Pretty Ladies

{{short description|1925 film}} {{About|the film|the Mesoamerican figurines|Pretty Ladies (female figurines)}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = Pretty Ladies | image = Pretty Ladies.jpg | caption = German poster | director = Monta Bell | producer = | writer = Alice D. G. Miller<br>Joseph Farnham (Titles) | starring = ZaSu Pitts<br>Conrad Nagel<br>Tom Moore<br>Joan Crawford | cinematography = Ira H. Morgan | editing = | distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | released = {{Film date|1925|09|06}} | runtime = 74 minutes | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) }} '''''Pretty Ladies''''' is a 1925 American silent comedy drama film starring ZaSu Pitts and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is a fictional recreation of the famed Ziegfeld Follies. Directed by Monta Bell, the film was written by Alice D. G. Miller and featured intertitles by Joseph Farnham.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stumpf|first=Charles |title=ZaSu Pitts: The Life and Career|url=https://archive.org/details/zasupittslifecar00stum|url-access=limited|year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-786-46023-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/zasupittslifecar00stum/page/n128 122]}}</ref> ''Pretty Ladies'' originally featured musical color sequences, some in two-color Technicolor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barrios|first=Richard|title=A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-195-08811-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/songindarkbirtho00barr/page/70 70]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/songindarkbirtho00barr/page/70}}</ref> However, the color sequences are now considered lost.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/P/PrettyLadies1925.html|title=Progressive Silent Film List: ''Pretty Ladies''|publisher=silentera.com|accessdate=March 4, 2015}}</ref>

==Plot== As described in a film magazine reviews,<ref>{{Citation |title=New Pictures: ''Pretty Ladies'' |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=22 |issue=8 |pages=49 |date=16 August 1925 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |location=Chicago, Illinois |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald22unse/page/n910/mode/1up |access-date=17 July 2022}} {{Source-attribution}}</ref> Maggie, a homely but lovable musical comedy star yearns for love, a home, and children. She marries Al Cassidy, a happy-go-lucky fellow. Her happiness is complete at the birth of a baby. Her husband leaves on business and gets into trouble with another woman. A friend of Maggie’s informs her of this. When her husband begins to confess, she seals his lips, declaring everything untrue and foolish.

==Cast== {{Cast listing| * ZaSu Pitts as Maggie Keenan * Tom Moore as Al Cassidy * Ann Pennington as herself * Lilyan Tashman as Selma Larson * Bernard Randall as Aaron Savage * Helena D'Algy as Adrienne * Conrad Nagel as Maggie's Dream Lover * Norma Shearer as Frances White * George K. Arthur as Roger Van Horn * Joan Crawford as Bobby, a Showgirl (credited as Lucille LeSueur) * Paul Ellis as Warren Hadley * Roy D'Arcy as Paul Thompson * Gwen Lee as Fay * Dorothy Seastrom as Diamond Tights * Lew Harvey as Will Rogers * Chad Huber as Frisco * Walter Shumway as Mr. Gallagher * Dan Crimmins as Mr. Shean * James Quinn as Eddie Cantor (credited as Jimmie Quinn) * Carole Lombard as Showgirl (uncredited) * Myrna Loy as Ziegfeld Girl (uncredited) * Bodil Rosing as Minor Role (uncredited) }}

==Production== The film was set in New York City shot at MGM Studios in Culver City, California.<ref>{{cite book|last=Leider|first=Emily W. |title=Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood|url=https://archive.org/details/myrnaloyonlygood00leid|url-access=limited|year=2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-94963-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/myrnaloyonlygood00leid/page/n62 50]}}</ref> The film's sets were designed by the art directors James Basevi and Cedric Gibbons.

''Pretty Ladies'' marked the first credited appearance of "Lucille Le Sueur", soon to be known as Joan Crawford. According to Lawrence J. Quirk, author of ''The Films of Joan Crawford'', this film was the only time Crawford was credited by her real name<ref>{{cite book|last1=Quirk |first1=Lawrence J. |last2=Schoell|first2=William |title=Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography|year=2013|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-813-14411-5|page=13}}</ref> (Crawford is also billed as LeSueur in the 1925 promotional film ''MGM Studio Tour'').<ref>{{cite book|last=Golden|first=Eve|authorlink=Eve Golden|title=John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars|year=2013|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-813-14163-3|page=1918}}</ref> It was also one of the first screen appearances of Myrna Loy (then still performing under her real last name Williams),<ref>{{harv|Leider|2011|pp=50–51}}</ref> who signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. in 1925 and then finally signed with MGM where she became a star in 1934 with the release of ''The Thin Man''.<ref>{{cite book|editor=McLean, Adrienne L. |title=Glamour in a Golden Age: Movie Stars of the 1930s|year=2011|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-813-54904-0|pages=221–222}}</ref>

== Censorship == Before ''Pretty Ladies'' could be exhibited in Kansas, the Kansas Board of Review required the removal of a close-up of a woman's legs under a table, a scene where a man is resting his head on a woman's lap, and scene of a fly on a dancing woman's thigh.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kansas Board of Review Movie Index - Kansas Historical Society |url=https://www.kansashistory.gov/statearchives/archives_board_of_reviews/search/film:pretty%20ladies/company:/star:/elimination:/begyr:/endyr:/submit:SEARCH |access-date=2025-10-21 |website=www.kansashistory.gov}}</ref>

==See also== * List of early color feature films

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Pretty Ladies}} *{{IMDb title|0016241}} *[https://www.gettyimages.in/photos/film-pretty-ladies-1925?assettype=image&phrase=film%20%22pretty%20ladies%22%201925&sort=mostpopular&license=rf,rm Stills and lobby cards] at www.gettyimages.com *[https://normashearer.com/filmography/1920s/pretty-ladies/ Stills] at normashearer.com *[https://web.archive.org/web/20121023092355/https://silenthollywood.com/prettyladies1925.html Joan Crawford's costume] at silenthollywood.com *{{YouTube|3__5VR81BC8|''Pretty Ladies''}} (53 minute version)

Category:1925 films Category:1925 comedy-drama films Category:1925 American films Category:1920s color films Category:1925 English-language films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:Early color films Category:Films set in New York City Category:Films shot in Los Angeles Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Category:American silent comedy-drama films Category:Silent films in color Category:Surviving American silent films Category:English-language comedy-drama films Category:Films directed by Monta Bell