Film

Girls About Town

Name: Girls About Town
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1931
Cast: Kay Francis, Joel McCrea, Lilyan Tashman, Eugene Pallette, Alan Dinehart

Screwball comedy
Light-hearted

A pre-Code comedy about two glamorous women who entertain out-of-town businessmen in Manhattan, playing both sides of their precarious situation with charm and cunning. It's light and quick, driven by Kay Francis's wit and the film's matter-of-fact attitude toward sex work. For fans of early-30s Hollywood's sharper edge.

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Bachelor Apartment1931

Released the same year, this sex comedy has similar energy—New York sophistication, sexual frankness that would become impossible post-1934, and the same playful cynicism about desire and money.

But The pacing feels glacial by modern standards, and the gender politics, while progressive for 1931, still land awkwardly now.

The Divorcee1930

Norma Shearer in a film that treats infidelity, independence, and female sexuality as matters of personal choice rather than morality. Sharp, surprisingly modern in outlook, and beautifully played.

But It's a bit more melodramatic than Girls About Town, and the final act softens its own radical premise.

Hold Your Man1933

Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in a pre-Code gem about a woman of questionable virtue who charms her way through the world. It has the same knowing tone and similar faith in female resourcefulness.

But The second half pivots toward redemption in a way that feels at odds with the first, and it's considerably longer at 89 minutes.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Girls About Town

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pandora's Box1929

Both center a woman whose value comes from her ability to enchant men, and neither film punishes her for it—but Pabst goes much further, refusing sentiment or redemption.

G.W. Pabst's silent masterpiece about Lulu, a woman whose sexuality and charisma destabilize everyone around her. No moral judgment, just the destructive glamour of desire—far darker and more formally radical than Girls About Town, but from the same spiritual place.

But It's a silent film with titles, made two years before Girls About Town, and the ending is genuinely tragic rather than comic. Requires patience and a different viewing mode.

Red-Headed Woman1932

Jean Harlow plays a working-class woman who sleeps her way upward without apology or punishment—the film never judges her, which was genuinely radical. Fast, funny, and unapologetic.

But Harlow's performance can read as one-note if you're not attuned to pre-Code acting styles, and the plot is thin even for a 79-minute film.

Midnight1939

Claudette Colbert as a woman who charms wealthy men while navigating her own financial desperation. It's a later, glossier take on the same idea, with sharper dialogue and Don Ameche's easy charm.

But It's far more elegant and less edgy than Girls About Town—the studio system had tightened considerably by 1939.

The Greeks Had a Word for Them1932

Three women living off wealthy men, but with real affection between them and a moral ambiguity the era rarely allowed. It's cynical and sympathetic in equal measure.

But The three-hander structure means less focus on individual character, and some of the comedy business feels dated even for 1932.

Dinner at Eight1933

An ensemble piece that includes Jean Harlow as a gold-digger, but it offers a broader view of how desire and money tangle through multiple class levels. Witty, dark, and beautifully structured.

But At 111 minutes and with nine major characters, it's a very different animal—less intimate, more social panorama.

Twentieth Century1934

Carole Lombard and John Barrymore in a screwball farce about theatrical performance and manipulation. It's louder and broader than Girls About Town, but shares the same fascination with people performing versions of themselves.

But It prioritizes comedy chaos over character, and the romantic cynicism feels performative rather than earned.

The Wolf of Wall Street2013

Both are comedies about people who treat their own personalities as products, and both find humor in that transaction without requiring moral reckoning.

A long way from 1931, but it shares Girls About Town's fascination with the relationship between performance, desire, and money. Characters survive by being charming, entertaining, and willing to sell what they have. Scorsese finds the same darkly comic energy in the con.

But It's nearly three hours, viscerally graphic in ways the pre-Code film is not, and far angrier. The excess is the point, which can feel exhausting.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire2019

Both take female sexuality as a given rather than a scandal, and both trust women to be complex—but Sciamma makes that complexity interior and Cukor makes it performative. Worth seeing the same idea stretched to opposite extremes.

A French film about female desire and female looking that approaches its subjects with seriousness and beauty. It's about women charming and being charmed, but it inverts the power dynamic entirely—and it's luminous where Girls About Town is brisk.

But It's a slow, painterly film with minimal plot; nearly two hours long; and entirely unlike the snappy 1931 comedy in tone and pace. It's the opposite energy.