Employees' entrance 1933 - Excellent look at the backstage of a department store

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IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Roy Del Ruth
Main Cast: Warren William, Loretta Young, Wallace Ford, Alice White

"Warren William plays a high-powered ambitious executive who unflinchingly steamrolled his way to the top without regard for the havoc he left in his wake. As the manager of a Macy-like department store, he constantly browbeats his flunkies into submission, and ends-up driving at least one to suicide. Loretta Young plays the wife of one of William's minor employees (Wallace Ford), with whom the Big Boss has a brief affair during an office party. Eventually William gets his comeuppance, and Loretta is vindicated in the eyes of her hubby. A terrific example of pre-Motion Picture Production Code raciness, Employees' Entrance still causes audiences to gasp at its audaciousness when seen today
Warren William dominates the picture - just as he did in Skyscraper Souls (1932) in an identical role - as the store's completely amoral, conniving, tyrannical manager. He is perfect in the part and it is fascinating to watch a skilled actor portray a thoroughly bad character. As one of the finer actors of the decade, it is indeed a shame that William is all but forgotten today.
The rest of the cast is excellent: Wallace Ford and Loretta Young as a secretly married couple whom William tries to corrupt; Alice White as the store floozy, willing to drop her morals at William's command; Ruth Donnelly as William's no-nonsense secretary; Frank Reicher and Charles Sellon as two old men who respond in very different ways to having William destroy their livelihood; and Hale Hamilton as the store's ineffectual, absentee owner." - www.allmovie.com

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Lady for a day 1933 - A rags-to-riches tale during the Depression

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024240/
IMDB rating: 7,6

Director: Frank Capra
Main Cast: Warren William, May Robson, Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell, Walter Connolly, Jean Parker, Ned Sparks

"Based on a story by Damon Runyon, this Frank Capra film was nominated for several Oscars after it was released in 1933 (it was remade by Capra as Pocketful of Miracles in 1961). A tenderhearted Depression-era comedy, it tells the story of Apple Annie (May Robson), a panhandling street vendor who has kept her real identity hidden from a daughter being reared in Europe. When the grown-up daughter comes to New York for a visit, Annie turns to gambler Dave the Dude (Warren William) for help. He transforms her - temporarily - into a high-society grande dame, but not without complications. The film is nearly stolen by Guy Kibbee, as a judge posing as Annie's husband, but Warren William, a John Barrymore lookalike, and dour Ned Sparks get laughs too.
A Cinderella fairy tale set in the early 1930s, Lady for a Day is a delightfully charming mix of drama and comedy that propelled Frank Capra to the top ranks of popular filmmakers. Capra is too patriotic to take many pot-shots at the American rich, though his vindication of the common man seemed to be just what the public wanted. The acting is crisp, particularly May Robson in the central role of Apple Annie."

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Gold diggers of 1933 (1933) - The show of a thousand wonders

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024069/
IMDB rating: 8,2

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Main Cast: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers

"The second talkie version of the Avery Hopwood's theatrical war-horse The Golddiggers of Broadway, Gold Diggers of 1933 was the second of three back-to-back 1933 Warner Bros. musicals benefiting from the genius of Busby Berkeley. Gold Diggers of 1933 adroitly intertwined a light-hearted yet gritty look at backstage shenanigans involving unemployed showgirls and potential moneymen with choreographer Busby Berkeley's outrageously lavish production numbers, replete with fluid camerawork and overhead compositions. Using the Great Depression rather than ignoring it, Mervyn LeRoy's crisply directed story hinged on survival in hard times, as romance blooms when the pragmatic chorines use their 'assets' to charm backers for a new show. Berkeley's 'We're in the Money', featuring coin-clad chorus girls and Ginger Rogers singing in pig Latin, and the cheekily smutty 'Pettin' in the Park' indicate the movie's dual focus on fiscal troubles and carnality. The downbeat finale, 'Remember My Forgotten Man', keeps the film rooted in 1930s reality, despite the escapism offered by Berkeley's visually innovative set pieces and the sweet Ruby Keeler-Dick Powell love story. Other Berkeley-staged musical highlights include the neon-dominated 'Shadow Waltz', all written by the prolific Harry Warren and Al Dubin. As spectacular as Gold Diggers of 1933 was, it would be topped by the last of Berkeley's 1933 trilogy, Footlight Parade." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/gold-diggers-of-1933-v20140

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