Cheap Big Business Girl (Video) (William A. Seiter) Price

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Customer Reviews of Big Business Girl

Spark Missing
Loretta Young stars as a career girl on her way up in the business world at the expense of her marriage and ideals. She has moved to New York to find work while her husband's band is touring in Europe. She lands a job at an advertising agency, where her beauty is considered as much of an asset as her skill. She immediately gets the attention of her boss, Ricardo Cortez, and when her husband arrives back from Paris, things get very complicated. This is another one of the pre-Code films of the early Thirties that gets away with dialogue and situations that films made a few years later couldn't. The theme of the career girl trying to make it in a man's world is a good one, and this film addresses it, but not enough. It's the more interesting part of the story, but the marriage problems take over about half way through the story. Another problem with the movie is that Young's relationship with Cortez is far more interesting than her relationship with her husband, Frank Albertson. It's hard to see why she wants to be with him. Young, beautiful as always, is alright in the central role. Cortez is appropriately smooth as the man on the chase, while Albertson acts like a teenager in love. The standout in the film is actually Joan Blondell, in a small role late in the film as the girl being used to set up their divorce. She wisecracks and brings an energy to the film it is otherwise missing. That's the ultimate problem with the film - it's lacking energy or any spark. Allowing for its age, it's competently made and acted and worth seeing as an example of the pre-Code films, but more could have been done with the story.

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Loretta Young Sparkles
Big Business Girl is a cut above the typical pre-code comedy/drama. This story with feminist overtones gives Young a chance to showcase her talents. As Meg, recent college graduate, Young marries an immature musician then moves to New York to find work to pay off her college loans while new hubby goes to Paris to perform. There she encounters the harsh realities of the business world for women, less pay for equal work and sexual harrasment. Meg has to submerge her competance and play the game dictated by her male bosses. When her husband makes an unexpected return, he catches Loretta fighting off her boss. He leaves believing that there is more than just the bosses advances going on. Miss Young mananges to get hubby a job, keep the boss at arms length and finally win back her original love. This movie was easy to watch and the themes mentioned above translate well for modern audiences. Miss Young can be pretty, witty, sexy, vunerable and shrewd all within the same character. My one objection is the miss-casting of the husband. He is way to immature next to the strong presence of Loretta Young to convince the audience that she would actually marry this guy. Even though the casting works against this film, I recommend it to pre-code fans, feminists, fans of Miss Young, film historians and general audiences alike.