The Life of the Party (1930)

(On Cable TV, November 2022) The point of Pre-Code films, from a contemporary perspective, isn’t necessarily to be found in suggestive outfits, risqué lines or looser language—it’s usually in the less-than-moral attitudes that the characters can adopt in ways that would disappear in 1934 and not reappear before the late 1960s. In The Life of the Party, for instance, we have two Manhattan young women who, after being fired and abandoned by men, decide to adopt the gold-digger lifestyle and work their schemes in Havana (then a playful spot for the rich). There are horse races and millionaires and gigolos working the same scheme from a gender-flipped perspective and, in the end, The Life of the Party feels naughty just for suggesting that romance can take a back seat to material comfort. (But don’t worry—romance comes back by the time the credits roll.)  Director Roy Del Ruth keeps things light, even if the film itself is clearly not the best possible take on its own ideas. The Pre-Code atmosphere makes the film interesting despite some rough early-soundies technical qualities. Some of the film’s shortcomings can be explained by an ambitious production (featuring colour cinematography and musical numbers) that got severely cut down when the American appetite for musicals faltered in late 1930. Maybe, one day, we’ll rediscover the full film.