Ladies They Talk About Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Ladies They Talk About Blu-ray Movie Review

A basket of bad apples.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III November 21, 2021

Howard Bretherton and William Keighley's Ladies They Talk About is a brash prison melodrama based on a play co-written by ex-convict Dorothy Mackaye, who married actor/criminal Paul Kelly shortly after the expiration of a parole clause (quite a couple, huh?). It stars Barbara Stanwyck as Nan Kelly, the doe-eyed decoy in a bank-robbing crew who gets pinched by astute detective Tracy (De Witt Jennings) after a brazen robbery. During the resulting investigation she attracts the attention of David Slade (Preston Foster), a popular evangelist and aspiring politician, shrewdly using his spotless reputation as a chance to bolster her feigned innocence. Nan is eventually released into his care by the District Attorney (Robert McWade) but, in a rare show of honesty, confesses her guilt to him privately. Unable to lie on her behalf, David gives Nan up and she's sent to San Quentin for a few years. Relationship over, right?

Wrong. During the next few months, David sends repeated letters and Nan realizes she's still in love too while toughing it out with an unintegrated prison population that includes sharp-tongued Linda (Lillian Roth), deranged Susie (Dorothy Burgess), and eccentric Aunt Maggie (Maude Eburne). Later, she's visited in person by former bank-robbing pal Lefty, who informs her that their mutual partner --and her former lover -- Don (Lyle Talbot) now resides in the men's side of the prison. Soon enough, she's able to make both a crude prison map and a pencil tracing of the master key, two items that will help Lefty plan their combined escape. Unfortunately, he gets into his own legal trouble and her drawings fall into the wrong hands, which Nan wrongly believes was David's fault. She plans to enact her revenge at one of his popular evening revival services... but he's still head over heels for her, and doesn't suspect a damn thing.

Relatively brisk at just 69 minutes, Ladies They Talk About nonetheless stalls its own momentum a few times with a few convoluted developments and pacing issues that make its overall timeline a little choppy. But perhaps its biggest misstep is a head-smacking "gotcha" ending that, while not completely out of character for either party, doesn't really deliver a satisfying narrative conclusion. Even so, it entertains largely on the strength of Stanwyck's sinfully good lead performance, with her fellow inmates -- as well as detective Tracy, who returns crucially during the film's final stretch -- following fairly close behind. Preston Foster impresses during the public speeches but his chemistry with Nan just isn't there for the most part, which does few favors for an ending that hinges solely on the acceptance of their on-screen attraction. It doesn't gel completely, which hobbles Ladies They Talk About at both ends... especially the finale, which I keep throwing dirt on but really does deflate those genuine highlights during the previous hour or so.

Nonetheless, fans of the cast and crew -- as well as pre-Code dramas in general, which are always good for at least a once-over -- should definitely give Ladies They Talk About a spin, and Warner Archive's new Blu-ray package offers support with one of their trademark top-tier A/V restorations. A bonus Merrie Melodies short from the era, which likely served as pre-show entertainment during its theatrical run, has also been nicely restored to match.

Ladies They Talk About Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Any film -- nitrate or otherwise -- handled by Warner Archive is almost always a cause for celebration, and Ladies They Talk About is no exception. This sparkling new restoration is the result of a recent high-resolution scan of the original camera negative, with perhaps a few brief minutes of footage sourced from secondary elements. The wide majority of this film absolutely sparkles with clarity, from crisp establishing shots to one of many soft close-ups of leading lady Barbara Stanwyck. As usual, this is an exceedingly clean image thanks to the studio's meticulous manual cleanup, resulting in a virtually dirt-free image that retails its original film-like texture with plenty of silvery grain. Black levels run fairly deep with excellent shadow detail, with only a handful of whites eclipsing normal brightness levels -- but then again, such minor issues could either be source-related or due to exposure issues with the original film. Overall fine detail is as good as it gets for this near 90 year-old film (!), with even small details like newspaper print (above) and background props easily readable. It's top-tier work as usual for the reliably great boutique label that, pound for pound, has earned what's likely the strongest track record for five-star catalog releases in the home video market.

Ladies They Talk About Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though not as smooth and problem-free as its beautiful 1080p picture, Warner Archives' careful treatment of the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix at least yields satisfying, workable results for its one-channel source material. Dialogue and background effects are balanced nicely and well within reasonable volume expectations, while the original score by an uncredited Cliff Hess gets plenty of support but sounds unavoidably thin during its loudest moments. Rare scenes of action spice things up a little, include a campy cat-fight in the women's prison as well as a couple of stock gunshot blasts that pack a little bit of punch. Modest amounts of hiss and crackle do pop up on rare occasions, but both are kept largely under control and don't detract from what's mostly a clean and crisp presentation overall.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the film; they're nicely formatted and sync with no issues.

Ladies They Talk About Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with saucy one-sheet cover artwork and no inserts of any kind. Bonus features are limited but at least fit the era in which Ladies They Talk About was originally released.

• I Like Mountain Music (7:03, screenshot #25) - This 1933 Merrie Melodies short, directed by Rudolf Ising, is a direct sequel to the previous year's cartoon Three's a Crowd. It depicts magazines characters who come to life after a local drug store closes up for the night, but their performance is interrupted by a robber who's pursued by several characters including Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Although later colorized by Turner Entertinment in later decades -- where it was subsequently retitled Magazine Rack -- this is the original black-and-white version and has been beautifully restored (presumably by Warner Archive), which is certainly a nice touch.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:16) - This enjoyable promotional piece can also be seen here. While it unfortunately has not been similarly restored (assuming workable source material was even available), it's in perfectly watchable condition and provides a pretty enticing -- though hardly accurate -- overview of the main feature.

Ladies They Talk About Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Howard Bretherton and William Keighley's Ladies They Talk About is an entertaining pre-Code prison drama with a few memorable characters and a great lead performance by the inimitable Barbara Stanwyck, although a few pacing issues and a rather left-field ending end up kind of spoiling the party. Regardless, it's still a film well worth (re)discovering and, if nothing else, serves as an enjoyable time capsule and a fine example of what films were like before the Hays Code muted the bulk of Hollywood's output between 1934 and 1968. As usual, Warner Archive offers support with an outstanding new restoration, lossless audio, and two era-specific extras ported over from the DVD days.