The greatest movie ever made..!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

If you are looking for a subtle film about the corporate world, then this is NOT the film for you! Instead, Warren William plays an over-the-top caricature of a businessman that is highly reminiscent of Hitler--and as a result is highly reminiscent of some of Williams' other films, SKYSCRAPER SOULS and THE MATCH KING! Despite this all being a bit silly and hard to believe, in an odd way, the film is still very entertaining and is sleazy fun. I especially like how again and again, the writers chose NOT to take the subtle path but chose to make the story a trashy soap opera. For example, when William forces yet another employee off the job after years of service, one jumps to his death from the 9th floor. Later, when he gets in an argument with a floozy in his employ, she tosses her Pomeranian at him--at which point he stares at it and then tosses the poor pooch into the trash can! With such silly scenes abounding, it's obvious that the film makers did NOT take themselves too seriously and Williams' character is so awful, you probably will laugh at some of his hysterics.By the way, after seeing this film, didn't you also get strong gay vibes from Williams' character? He did everything he could to separate his #2 man from his wife because he wanted him all to himself! Considering this is a so-called "Pre-Code" film, I seriously think they intended many in the audience to pick up on this undercurrent.

I have never been a fan of William Warren's, but this is the perfect role for him. I usually find him thoroughly unlikable and obnoxious; imagine my surprise when he is cast in just such a role and pulls it off so perfectly I find I must now respect his prowess as an actor. Well done, WW! In Employees' Entrance, we find Warren playing Kurt Anderson, an unapologetic cad who rules the Franklin & Munroe Store like a dictator. He is so flawless at playing someone so reprehensible, I loved hating him, I hoped he'd win. I especially loved him telling off the rich fops who run the store in the opening board room scene, "Do you think YOU did it?!" he demands in reference to the store's unprecedented success. I worked for a man like that once, I was crazy about him. No one ever got more work out of me. And the viewer actually doesn't feel too terribly sympathetic to the people Anderson fires throughout the movie, so much as they wonder why they were ever stupid enough to make such silly suggestions or resist Anderson when they had no ideas of their own.As the great department store enters the great depression, things get even tougher, and Anderson must drive his staff even more ruthlessly than before; but he does this to protect their jobs. And what an eye-opening time-capsule! The Franklin & Munroe store is said to employ 12,000 people...you'd be lucky to find 12 in a department store today! Imagine a store that actually provides SERVICE.Note the pre-code relationships between the characters: Anderson sleeps with Madeline twice and neither character seems to feel it is the end of the world as would have been required of them in films just a couple of years later. Further, Anderson literally pimps Polly out to divert the attention of a troublesome board member. She doesn't mind; not because she's easy but because she's figured out how to work the system.Lots of faces familiar to the Depression-era movie fan. Alice White is perfect as Polly Dale, perhaps the most amusing character in the film. Loretta Young plays Madeline with more depth than was probably written into it. Ruth Donnelly is her usual self as Miss Hall, and Allen Jenkins has an unbilled but significant role as the security chief, Sweeney. Wallace Ford is surprisingly good as Martin West; the scene where he flirts across the store with Madeline by holding up sheet music with titles like "I want to call you Sweetheart" and "You're Beautiful" is adorable.I highly recommend this entertaining film.

Warren William as the ruthless, reckless, unredeemable manager of Macy's called something else, vs. a board of ineffectual, status-seeking shlubs and a not completely sympathetic young couple who work for him; who's there to root for? This Warners "social realism" melodrama was made in the fascinating time just after Prohibition's repeal and just before the Production Code, so it depicts all sorts of amoral behavior (drunks, floozies, unfaithful wives, decent employees corrupted by a kill-or-be-killed work ethic). As such, it's a useful window on a turbulent time in Hollywood and American history. But as cinema, it's not particularly well-acted or consistent: Characters develop likes and dislikes for other characters to serve the plot, not the other way around, and the motivations are weak throughout. (To its credit, it does try to furnish the William character with some backstory, so that if we can't sympathize with this ghoul, at least we can understand him.) Wallace Ford hasn't the charm to pull off the regular-guy persona that would make us care (imagine Jimmy Cagney in the part, or at least Pat O'Brien); and Loretta Young's sweet, but what's she playing? She's variously manipulative, pitiable, likeable, conniving. The pre-Code honesty does allow her character to Sin and get away with it; by the following year, she'd have been struck by lightning. William's malevolent machinations are watchable, if not compelling, and the movie has small details that stick with you, like the lapdog in the wastebasket.

Very adult pre-Code drama of a huge department store and its tyrannical owner Kurt Anderson (Warren William). There are many subplots but the main one involves a young, loving couple (Loretta Young, Wallace Ford) and how Anderson tries to tear them apart.The movie is truly fascinating--the cruelty of Anderson is beyond belief. Half the things he says and does would never be in a film made today. William isn't a particularly good actor, but he manages to pull off the role. Ford and Young make a very attractive couple--you're rooting for both of them.The drama here certainly works but the humor doesn't (there's a running gag about the 4th floor mens lavatory always breaking down that isn't remotely funny). There's also some annoying comic relief actors.Still, this is never dull, very frank and worth catching.