Film Summary CDXCV (Fifth Avenue Girl)



Melodrama is the name, melodrama is the game.

'Fifth Avenue Girl' is this wonderfully captivating little film where Ginger Rogers and Walter Connolly play these two very eccentric characters.

Walter plays this extremely rich millionaire who's become disinterested with his life. The company he runs is stagnant and losing money and his family has become more distant to him than ever.
That is until he meets Ginger Rogers character: A very down-on-her-luck a girl with little to no money almost, no food and a lifestyle with no Direction.
The rest of the film is just the two of them hooking up together having fun. 

Which becomes all the more amusing to watch as you contrast that with this incredibly stuck up wealthy family who's becoming more dissatisfied with their fathers rambunctious Behaviour.
Or at least his wife and his son seems to be upset with the behaviour. His daughter on the other hand happens to have more indifference.

All she's interested in is trying to hook up with her chauffeur this blatant out-and-out communist guy who goes on and on about the evils of capitalism and the rich while simultaneously working for said rich.
Of course it becomes a giant stereotype later on when he eventually leaves the house with the daughter after getting married and deciding to live on his own, starting up his own business. And as he puts it. ''Although I'm a capitalist now, I'll remember his Bolshevik roots.''

The whole thing comes off as satirically funny when you consider that this pampas self-proclaimed Bolshevik is going on about the rights of the people and the poverty-stricken masses while living a pretty cozy life next to a girl who only a week before was living in Central Park eating an apple every couple of days as her main meal.
I kind of wish the film I played with that a bit more.
Having Ginger Rogers character interacting with both the servants and the rich as somebody who although playing a debutante for the moment, has lived a life of poverty that none of them have understood.


I think the main reason I like this film so much is because it encapsulates two of my favourites kinds of character. The whimsically innocent and fun character inter-spliced with sarcastic and witty intellect.
Which simultaneously are two character types that become the most annoying if you don't know what to do with them.

They just have so much to work with especially given the difference of approach they take. Obviously Walter's character has an indifference to everything. He doesn't care what tomorrow brings because he's Rich. He'll be fine regardless and he's old, so he's already lived a fair bit of his life. He just wants to enjoy a few things before we finally kicks off.

While Ginger's character comes at life a bit more somber. She's poor destitute and hasn't much room for improvement. In a way she almost comes at life with the same indifference as Walters character. But tainted with the reality that one day it might all just end. Not in luxury or comfort. But in absolute poverty or even death.
It creates a kind of Carefree attitude. where she'll join on someone else's adventure just for lack of anything better to do.
And isn't afraid of pushing people's buttons because the retaliation has little to no effect on her. What can you do to somebody who's already lost everything or take away from somebody that never had to begin with.

But really all of this is just me getting off track and going on about tiny little story elements. None of that truly matters.
What makes this movie so enjoyable is the interactions of Ginger Rogers and Walter contrary running around and causing mischief to the rest of the family.
And the vast witty dialogue that everybody has with each other.

It's that kind of character acting that if handled by the wrong director would just come off as annoying and disorganised. But if handled with care and given to the right people can make for some of the most hilarious soliloquies you can find in film. Especially when you have Ginger Rogers reacting to the whole thing with her Cutthroat responses and down-to-earth humour.

The only thing I didn't like about the film was the ending.
Like so many other films of adage the ending to spelt a little rushed.
There's an awkward romance between Ginger Rogers character and this other guy who I think we're supposed to root for, but ultimately I just found its restricting.
Ginger's character shouldn't have been weighed down by anybody at the end of the film.
Maybe she could have kept up a friendship with Walter's character. But she should have been on her way either onto our next adventure or maybe just finding a guy somewhere else. It felt a bit arbitrary like they wanted to give everybody a happy ending so we have to tie up every loose knot with a literal relationship
Which could have been an okay ending if they just add it on another 10 minutes where Ginger's character in this other guy had some time to develop some real chemistry.
Cuz as it stands this guy was just being kind of an ass with her randomly tried kissing her once. Then they just end up in a relationship. J
ust doesn't feel right. But alas that's a problem with a lot of films and media General. Nothing that can be done about it. Doesn't subtract from the fact the rest of the movie is fantastic.

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