Ladies Should Listen (1934)

[5]

Cary Grant stars as a wealthy Parisian with terrible taste in women. When one of his most recent girlfriends rejects him over the phone, he jokes about killing himself — bringing his apartment’s telephone operator, played by Frances Drake (Mad Love), running to him in tears. Drake tells him she’s been listening to all his phone calls and that one of his ladies of interest is trying to con him out of a lucrative business deal. The rest of Ladies Should Listen centers around whether Grant will learn the truth before it’s too late — and if Drake will ever be brave enough to profess her love to him.

This film gets off to a rocky start with clunky dialogue, unfunny jokes, and unusually protracted pacing. But once Drake appears in the storyline, the film starts to pull itself together. I wish the two had more screen time together, as Grant is preoccupied in subplots involving the aforementioned con woman (Rosita Moreno) and a serendipitous engagement to a goofball character played by Nydia Westman. The final act is also over-plotted and predictable. But fans of Cary Grant should still find enough in his performance to make a viewing worthwhile. With Ann Sheridan.