Nice Women (1931) is a weirdly stressful look at 1930s rent problems

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies where people sit in living rooms and worry about how they are going to pay for their fancy lifestyle, you will probably get a kick out of this. It is very much a product of its time, but in a way that feels uncomfortably real if you have ever been stressed about money.

People who hate stagey, talky dramas from the early thirties should stay far away. There is no action, and the camera mostly just sits there and watches people be miserable to each other.

I think I liked it? Or at least, I couldn't stop watching because the mother character made me so nervous.

The Mother from Hell

Lucile Gleason plays the mom, and she is honestly terrifying. She isn't a villain with a cape, she’s just a woman who is really tired of being poor and decides her daughter’s happiness is a fair price for a bigger house.

She has this way of looking at her daughter, Jerry, that feels like a landlord looking at a tenant who is late on rent. It’s cold. It’s calculation masquerading as 'doing what is best for the family.'

The movie does this thing where it tries to make her seem sympathetic, but I didn't buy it. Every time she opened her mouth to talk about "security," I wanted to turn the volume down.

It reminds me a bit of the desperation in The Highest Bid, where everything has a price tag. Even love. Especially love.

Sidney Fox and the Sad Eyes

Sidney Fox plays Jerry. She has these huge, expressive eyes that look like they are about to leak tears at any second.

She is supposed to be in love with Billy, played by Russell Gleason. Billy is fine, I guess. He’s just a guy. He doesn’t really have much of a personality other than "not being rich."

The chemistry between them is... okay. It’s a bit stiff. It feels like they are both reading from a book about how young people are supposed to act when they are in love.

But when Jerry is alone on screen, you can really feel the weight of her choice. She’s caught between being a "good daughter" and actually having a life of her own.

I’ve seen better performances in The Dawn of Love, but Sidney Fox has a specific kind of 1931 energy that is hard to look away from. She feels modern in a way the rest of the movie doesn't.

The Rich Guy is... Actually Okay?

Then there is Mark Girard, played by Alan Mowbray. He is the millionaire Jerry is supposed to marry.

Usually, in these movies, the rich guy is a total creep. Or he’s eighty years old. But Mowbray plays him as a relatively decent person who just happens to have a lot of money and a very clean mustache.

This makes the movie more confusing. If he was a monster, Jerry could just run away. But because he’s nice, she feels even more guilty about not loving him.

There is a scene in his house—which is huge and empty—where they just talk. It goes on for a long time.

You can see the movie trying to decide if it wants to be a comedy or a tragedy. It settles somewhere in the middle, which is probably more realistic but less satisfying.

The Sister and the Side Plot

Frances Dee plays the younger sister, Alice. I actually think she’s the best part of the whole thing.

She’s got this spark that everyone else lacks. While Jerry is moping around, Alice is actually saying what everyone else is thinking.

The way she looks at the fancy dresses and the food... it’s honest. She wants the rich life. She doesn't have the moral dilemma that Jerry has.

It’s a bit like the sibling dynamics in Polly, but with more resentment under the surface.

There is one moment where Alice is trying on a hat and she looks at herself in the mirror. It lasts about five seconds too long. You can see her entire future in that one look. She’s going to be just like her mother.

Random Observations

• The sound quality in my copy was pretty rough. Lots of hissing. It made the dramatic silences feel like there was a tea kettle going off in the background.
• Why does everyone in 1931 hold their cigarettes like they are afraid it's going to bite them? It’s very distracting.
• The dad, played by James Durkin, is almost invisible. He’s like a ghost that occasionally says something about the weather.
• There is a maid character who is clearly there for "comic relief" but I didn't laugh once. It felt like she was in a different movie entirely, maybe So Long Letty.
• The sets are very Universal. You can tell they reused some stuff from other productions. I swear I saw that same vase in Mata Hari, or something very similar.

The Ending (No Spoilers)

The way it wraps up is very abrupt. Like the writers realized they only had five minutes of film left and needed to fix everything.

It’s one of those endings where everyone suddenly becomes very noble for no apparent reason. It doesn't really earn the resolution.

But that’s how these early talkies usually go. They build up all this tension and then just pop the bubble at the last second so everyone can go home happy.

If you want something with more of a weird bite, maybe try It's a Bird instead. That’s just pure chaos.

Nice Women isn't chaos. It's just a quiet, slightly mean little story about how money messes with people's heads.

I’ll probably forget most of it by next week, but I’ll remember the way that mother looked at the dinner table. Brutal.

It’s better than Mr. Goode, Samaritan, but that’s not saying much. It’s a solid 6 out of 10 if you’re in the mood for some vintage family bickering.

Anyway, Sidney Fox is great. I wish she had been in more stuff like this where she actually got to show some range instead of just being the "pretty daughter."

The pacing is a bit weird in the middle. There’s a lot of walking in and out of doors. But for 1931, it’s a pretty decent watch.