Every now and then a truly unusual film from the early thirties resurfaces which proves to be a revelation. "The Ladies Man" definitely fits that description. Mature, sophisticated, intelligent and uncompromising, to watch "The Ladies Man" is a breath of fresh air for anyone who is used to finding most of the movies produced in the early talky era crude, formulaic claptrap with "a happy ending".

William Powell is one of my favorite actors, and in this silkenly produced 1931 Paramount bauble he gives a startling world-weary, downbeat, and even tragic performance. He plays an unrepentant gigolo who seems all too aware his dissipated lifestyle dooms him somehow, he just doesn't know when the other shoe is going to drop. Kay Francis was never more appealing and glamorous, and Carole Lombard gives perhaps the first great performance of her career, playing a drunken playgirl driven nearly crazy by her mixed feelings towards Powell's strangely sympathetic cad. To say more would be to spoil a well-directed, well-paced film.

Definitely recommended for anyone with adult tastes and looking for something that's not the same-old same-old.

... because he speaks in a rather haughty fashion, much like he did when talking film first came in a couple of years before, and he seems rather bored with the whole thing. Maybe it was because he knew he was leaving Paramount and thus he knew this was his last film there before moving to Warner Brothers. Maybe it's because the tone of the film itself is inconsistent as it starts out like a precode comedy of the upper class being enthusiastically fooled by a grifter and then turns deadly serious.

Jamie Darricott (William Powell) is a high society gigilo. He gets friendly with his new neighbors, the Fendleys. I'm not sure that he even intended for anything to happen between them, but Mrs. Fendley turns to Jamie after her husband repeatedly breaks dates with her because of business to which he must attend. Jamie is giving her ego that last gasp of romance, and she is giving him her jewelry which he hocks in order to live off of. He makes a really serious mistake when he starts yet another romance with Mrs. Fendley's daughter, the rather unstable Rachel (Carole Lombard) for non financial reasons. You have to wonder what was he thinking, because he can't let either woman find out about the other.

And then he meets socialite Norma (Kay Francis),and there is a genuine romance that develops between them, and this makes him want to leave his life of being a "ladies' man". But of course, complications ensue, not the least of which is that neither Fendley woman is just going to let Jamie go without a fight, even knowing what he is.

I found Olive Tell really interesting here as Mrs. Fendley, a woman who is frantically trying to hold on to the last vestiges of her youth. She successfully made the transition to sound, but she also wasn't nearly as old as the part she was playing. It's mentioned several times that she and Jamie look ridiculous together because of the difference in their ages, yet William Powell was actually two years older than Olive Tell! And Ms. Tell is only ten years older than the actor playing her son.

This is pretty much a paint by numbers precode. I would mainly recommend it for fans of William Powell and Kay Francis who always had great chemistry together and who would both be heading over to Warner Brothers to make some of their best films. This is probably one of the hardest to find of William Powell's talking films.

Although the acting is very good in "Ladies' Man", the film has one huge strike against it....you don't care very much for the main character. In some stories, this doesn't matter but for a romance, that's a significant problem!

Jamie (William Powell) is a gigolo who is romancing BOTH a woman (Carole Lombard) AND her mother at the same time! Now that really takes nerve! But what takes even more nerve is his beginning to date a third person (Kay Francis) at the same time! The daughter (Lombard) is pretty unstable and you can't help but think bad things will come of all this.

As I already said, the acting is very good and the story isn't bad. But you can't help but not care very much about Jamie or his exploits, as this guy uses women and has no interest in working and having a real job. Enjoying the high life off of women is his only goal in life....though meeting Norma (Francis) shakes his resolve. Watchable and interesting but no more.