Employees' Entrance (1933)

dir. Roy Del Ruth
writ. Robert Presnell Sr. (screenplay), David Boehm (play)
feat. Warren William, Loretta Young, Wallace Ford, Alice White

"When a man outlives his usefulness, he ought to jump out a window."

Such is department store manager, Kurt Anderson's, philosophy of life in Employee's Entrance. Stellar in his usual role as the frequently cruel and occasionally charming tyrant, Warren William demands dedication and increased sales from his beleaguered employees despite a depression. His cutthroat attitude of "smash or be smashed" is not only prescient of today's accepted corporate culture, but is also the source of many laughs in this fine film, drawing bigger guffaws with the greater depths of each new crack.

But it's the contrast highlighted in the lighter side of Anderson that makes the film really shine, his suave seduction of Loretta Young's unemployed Madeleine as she pretends to play house in the homey department store set showing a contradictory side to his personality, not easily dismissed as a mere spider to the fly put-on. While largely a face shown only when he wishes to woo Madeleine, this side appears again as Anderson faces imminent disaster. His megalomania challenged, his downfall moments away, he flirts with store model and pawn, Polly (White), fantasizing about escaping to Europe for a dream adventure, leaving the store and worries behind. He even sends Polly off on a shopping spree, outfitting her for their promised departure. Naturally, plans change yet again, Anderson returning to his senses, his position at the top of the ladder secured.

The picture is full of delightfully human moments, a charmingly drunken Madeleine falling for the preying Anderson, a crushed businessman earning Anderson's respect only to find himself sucessful, and Polly's matter-of-fact approach to manipulating an old man with her physical wiles. And though overall, Anderson hinges on pure evil, attempting to crush whatever he can't possess himself, William transforms him into one of those most endearing of film characters, the charismatic, even lovable, villain.