Bed of Roses (1933)

Bed of Roses is a 1933 pre-Code romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Constance Bennett."Bed of Roses (1933)", Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The picture was released by RKO Radio Pictures with a supporting cast featuring Joel McCrea and Pert Kelton.
The film is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, p. 13. Los Angeles, California: AFI, 1978.
==Plot==
Lorry and Minnie are prostitutes who occasionally get hapless male admirers drunk before robbing them. After being released from a Louisiana jail they head down the Mississippi River on a steamboat. Lorry steals $60 from a "Mr. Smith" she entertains in her room, and when she is confronted by the boat's captain, who accuses her of the theft, she escapes by jumping off the vessel into the river. She loses the $60 as she is rescued by cotton barge skipper Dan, so she robs him too.
Once in New Orleans, Lorry disguises herself as a newspaper writer in order to meet publishing magnate Stephen Paige that she took notice of on the steamboat. She then gets him drunk, takes him to his home, and the next morning blackmails him into supporting her, including renting a lavish apartment for her. She returns to the cotton barge and repays Dan his "loan" and they fall in love. Minnie now arrives at Lorry's apartment, soon followed by Stephen, who threatens to expose her sordid past, causing her to leave him but not to return to Dan, whom she had agreed to marry. When Stephen cannot persuade her to return to him, he realizes that she really does love Dan, and he brings about their reunion with the help of the now-married Minnie.
==Cast==
* Constance Bennett as Lorry Evans
* Joel McCrea as Dan
* John Halliday as Stephen Paige
* Pert Kelton as Minnie Brown Oglethorpe
* Samuel S. Hinds as Father Doran (as Samuel Hinds)
* Franklin Pangborn as Floorwalker
* Tom Francis as Salesman (as Tom Herbert)
* Wade Boteler as River Boat Purser 
* Eddy Chandler as River Boat Steward 
* Jane Darwell as Mrs. Webster - Head Prison Matron 
* Arthur Hoyt as Hoyt - Paige's Secretary 
* John Larkin as Black Man Meeting Released Prisoner
* Matt McHugh as "Jones"
* Robert Emmett O'Connor as River Boat Captain Scroggins 
* George Reed as Alice - Dan's Shipboard Cook 
* Mildred Washington as Genevieve, Lorry's Maid 
==Reception==
The film in 1933 received generally mediocre reviews in leading newspapers and trade papers. The one consistent exception in the print media's rather lukewarm reaction to the production was Pert Kelton, whose performance was widely praised. In his review for The New York Times, critic Mordaunt Hall views the "callous creature" portrayed by Constance Bennett as initially "disconcerting", and he finds parts of the story unbelievable, noting that its "characters do not always behave as if they were drawn from life."Hall, Mordaunt (1933). "Constance Bennett Appears in 'Bed of Roses,' a New Film at the Radio City Music Hall", review, archives of The New York Times, June 30, 1933. Retrieved March 18, 2019. Hall, however, does recognize Kelton for doing "remarkably well as the slangy Minnie".
The Film Daily in its July 1, 1933 issue judges Bed of Roses as "average entertainment" and describes Bennett as moving "through her part without any distinction.""Bed of Roses", review, The Film Daily (New York, N.Y.), July 1, 1933, p. 3. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved March 20, 2019. On the other hand, Kelton's performance also impressed the trade paper. "She fits the hard-boiled part perfectly", The Film Daily observes, "and scores repeatedly with hearty laughs." Abel Green in his review for Variety, another widely read entertainment paper at the time, refers to the "so-so flicker" as "tawdry and unwholesome in the main".Green, Abel (1933). "Bed of Roses", review, Variety, July 4, 1933, p. 16. Internet Archive. Retrieved March 18, 2019. He too preferred to focus on Kelton:
==References==
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Category:1933 films
Category:1930s films
Category:1933 romantic comedy films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:American romantic comedy films
Category:Films about prostitution in the United States
Category:Films directed by Gregory La Cava
Category:Films set in New Orleans
Category:Films set in Louisiana
Category:Films with screenplays by Wanda Tuchock
Category:RKO Pictures films
Category:1930s English-language films
Category:1930s American films
Category:English-language romantic comedy films