April 5 movie: Rafter Romance. This was part of a "lost movies" special on TCM: six RKO movies that got caught up in some kind of rights dispute and haven't been seen anywhere since the 50s.
This one starred Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster (who I never heard of before) as two single people who are talked into time-sharing an apartment to save on rent. He works night shift and has the apartment during the day; she works days and has the apartment at night. They meet outside the apartment and fall for each other without realizing who they are, and it's a lot like The Shop Around the Corner or maybe even Pillow Talk. The best thing about the movie is sexy Ginger Rogers taking her clothes off, pre-code style:
- Sitting on a bed with her skirt pulled up, removing her stockings;
- Close-up on her feet as she steps out of her panties;
- Removing her jacket to reveal that her "blouse" is actually a scarf draped over her otherwise bare torso, just barely covering her breasts. Va va voom!
Most of the good comedy comes from the kindly Jewish landlord who arranges the apartment share. Less funny is the pathetic rich older woman who wants to make Foster (a struggling artist) her kept boy.
2 Comments
I'm watching this movie right now. I had to hit "rewind" on my Tivo when I saw that scarf being used as a blouse. I knew that movies were a little more lax pre-code, but I had never seen one. A scene like that feels much more risque when all the other scenes in the movie are fairly modest.
Hi Dani, I rewound that scene too! I was like "holy crap, am I really seeing this? Rewind!!"