Mostly interesting for its place-holder as an early talkie. Cheesy acting. Cheesy backdrops. A show-within-a-show concept. I guess the poor sound quality is probably due to poor microphone placement, or maybe just the bad quality of the early equipment. Liberal use of black-face. Our star, Bessie Love had a LONG career, and had started in the EARLY days of the silent films. She was nominated for an Oscar for Broadway Melody, and was still in the biz in her eighties. Not many folks made the jump into talkies, and even carried on acting into the 1980s! The plot is pretty plain and simple..the manager wants the star to cozy up to a gent with lots of money who might want to pour money into the show, but it doesn't really work out. It's a pre-Hays commission production, so they don't have to white-wash it.. .they still said it like it was in the early days before all the rules of propriety started being enforced. A secondary plot has "Oriole" (Nanci Price) stowing away to hide from the truancy officer. Durned if Bessie Love doesn't have the same slightly nasal voice and mannerisms that Claudette Colbert sometimes has... especially in "Imitation of Life". Pretty good story. Details are pretty dated and lightweight, but still enjoyable. Directed by Edgar Selwyn, with "MG" and later the other "M".... Mayer.
