Stage Door (1937) 7.7
A boardinghouse full of aspiring actresses and their ambitions, dreams and disappointments. Director:Gregory La Cava |
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Stage Door (1937) 7.7
A boardinghouse full of aspiring actresses and their ambitions, dreams and disappointments. Director:Gregory La Cava |
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Katharine Hepburn | ... | ||
| Ginger Rogers | ... | ||
| Adolphe Menjou | ... |
Anthony Powell
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Gail Patrick | ... |
Linda Shaw
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Constance Collier | ... |
Miss Luther
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Andrea Leeds | ... | |
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Samuel S. Hinds | ... |
Henry Sims
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| Lucille Ball | ... |
Judith
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Franklin Pangborn | ... |
Harcourt
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William Corson | ... | |
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Pierre Watkin | ... |
Carmichael
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Grady Sutton | ... |
Butch
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| Frank Reicher | ... |
Stage Director
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| Jack Carson | ... |
Mr. Milbanks
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Phyllis Kennedy | ... |
Hattie
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Terry Randall, rich society beauty, has decided to see if she can break into the Broadway theatre scene without her family connections. She goes to live in a theatrical boarding house and finds her life caught up with those of the other inmates and the ever-present disappointment that theatrical hopefuls must live with. Her smart-mouth roommate, Jean, is approached by a powerful producer for more than just a role. And Terry's father has decided to give her career the shove by backing a production for her to star in, in which she's sure to flop. But his machinations hurt more than just Terry. Written by Kathy Li
Director Gregory LaCava apparently liked to hit the bottle and so had a spotty career, but Stage Door is his masterpiece. Not in some personal, auteurist way, but in having achieved an almost ideal example of Depression-era movie entertainment. Its venue is the Footlights Club, a theatrical boarding house near Broadway, where lamb stew and broken dreams are the nightly staples. Among the gals with stiletto tongues but hearts of gold are Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller, Gail Patrick and formidable Constance Collier ("Could you see an older woman in the part?"). But the movie centers on the rivalry between roommates Katherine Hepburn, as a spoiled rich kid who tries acting as a lark, and Ginger Rogers, as a plucky thespian waiting for her break. Believe it or no, those diametrical opposites (aristocratic, ethereal Kate and tough, pragmatic Ginger) work like a dream together. The script negotiates a delicate path between pathos and bathos, and somehow keeps its balance, even when one of the troupers loses her grip on reality and...Well, enough said. Best of all: this is the movie in which Hepburn gets to elocute: "The calla lilies are in bloom again...." Sheerest heaven.