A slew of films were made during the first decade of sound movies that had a theme of gold diggers. It was true of Hollywood, USA, and of the "Hollywoods" across the pond – notably, the film centers of England and France. "A Girl Must Live" is one such movie, made in England. It has the most common trappings used in such films – a chorus line for the milieu of the hunters and the hunted. Part of the humor of these films is that the roles are played out in reverse of what proper society would have them be. In other words, the hunters are the hunted and the hunted are the hunters.
This rendition of a common theme has a cast of top female players in British cinema of the time. Margaret Lockwood has star billing and is very good as Leslie James. She comes to the chorus line after fleeing a girl's school. She's the only one of the girls who is not outwardly trying to snag a wealthy man. One can guess who gets the hero in the end. He's the Earl of Pangborough, a supporting character played well by Hugh Sinclair.
But, what gives this version of the over-used plot a lift is the constant feuding between two of the protagonists, Gloria Lind and Clytie Devine. It's always over the next prey. Renee Houston and Lilli Palmer play the two unabashedly open gold diggers to perfection. Their attempts at one-upmanship and sneaky tricks on one another are the best part of this comedy. In real life, such feuding likely would get on everyone else's nerves. But here, it's what carries all of the humor in the story.
I found it interesting in her biography, that Lilli Palmer (nee Lilli Marie Peiser) fled Nazi Germany in the early 1930s with her family. She was born in Posen, Prussia, Germany (now Poznan, Poland). Her parents were Jewish. Her father was a German surgeon, and her mother was an Austrian actress. She learned English and French as well as German growing up. She got her acting start in Berlin, but the family fled shortly after Hitler came to power. Lilli went to England and resumed her acting career. She was married to Rex Harrison from 1943 to 1957, and they had one child. She made many films in the U.S. and abroad. She was a big star in postwar German cinema. In her last years she lived in California where she died of cancer in 1986.
This rendition of a common theme has a cast of top female players in British cinema of the time. Margaret Lockwood has star billing and is very good as Leslie James. She comes to the chorus line after fleeing a girl's school. She's the only one of the girls who is not outwardly trying to snag a wealthy man. One can guess who gets the hero in the end. He's the Earl of Pangborough, a supporting character played well by Hugh Sinclair.
But, what gives this version of the over-used plot a lift is the constant feuding between two of the protagonists, Gloria Lind and Clytie Devine. It's always over the next prey. Renee Houston and Lilli Palmer play the two unabashedly open gold diggers to perfection. Their attempts at one-upmanship and sneaky tricks on one another are the best part of this comedy. In real life, such feuding likely would get on everyone else's nerves. But here, it's what carries all of the humor in the story.
I found it interesting in her biography, that Lilli Palmer (nee Lilli Marie Peiser) fled Nazi Germany in the early 1930s with her family. She was born in Posen, Prussia, Germany (now Poznan, Poland). Her parents were Jewish. Her father was a German surgeon, and her mother was an Austrian actress. She learned English and French as well as German growing up. She got her acting start in Berlin, but the family fled shortly after Hitler came to power. Lilli went to England and resumed her acting career. She was married to Rex Harrison from 1943 to 1957, and they had one child. She made many films in the U.S. and abroad. She was a big star in postwar German cinema. In her last years she lived in California where she died of cancer in 1986.