Movie Page - Ladies in Love Plot

The Story

Ladies in Love centers around three young women who share an apartment in Budapest, all seeking love. Janet Gaynor plays Martha, a poor baroness who works odd jobs to support herself. She sells neckties out of a suitcase that she carries with her, and she has a second job of feeding rabbits for Rudi, a young doctor played by Don Ameche. Martha is romantically interested in Rudi, but he seems oblivious to her romantic interest. When she meets a magician, she finds herself employed in a third job, serving as his personal valet. She uses him to try to make Rudi jealous.

Constance Bennett is Yoli Hayden, a young model who strings along Ben, a wealthy man, while hoping John, also wealthy, will propose. John breaks her heart by running off with Marie, played by Simone Simon.

Loretta Young is Susie, a young peasant girl, who falls hard for Count Karl Lanyi, played by Tyrone Power. The minute she lays eyes on him, she can think of no one else. Despite learning early in her relationship with him that he is engaged to Countess Helena, played by Virginia Field, she obsesses over him, thinking things will work out. Despite their romantic times together and his apparent like of Susie, he realizes that she is a peasant girl, and Counts just don't marry peasant girls. When he breaks off his relationship with her to marry the Countess, Susie becomes deeply depressed. She even attempts suicide, dropping pills into a glass of wine. The suicide attempt is botched when her friend, Martha, drinks the concoction instead and becomes deathly ill.

As the story winds up, it looks as though the three girls will all fail in love. After Martha drinks the deadly potion, however, Rudi comes to save her. At last, he sees that he is in love with her, and their romance ends happily. The other two girls end up loveless, and, as the story ends, the three leave the apartment to go their separate ways.