Employees' Entrance (1933) is a film with manifold virtues, but the greatest of all of them is Warren William as the villainous Kurt Anderson. For this cinephile, old Kurt ranks up there with Darth Vader and the Wicked Witch of the West as one of the greatest bad guys in American film.
William's villain is truly nuanced. He's a heartless, lecherous monster, yet there is also something admirable about his respect for those willing to stand up to him. The scene where one of Kurt's embittered employees tells him he plans to claw his way to the top of the business world and take vengeance on him ends with Kurt impressed and ready to fund the fellow's future business!
Loretta Young gives the other standout performance as the working girl Kurt continually takes advantage of and whose marriage he unwittingly sabotages. Young makes her pain and distress all too poignant.
This is an amazing film all around. The cinematography is solid and the screenplay sizzles. One can imagine how closely the Depression-era audience must have related to its working-class heroes.
William's villain is truly nuanced. He's a heartless, lecherous monster, yet there is also something admirable about his respect for those willing to stand up to him. The scene where one of Kurt's embittered employees tells him he plans to claw his way to the top of the business world and take vengeance on him ends with Kurt impressed and ready to fund the fellow's future business!
Loretta Young gives the other standout performance as the working girl Kurt continually takes advantage of and whose marriage he unwittingly sabotages. Young makes her pain and distress all too poignant.
This is an amazing film all around. The cinematography is solid and the screenplay sizzles. One can imagine how closely the Depression-era audience must have related to its working-class heroes.