Pretty Ladies
| Pretty Ladies | |
|---|---|
 German poster | |
| 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 dates |
|
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 written by Joseph Farnham.[1]
Pretty Ladies originally featured musical color sequences, some in two-strip Technicolor.[2] However, the color sequences are now considered lost.[3]
Plot
Maggie (ZaSu Pitts) is a popular Ziegfeld Follies dancing comedienne whose husband leaves her for one of the show's beauties, and who longs for the life of other chorus girls but eventually finds love by being herself.
Production notes
The film was set in New York City shot at MGM Studios in Culver City, California.[4]
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[5] (Crawford is also billed as LeSueur in the 1925 promotional film MGM Studio Tour).[6] It was also one of the first screen appearances of Myrna Loy (then still performing under her real last name Williams),[7] 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.[8]
Cast
- ZaSu Pitts - Maggie Keenan
- Tom Moore - Al Cassidy
- Ann Pennington - Herself
- Lilyan Tashman - Selma Larson
- Helena D'Algy - Adrienne
- Conrad Nagel - Maggie's Dream Lover
- Norma Shearer - Frances White
- George K. Arthur - Roger Van Horn
- Lucille LeSueur (Joan Crawford) - Bobby - a Showgirl
- Myrna Williams (Myrna Loy) - Ziegfeld Girl (uncredited)
- Dorothy Seastrom - Diamond Tights
- Gwen Lee - Fay
See also
References
- ↑ Stumpf, Charles (2010). ZaSu Pitts: The Life and Career. McFarland. p. 122. ISBN 0-786-46023-7.
- ↑ Barrios, Richard (1995). A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film. Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 0-195-08811-5.
- ↑ "Pretty Ladies". silentera.com. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
- ↑ Leider, Emily W. (2011). Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood. University of California Press. p. 50. ISBN 0-520-94963-3.
- ↑ Quirk, Lawrence J.; Schoell, William (2013). Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography. University Press of Kentucky. p. 13. ISBN 0-813-14411-6.
- ↑ Golden, Eve (2013). John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars. University Press of Kentucky. p. 1918. ISBN 0-813-14163-X.
- ↑ (Leider 2011, pp. 50–51)
- ↑ McLean, Adrienne L., ed. (2011). Glamour in a Golden Age: Movie Stars of the 1930s. Rutgers University Press. pp. 221–222. ISBN 0-813-54904-3.