Were it not for the comparison with the similar Warren William movie, Skyscraper Souls, this would be rated higher. Skyscraper Souls stars Warren William as a ruthless boss trampling over and destroying peoples' lives. This film however stars Warren William as a ruthless boss trampling over and destroying peoples' lives. This film has its fans but I found it a markedly inferior shadow of 'Skyscraper' It is curious that the emotion flowing through the undercurrent in both films is social justice - WB's speciality. However Employees' Entrance is the WB film here whereas the much superior and effective film is from the usually grit-free zone of MGM. I'm not saying this is bad, it's just not as good as something very similar with the same actor doing a similar role.
It's beautifully paced, it looks good and has some clever touches by director Roy del Ruth. The acting is believable and it keeps your attention right to the end. Where it looses points is in its writing - specifically, the characterisation of Mr Alexander - he might as well wear a pirate's eye patch. He is just too one dimensional. There must be more to him but unlike in Skyscraper, we don't see anything other than his cruel ruthlessnesses.
There's only one small scene where we learn that Mr Alexander might actually be human but that's only because he says that himself. He tells you but you don't feel it, the script simply doesn't bring his character to life. Without that empathy, he is just a one-dimensional, a poorly written pantomime villain.
His brutality is excused because he's not as bad as the alternative - unemployment for his staff or the company being run by the 'enemy of the people' back then, the bankers! Although his style is a bit third rate Basil Rathbone, Warren William does his best and manages to keep our interest right up to the end but he could have been better - and indeed was he did this role with so much more depth over at MGM a few months earlier.
Like a lot of bosses back then, whether he's the head of a department store or a motion picture studio, it could be argued that if he wasn't such a heartless monster, the thousands of people who work for him would be on the bread line. Would the girls who got jobs by sleeping with him rather be starving in the cold streets? Working at Warner Brothers in 1933, everyone involved with this film would be aware of someone like this but the writers assume that we all know them well enough that his character doesn't need explaining.
It's beautifully paced, it looks good and has some clever touches by director Roy del Ruth. The acting is believable and it keeps your attention right to the end. Where it looses points is in its writing - specifically, the characterisation of Mr Alexander - he might as well wear a pirate's eye patch. He is just too one dimensional. There must be more to him but unlike in Skyscraper, we don't see anything other than his cruel ruthlessnesses.
There's only one small scene where we learn that Mr Alexander might actually be human but that's only because he says that himself. He tells you but you don't feel it, the script simply doesn't bring his character to life. Without that empathy, he is just a one-dimensional, a poorly written pantomime villain.
His brutality is excused because he's not as bad as the alternative - unemployment for his staff or the company being run by the 'enemy of the people' back then, the bankers! Although his style is a bit third rate Basil Rathbone, Warren William does his best and manages to keep our interest right up to the end but he could have been better - and indeed was he did this role with so much more depth over at MGM a few months earlier.
Like a lot of bosses back then, whether he's the head of a department store or a motion picture studio, it could be argued that if he wasn't such a heartless monster, the thousands of people who work for him would be on the bread line. Would the girls who got jobs by sleeping with him rather be starving in the cold streets? Working at Warner Brothers in 1933, everyone involved with this film would be aware of someone like this but the writers assume that we all know them well enough that his character doesn't need explaining.