Behind the Make-Up (1930)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Robert Milton

Writers:

Mildred Cram (story)
Howard Estabrook (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his appreciation by stealing the clown's act and his girlfriend, whom he marries. |

Plot Keywords:

Theater

Cast

Hal Skelly	...	Hap Brown
William Powell	...	Gardoni
Fay Wray	...	Marie Gardoni
Kay Francis	...	Kitty Parker
E.H. Calvert	...	Dawson
Paul Lukas	...	Boris
Agostino Borgato	...	Chef
Jacques Vanaire	...	Valet
Jean De Briac	...	Sculptor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Torben Meyer	...	Waiter
Bob Perry	...	Bartender

Runtime:

USA:70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (MovieTone)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Movie Connections:

Alternate language version of Maquillage (1932)

Soundtrack:

My Pals

William Powell Convincing as an Italian

You might not believe it, but in this, William Powell is convincing as an Italian, and not just with an accent. He actually speaks a lot of Italian as well. It was a real shock. No ham acting, real acting. He plays an unscrupulous, self-pitying egotist named Gardoni who has failed on the vaudeville stage. On the verge of suicide, not having eaten for four days, he is saved by good guy Hal Skelly, a remarkably effective and likable actor who died four years later in a freak crash when a train hit the car he was travelling in, and he was only 43. That is why he is so little known, as he made few films. Powell repays Skelly's generosity by stealing part of his stage act and running off with it. When they meet up later, and Skelly forgives him, Powell repays that generosity by stealing his gal and marrying her within a day, then keeping Skelly on as a secondary stage partner. The gal is Fay Wray, four years before 'King Kong', sprightly lass that she was. She puts a lot of oomph into the part. The film is very good, solid and well made. Skelly had once been in a circus, and really knew how to ride bicycles in circles on a stage and stand them on end, as he does in the film. There is good support from the other actors. This film works.