Lady by Choice *** (1934, Carole Lombard, May Robson, Roger Pryor, Walter Connolly) – Classic Movie Review 9927

Incomparable 1930s players Carole Lombard and May Robson delight in director David Burton’s bubbly 1934 vintage comedy Lady by Choice about a fame-hungry fan-dancer, Alabam Lee (Lombard), who takes in a mean, drunken, down-at-heel old woman, Patricia Patterson (Robson), and gentrifies her as an image-improving mother’s day publicity stunt at the prompting of her PR man, Front O’Malley (Raymond Walburn).

Old mother-hen Patricia Patterson (Robson), meanwhile, turns stripper Alabam Lee (Lombard) into a quality legitimate actress and match-makes her with rich Johnny Mills (Roger Pryor).

Jo Swerling’s witty screenplay (from a story by Dwight Taylor) plus delightful playing from the stars and engaging support performers easily compensate for the piece’s rampant sentimentality and the faded production. It is a follow-up to Frank Capra’s 1933’s Lady for a Day, in which Robson plays the similar character of Apple Annie, who is befriended by gangster Dave the Dude (Warren William) to impress her daughter.

Also in the cast are Walter Connolly, Arthur Hohl, Raymond Walburn, James Burke, Henry Kolker, Mariska Aldrich, Johnny Boyle, William Faversham, Lillian Harmer, Charles Coleman, Julius Tannen, Gino Corrado and Dennis O’Keefe.

The current print runs 76 minutes, but the original ran 85 minutes.

Lady by Choice is directed by David Burton, runs 76 minutes, is made and released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Jo Swerling, based on a story by Dwight Taylor, is shot in black and white by Ted Tetzlaff, is produced by Robert North, and scored by Louis Silvers (composer of stock music, uncredited).

Many of the cast members do not appear in the 76-minute print.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9927

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