SENSATION HUNTERS

US, 1933, 72 minutes, Black-and-white.
Marion Burns,Arline Judge, Preston Foster, Kenneth Mac Kenna, Juanita Hansen.
Directed by Charles Vidor.

This is a Pre- Code film, somewhat more explicit in its presentation of sexual behaviour than would have been allowed a few years later.

The setting is a cruise ship on its way from the American West coast to the city of Panama. The central character, Dale Jordan, played by a sympathetic Marion Burns, is a genteel person who agrees to become part of a group of young woman, perhaps politely called escorts, who go to a club in Panama, the Bull Ring, where they persuade their customers to drink, where they are dancers, and some of them singers, especially Dale Jordan. The most lively of the young woman on the trip is Jerry, played by Arline Judge.

On the cruise are some snobbish British people, although there is an eccentric with more than an eye for the ladies, and even the young man, dominated by his mother, makes lewd approaches to Dale. The decent man on the trip is played by Preston Foster, owner of a mine in the Caribbean. He is attracted to Dale, she to him. He warns her about the dangers of the trip. She is very strong-minded, declaring that nothing will happen to her.

In Panama and at the club, the hostess introduces the girls, urges them to get the men to drink, there are performances and dancing. However, she is also a drinker. There are some well-dressed patrons as well as some disreputable guests. Dale is surviving but finding it difficult.

An aviator arrives after some months and is immediately attracted to Dale. She has seen the Preston Foster character but he has sold his mine and is returning to San Francisco. (A number of people comment that the aviator character seems to be based on Howard Hughes.) Dale seem to have found her future, does what not want to be financially dependent on the aviator but agrees to marry him. Then, very melodramatic, the audience discovers that his wife will not give him a divorce, he has financial difficulties, he is drinking, goes for a flight over Dale’s hotel and crashes.

Time is a very difficult, Dale and her friend perform at a sleazy club, there are fights, an Indian accused of murder, and the two women are ousted.

Just at the right time, Preston Foster receives a letter from Jerry and comes to the rescue.

This is a first film directed by Charles Vidor who, in the 1940s, made a number of films at Columbia, especially with Rita Hayworth, Cover Girl, Gilda, Loves of Carmen. He also directed the Chopin biography, A Song To Remember.