Some people would say all women are expensive

Another one of those pre-Codes that I don't think I'd heard of before the last time it ran on TCM is Expensive Women. Maybe I'd seen the title before, since it's a Warner Bros. movie, but I certainly hadn't seen the movie. In any case, I decided to record it and watch it to be able to do a review on it here.

Dolores Costello, one of those pre-Code actresses whose career didn't survive very long, stars as Connie, a woman of means who is somehow able to live in a good apartment with a maid and spend her time partying with the smart set, and continue doing this even though there's a depression going on. Not that she particularly cares for this lifestyle, as we see almost immediately when her obnoxius drunk friend Bobby shows up, trying to get her to go to another of those parties. Eventually she relents, going to a party where she meets pianist/composer/music teacher Neil (Warren William), declaring to him that she's one of those "expensive" women.

Neil can somehow afford to get invited to such parties too, but, like Connie, he doesn't really care for the lifestyle. So the two leave the party and go back to Neil's apartment, where the two talk together like Nancy Carroll and Cary Grant in Hot Saturday, wither her spending the night at Neil's place. Bobby figures out what's going on, and is a complete dick about it. Meanwhile, Bobby, Connie, and Neil keep going to the same sort of parties.

Attending one of those parties is Arthur Raymond (Anthony Bushell), who is returning from the UK after working their for a while in the company's London office. Connie falls for him too, since he's what Hollywood tried to pass off as a desirable man for 1930. He apparently knows Neil, but more importantly for the plot, he falls in love with Connie, and the feeling is soon mutual.

Even more importantly for the plot, Arthur is married, but in one of those loveless marriages where Arthur would really rather get a divorce if only his wife would let him. Well, not just his wife, but his father, Melville (H.B. Warner). Dad isn't stupid, and knows that dumping the first wife for Connie would be bad news for Arthur. Eventually, Dad forbids Arthur from seeing Connie again, and Arthur, being a milquetoast, goes along with it.

But then Bobby invites Connie to another party, and it just happens to be at the Raymond place. Arthur tries to talk alone with Connie, but Bobby finds out and threatens to gossip about it, leading to a gun being drawn, and....

Expensive Women is one of those movies that people who aren't into old movies are going to find extremely dated. It's difficult to understand some of the character motivations, and looking at things from the cultural standards of 2023, one want to take the characters by the neck and shake them until they get some sense. It's also got less of the things that make pre-Codes so seemingly transgressive. A lot of that is provided by Molly (Polly Walters), Connie's best friend. In one scene, Neil has arrived at a party by taxi, and tells Molly to patronize the driver. "Oh, he's been patronized", Molly responds. "Now he wants to be paid!" Oh my.

So Expensive Women is probably more likely to be enjoyed by people who are already fans of pre-Codes. For people who don't know so much about pre-Codes, I'd start with one of the more "shocking" ones.