This is one early sound film that fortunately is not lost because it gives us the opportunity to see one of the biggest Broadway stars of her era give her breakout performance. Too many people have forgotten Marilyn Miller, she was the Madonna of her day in more ways the one.
And in 1919 Sally was the role that made her a Broadway star. It's a Cinderella story, the kind that was popular back in the day. She's a foundling, raised in an orphanage and working as a dishwasher/server at a café where she's discovered. She finds stardom in the Ziegfeld Follies where Marilyn Miller actually did appear and the man of her dreams in Alexander Gray.
Of course it's not all smooth sailing and the girl does have to do a stint at a society party masquerading as a fortune hunting dancer from Europe, an idea press agent T. Roy Barnes dreams up when the real dancer who's his client runs out on him. You might remember Barnes best from a small role in It's A Gift where he tries to sell a weary W.C. Fields some insurance. On stage the part was played by Walter Catlett.
This was also the film that brought Joe E. Brown a long term contract with Warner Brothers/First National as their leading comic star in the Thirties. Playing a role originated on Broadway by Leon Errol, Brown is the prince of Czechoslovenia who lost the family fortune on fast women and slow horses. He still has the title, but works in the same café as Miller run by an exiled subject Ford Sterling who has some trouble adjusting to the new relationship between prince and former commoner. Miller and Brown have a very good dance number.
Speaking of dance that was Miller's real forte. A good singer, she was a terrific dancer as this film shows. In fact because she felt that audiences did not get the full effect of her persona unless they saw the whole act on stage, she refused to make records. Thus her three films with Warner Brothers/First National are the only record we have of her performing. Seeing her dance I understand though don't agree with her point of view.
In fact the main problem with Sally is that when Miller did the Broadway show she was a fresh young 21 in 1919. She's now 31 and she partied hardy in the Roaring Twenties. The talent is there, but she looks like a 31 who's seen a bit of the sunny and shady side of life.
Of course her signature song, Look For The Silver Lining which Jerome Kern and Buddy DeSylva wrote for her in this show is there. Most of the score is not and two new songs from Joseph Burke and Al Dubin are. One of them, If I'm Dreaming, Don't Wake Me Up Too Soon was revived almost 60 years later and heard as background music during the Oscar ceremony scene in the Bruce Willis-James Garner film Sunset.
If people remember Marilyn Miller at all, they remember Judy Garland portraying her in Till The Clouds Roll By and from the biographical film that Warner Brothers did in 1949 with June Haver as Marilyn. Also in MGM's The Great Ziegfeld, the Virginia Bruce character is based on Marilyn Miller. Here's a chance to see the real deal so don't pass it up.
And in 1919 Sally was the role that made her a Broadway star. It's a Cinderella story, the kind that was popular back in the day. She's a foundling, raised in an orphanage and working as a dishwasher/server at a café where she's discovered. She finds stardom in the Ziegfeld Follies where Marilyn Miller actually did appear and the man of her dreams in Alexander Gray.
Of course it's not all smooth sailing and the girl does have to do a stint at a society party masquerading as a fortune hunting dancer from Europe, an idea press agent T. Roy Barnes dreams up when the real dancer who's his client runs out on him. You might remember Barnes best from a small role in It's A Gift where he tries to sell a weary W.C. Fields some insurance. On stage the part was played by Walter Catlett.
This was also the film that brought Joe E. Brown a long term contract with Warner Brothers/First National as their leading comic star in the Thirties. Playing a role originated on Broadway by Leon Errol, Brown is the prince of Czechoslovenia who lost the family fortune on fast women and slow horses. He still has the title, but works in the same café as Miller run by an exiled subject Ford Sterling who has some trouble adjusting to the new relationship between prince and former commoner. Miller and Brown have a very good dance number.
Speaking of dance that was Miller's real forte. A good singer, she was a terrific dancer as this film shows. In fact because she felt that audiences did not get the full effect of her persona unless they saw the whole act on stage, she refused to make records. Thus her three films with Warner Brothers/First National are the only record we have of her performing. Seeing her dance I understand though don't agree with her point of view.
In fact the main problem with Sally is that when Miller did the Broadway show she was a fresh young 21 in 1919. She's now 31 and she partied hardy in the Roaring Twenties. The talent is there, but she looks like a 31 who's seen a bit of the sunny and shady side of life.
Of course her signature song, Look For The Silver Lining which Jerome Kern and Buddy DeSylva wrote for her in this show is there. Most of the score is not and two new songs from Joseph Burke and Al Dubin are. One of them, If I'm Dreaming, Don't Wake Me Up Too Soon was revived almost 60 years later and heard as background music during the Oscar ceremony scene in the Bruce Willis-James Garner film Sunset.
If people remember Marilyn Miller at all, they remember Judy Garland portraying her in Till The Clouds Roll By and from the biographical film that Warner Brothers did in 1949 with June Haver as Marilyn. Also in MGM's The Great Ziegfeld, the Virginia Bruce character is based on Marilyn Miller. Here's a chance to see the real deal so don't pass it up.