldi, Natacha Rambova and Pierre Gendron. Shot in May 1925 but not released until January 1928, the film features the future star Myrna Loy in a small role. Her performance attracted widespread interest, boosting her career.
The Girl from Montmartre is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Barbara La Marr in her last film role. It was distributed through First National on the day after La Marr died.