THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR THEM aka Three Broadway Girls (1932) Joan Blondell | Comedy | B&W

The Greeks Had a Word for Them (also known as Three Broadway Girls) is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Lowell Sherman, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and released by United Artists. It stars Ina Claire, Joan Blondell, and Madge Evans and is based on the play The Greeks Had a Word for It by Zoe Akins.

SYNOPSIS
In this sophisticated comedy Jazz Age comedy, a trio of money-hungry women all have sugar daddies who keep them in the lap of luxury, even as they drive the men crazy. Each woman represents a different personality type, from sensitive, to kind-hearted, to difficult and untrustworthy. The twenties come roaring back with immorality and in-fighting.

Jean (Ina Claire), Polaire (Madge Evans), and Schatzi (Joan Blondell) are former showgirls who put their money together in order to rent a luxurious penthouse apartment. Jean is on her way back from France after a failed engagement which left her penniless. She manipulates a fellow male ship passenger into paying her dining bill, claiming that she can't find her checkbook. After she's home the girls scheme to get Jean engaged again, Jean suggests an old flame named Pops (whom the audience never sees), but she is surprised to find that Schatzi is now engaged to him. Polaire loans Jean her "bad dime" bracelet which has brought her good luck (the dime has a hole in it). Polaire phones Dey Emery (David Manners) to arrange a party for that night and asks him to set Jean up with a date for the evening. Later at a nightclub, Dey introduces Jean to pianist Boris Feldman (Lowell Sherman), but she doesn't like him. Boris bets Jean that he can make her fall in love with him just by playing the piano for her, $5,000 if she doesn't fall in love with him, "everything" if she does.

Later that night the group go to Boris' apartment where Polaire plays piano and Boris falls in love with her, forgetting the arrangement he made with Jean. He proposes to make Polaire his protégé, and she agrees to come back to his apartment in ten minutes after she gets her things. Meanwhile, Jean has taken off her dress, put on her coat and hides upstairs until Polaire leaves. She schemes to make Boris her own by seducing him. Polaire returns after ten minutes but it is too late, Boris is too busy to answer the door. After leaving Boris' apartment, Polaire is involved in a bad car accident when her taxi driver collides with a milk truck, and she is hospitalized.

Some time passes, Boris is upset that Jean slept through his concert performance and she breaks it off with him, telling him she sleeps when she wants to. Later Schatzi runs into Jean at a salon, Dey and Jean have been seeing each other and he arrives to pick her up. Schatzi pulls Dey into another room and tells him about Polaire's car accident and he goes to her hospital room and they reunite.

Schatzi discovers that her fiance, Pops, has died. Schatzi and Polaire go to Pops' will reading and discover that Jean is also there dressed head to toe in mourning clothes and feigns grief. The lawyer plays a recording of Pops' own voice recognizing Schatzi as his heiress and warning that Jean may be scheming for his assets.

Schatzi and Polaire arrive at Jean's wedding and Jean finally returns the bad dime bracelet to Polaire. The two girls discover that Jean now has a million dollars, they get Jean drunk and convince her to run off with them to Paris instead of getting married. Dey follows the three girls and catches up with them before their ship sails, and he and Polaire are reunited.

CAST & CREW
Joan Blondell as Schatzi
Madge Evans as Polaire
Ina Claire as Jean Lawrence
David Manners as Dey Emery
Lowell Sherman as Boris Feldman
Phillips Smalley as Justin Emery
Sidney Bracey as the waiter
Ward Bond as taxi driver

Directed by Lowell Sherman
Screenplay by Sidney Howard
Based on The Greeks Had a Word for It by Zoe Akins
Produced by Samuel Goldwyn
Cinematography George Barnes
Edited by Stuart Heisler
Music by Alfred Newman
Production company Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date February 3, 1932 (United States)
Running time 79 minutes
Country United States
Language English

NOTES
The studio originally wanted actress Jean Harlow for the lead after her success in Public Enemy (1931), but she was under contract to Howard Hughes, and he refused to loan her out. The film served as inspiration for films such as Three Blind Mice (1938), Moon Over Miami (1941), and How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). Ladies in Love (1936) also has a similar pattern and was produced like "Three Blind Mice" by Darryl F. Zanuck.

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