She Had to Say Yes

Busby Berkeley went down in cinema history for directing musicals, so it might surprise people to learn that his directorial debut was a pre-code comedy. "She Had to Say Yes" casts Loretta Young as a garment worker whose boss realizes that the company could be losing customers to other stores, so he has his garment workers moonlight as call girls for the customers.

To us nowadays this doesn't seem particularly scandalous, but it was probably these sorts of movies that led to the Hays Code's enforcement (it got created in 1930, but didn't get enforced until 1934). I wouldn't call this a masterpiece, but it does have some funny scenes, namely the meeting in the restaurant. I don't know if the movie's available on any streaming platform, so you'll have to see if a local video store has it.

This 1933 film is surprisingly frank about the practice of using "customer girls" to promote commerce. A throw away line in this flic is an early indication of Hollywood leftist group think that now dominates the industry.

Flo (Loretta Young) explains to Maizee (Winnie Lightner) why she once loved a two-timing salesman:

Flo: He was different once. Maizee: Yeah, and so was the Republican Party.

If She Had To Say Yes had kept its cynical edge throughout this film might be undiscovered gem among before the Code pictures. But when it relented and allowed for a kind of happy ending the whole film was totally spoiled.

Loretta Young stars and plays a beautiful young woman working in the garment industry where at least the heterosexual men are really oversexed and expect a little something something on the side when they're buying from a firm. But the older and around the track a few too many times ex-chorus girls just aren't doing it for the buyers.

Number two guy Regis Toomey comes up with the bright idea of using the wholesome young ladies in the stenography pool as 'customer girls' for the buyers. Naturally though, Young is his private preserve. But the lure of a good commission even overcomes that.

Buyer Lyle Talbot is no better a specimen of the male side of humankind as he blows hot and cold and also lets his libido get the better of him. In the end all that seems to be proved is men are beasts.

Another beast in the film is another buyer played by Hugh Herbert. He gives a very restrained performance, mostly on the serious side without his usual manic antics.

She Had To Say Yes had the potential to be a real classic, but its cop out ending blows the whole film up. Loretta does wind up with one of these specimens, but I won't tell.

For his first director's credited film (shared with the film's editor) Berkeley got this strange, sleazy story. The direction is mostly pedestrian except for a few good shots: a nightclub introduced by a track through shaking maracas and our discovery that Tom is cheating on Flo when he is talking to her from a phone booth and a woman's gloved hand takes the cigarette from his mouth. These touches don't make up for a film that leaves a very sour taste in the mouth. Not only is the idea of the film offensive, if believable (using secretaries as call girls for clients) but all the men in the film are scum. This film ranks with "In The Company Of Men" for its portrait of the perfidy of men toward women. Throughout I found myself wondering how this film could ever wrap up satisfactorily and indeed it doesn't. A near-rape scene is shot in the look associated later with film noir. After that no quick Hollywood wrap-up would suffice.

Wow. I just saw this film for the first time. Totally stunning.

Only back in the Pre-Code era - not even today when we're supposedly so enlightened - could a movie *accurately* depict what actually happens far too often between men and women, between predators and their prey.

Bravo as well for the finale, not a conventional Hollywood "happy ending" at all, but one more solid and shocking confirmation of the dead end deal for so many women in our society. This movie may not always be pleasant to watch, but it's a worthy slap in the face, just like the one Loretta Young gave to Regis Toomey.