Kansas City Princess is a 1934 film directed by William Keighley.
Rosie and Marie (Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell) are two vivacious manicurists in Kansas City, MO. Rosie is engaged to "Dynamite", a gangster who is loud and crude but genuinely affectionate for her. Dynamite gives Rosie a sizeable diamond engagement ring, but Marie disapproves. After Dynamite leaves on a trip to St. Louis, Marie coaxes Rosie into flirting with other men, in hopes of getting a better catch.
This leads to disaster. The man Rosie flirts with, "Jimmy the Dude", is also a gangster, and he steals Rosie's ring. Rosie and Marie hurriedly leave town, just as Dynamite gets back, retrieves the ring from Jimmy, and realizes what's up. Wacky hijinks ensue, as Dynamite chases Rosie and Marie all the way to Paris, while on the way the gang gets tangled up with a meek, affable billionaire named Junior Ashcraft.
Tropes:
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The nonsensical "French" that Rosie and Marie babble at each other, when they are pretending to be members of the crew of the ocean liner.
- Calling Me a Logarithm: When Junior asks Dynamite about his relationship with Rosie.Junior: Your fiancée?
Dynamite: [offended] I should say not! We're engaged! - Department of Redundancy Department: Marie's oft-repeated advice to Rosie.Marie: A girl's gotta have three things these days: money, jack, and dough.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: How else could the film signal that the main characters have arrived in Paris?
- Follow That Car: In New York, Dynamite says this to a taxi driver right after Rosie and Marie escape him by jumping into someone else's taxi.
- How Do You Say: Done on purpose by Marie when she and Rosie are pretending to be French. Rosie's giggling flirtatiousness prompts Marie to say to Junior, "She has, how you say, a good time?"
- Hypocritical Humor: Dynamite, with Rosie in tow, intrudes on the romantic dinner Marie was having with Mr. Greenway. His loud blustering talk causes Mr. Greenway to make a quick exit. As Mr. Greenway is leaving Dynamite says "That guy's got the worst manners I've ever seen."
- Lingerie Scene: Naturally Joan Blondell has to get down to a slip in a scene where Rosie is changing clothes.
- Match Cut: There's a match from the mouth of a trombone at the nightclub, to a loudspeaker at the train station announcing the departure of Dynamite's train.
- No Indoor Voice: Dynamite is loud and crude and boisterous and more or less shouts every line of dialogue.
- Scout-Out: Rosie and Marie are trying to catch a train out of Kansas City just as Dynamite's train is pulling into a station. In a panic, they see a group called the Outdoor Girls of America boarding a train to New York. Our heroines hurriedly don a pair of not-Girl Scout uniforms, follow the group onto the train, and make their escape.
- Social Semi-Circle: Dynie barges in on Marie and her boyfriend Mr. Greenway at the club, uninvited, dragging Rosie along. Dynie brings along two chairs but, instead of placing them at opposite sides of the table like a normal person, puts both on one side so that everyone's face is in front of the camera.
- Title Drop: When the slimy Dr. Pilnakoff pronounces Rosie a "princess", Marie snarks "Yes, a Kansas City princess."
- Video Credits: The film begins with video credits showing all the main players in character, as was house style for almost every movie Warner Brothers made in the early 1930s.
