Beauty Parlor (1932) DVD-R

Before he moved to MGM, director Richard Thorpe virtually lived at the tiny production firm of Chesterfield-Invincible. Thorpe's Beauty Parlor is a Chesterfield programmer that aspires to be Grand Hotel. The titular parlor is the setting for a multitude of comic and dramatic episodes, most of them involving manicurists Barbara Kent and Joyce Compton. Among the supporting players is Mischa Auer, essaying one of the villainous roles he was stuck with before turning to zany comedy parts in the mid-1930s. Beauty Parlor wraps up all its loose plot strands in 66 minutes.