Two Girls on Broadway is a 1940 film directed by S. Sylvan Simon.
Molly and Pat (Joan Blondell and Lana Turner) are sisters in the little town of Rome City, Nebraska, with dreams of hitting it big in show business. Molly's boyfriend, a song-and-dance man named Eddie, finagles his way onto a radio show and sells his song to a Broadway producer. Eddie summons Molly to New York, and Pat tags along.
Eddie gets Molly and Pat an audition with his producer. The producer is interested only in Pat, and she winds up co-starring with Eddie in the show, while a humiliated Molly has to take a job as a cigarette girl at the theater. But things are even worse for Molly than that, as Eddie is falling in love with gorgeous Pat. Further complicating matters is playboy and man-about-town "Chat" Chatsworth, who has been married four times and wants to make Pat wife number five.
This film is a remake of the second Oscar-winner for Best Picture, The Broadway Melody.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: The film opens with a tight closeup on a street sign that says "Broadway"—and then the camera pulls back to reveal that this Broadway is a street in Rome City, NE.
- Bittersweet Ending: Eddie and Pat will have a happy life and stardom, but a defeated Molly goes back to Rome City. However, there's the suggestion that Jed the gossip columnist will look her up.
- Comforting Comforter: Molly tucks Pat in after Pat comes home drunk from a party with Chat and falls asleep on the bed.
- Death Glare: The look the MC of the radio show gives Eddie, when Eddie, who got on the show by claiming to have a singing canary act, starts singing himself when the canaries don't. (It was a ruse by Eddie to get on the radio.)
- Dramatic Irony: Molly says that sure, Pat can live in the same apartment with her and Eddie, saying "Eddie's just as crazy about you as I am!" What she doesn't know is that Eddie has fallen in love with Pat.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Molly is humiliated to have to take a job as a cigarette girl, especially since she has to watch Pat star in the show that she wanted to be in.
- Fanservice Extra: The chorus girls in the big show that Eddie and Pat star in. In one scene the camera has a tight closeup on the legs of several chorus girls, as the director and Mr. Bartell the producer argue about the ladies' heels.Mr. Bartell: I don't like their shoes.
Director: Mr. Bartell, who's going to look at their shoes? - Hands-On Approach: Eddie demonstrates to Pat something he wants to do during their big dance number in the show, which leads to them embracing, which leads to Eddie confessing his feelings.
- Lingerie Scene: Some fanservice has Pat in a slip as she's getting ready to attend a big party with Chat.
- Maybe Ever After: Jed the gossip columnist knows Molly from way back in their old show business days and obviously has feelings for her. He bids Molly goodbye at the bus station and tells her "I've got some shopping to do in Rome City!", suggesting that he will come find her.
- The Musical Musical: Eddie and Pat get hired for a Broadway show, which allows for the movie to show several musical numbers.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with the bus leaving Times Square, taking Molly back to Nebraska.
- Offstage Villainy: In The Broadway Melody the character corresponding to Chat wants to make the Pat character his mistress, and attempts to rape her. Between 1929 and 1940 The Hays Code had been imposed so plot elements like that weren't allowed in Hollywood movies anymore, so in this film Chat wants to make Pat his fifth wife. The suggestion is that after Chat gets some sex with Pat he'll file for divorce...except that Chat seems to be genuinely in love with Molly. He makes a romantic marriage proposal at the Rockefeller Center skating rink.
- Oh, Crap!: Molly realizes the true nature of Eddie and Pat's relationship in an instant when both Eddie and Pat get a little too emotional over the idea of Pat marrying Chatsworth the playboy.
- Rip Tailoring: Pat shows up at the nightclub with a dress she brought from back home, only for the women in the ladies' room to sneer at it as old-fashioned. She gets a pair of scissors and cuts it into something more revealing.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Molly has to wear one when working as a cigarette girl.
- She Is All Grown Up: Eddie has been away for some years, chasing his show business dreams. When he sees Molly's little sister Pat again and finds out that Pat has turned into the phenomenally gorgeous Lana Turner, a gobsmacked Eddie says "Gee, I wouldn't have known you."
