Antonius Block After watching enough of these pre-Code movies, you begin to notice a few recurring themes: women in lingerie for one contrived reason or another, references to an unmarried couple having had sex by showing them having breakfast, and men who aren't inclined to take 'no' for an answer, continuing to badger or paw a woman until she consents to go out with him. You'll find all of those things in 'Skyscraper Souls', an average movie for the time period which held my interest, but was not exceptional.Warren William plays the part of an executive whose passion is to erect and own a giant skyscraper, and he does well in the role. His character seems nice enough on the surface, well-spoken and polite, but it turns out that he'll do anything to get what he wants, including screw over his business partners, and tell his long-time mistress (a woman in the office) that he'd love to get married to her, but his wife won't consent to a divorce – when in fact he hasn't asked her for one. Hedda Hopper is fantastic as his wife, by the way, in the small role she has. When he notices his mistress's secretary, played by the lithe Maureen O'Sullivan, he starts putting the moves on her. O'Sullivan is also being aggressively pursued by a very annoying bank teller (Norman Foster) who she (somehow, painfully, argh) starts falling for, thus setting up one of the movie's conflicts.One of the problems the movie has is that none of the characters are all that likable. That's not a requirement for a great film of course, and it's nice to see nuance and realism – but in this case, when it's heading for the ending it's heading for, it's hard to feel what the director Edgar Selwyn is trying to make us feel. Another problem is that it's a bit of muddled mix of drama and romantic comedy, which meanders about. The parts that relate to the corporate scheming bog down, although the insider trading and stock speculation is mildly interesting given it was just a few years after the great stock market crash. Overall, though, it's just a bit jumbled. Watch it for Warren William's smooth evil, and for the spirited and beautiful Maureen O'Sullivan, and you may enjoy it more than I did.

MikeMagi It's hard to believe that "Skyscraper Souls" was made only three years after the advent of sound. The complex, fluid production is set in the offices, elevators, shops and crowded lobby of a New York wonder, a skyscraper that towers over the nearby Empire State Building. It's the brainchild -- and obsession -- of banker Warren William who will do anything to keep it under his control. If that takes bankrupting his closest friends and allies, so be it. When not masterminding a shady stock manipulation, Williams is busily plotting how to dump his mistress, Verree Teasdale, in favor of a newly-hired, naive young secretary, Maureen O'Sullivan. The result is a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of ruthless ambition that could easily have been made today. And probably not as well. Among the stand-out cast members are Anita Page as a model-cum-hooker who can't believe that a decent man would want to marry her, Jean Hershholt as a lovelorn jeweler, future director Norman Foster as O'Sullivan's brash young boy friend, and Hedda Hopper (yes, that Hedda Hopper) as Williams' wife who's happy not to interfere in his extra-curricular love life as long as he writes out large checks.

bkoganbing Although Skyscraper Souls develops several good characters, the primary focus is on Warren William the ruthless William Randolph Hearst like tycoon who is obsessed with not only building, but totally owning the world's tallest skyscraper. To emphasize the point of how big this building is, the New York City background shows the newly constructed Empire State Building quite a few feet shorter than Warren William's edifice.All the other characters in the film revolve around William like so many planets to his sun. Beginning with of course his long suffering wife Hedda Hopper and this may very well have been her best acting part, before she became one of the reigning gossip columnists of movie land. Hedda's not even trying to hold on to him other than financially, Warren just writes her check as she needs in and she keeps her free spending ways. The Marion Davies of the story is Verree Teasdale, William's eternal secretary/mistress who knows where all the bodies are buried in his business. A young woman working as a stenographer in his bank, Maureen O'Sullivan has captured William's attention, but Teasdale watches her like a mother hen and Teasdale's the jealous type. Young bank teller Norman Foster is courting Maureen, but he hasn't a prayer with William intruding on the picture.These are the personal associates, but the business ones are also revolve around William as he is determined to break any one who wants to gain control of his building. Chief among his rivals is George Barbier who is quite the rich womanizer himself, but is hardly in William's class for brains.Coming out in 1932 I'm not sure how the movie-going public took to this story about the rich playing with stocks, so many lost their own nest eggs to just such speculation. William is the kind of tycoon people loved to hate that year.The climax of Skyscraper Souls comes at a big price for William. He gets his edifice, but loses everything else. Let's just say it's quite the melodramatic ending, but still effective. Although the film is firmly dated in the Great Depression, Skyscraper Souls will still grab you by the emotions and by the wallet.

Molly Louise Shepard Berke I absolutely loved every square foot of this movie and want to own a copy of it. It could be remade today and be a huge hit. Maureen O'Sullivan was gorgeous, the dialog was witty, the plot line complex...it had so many modern qualities, I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was watching a 30's film. I give it a thumbs up. Loved the nefarious banker, "Dave", Hedda Hopper as the dilettante wife...loved the long suffering assistant...loved Shep the jilted lover. Loved it all. It was an eerie look into the stock market crash leading up to the great depression, and of the heights and desperation the human soul can reach during trying times. The ending was literally a cliff hanger. Whew - I could not believe it! A Boffo hit! I give it two thumbs up.