Most famous now for being the first unofficial of the A Star is Born films
Stars Constance Bennett who is very good, another Cukor and Selznick picture—and it’s pre-code so some of the high Hollywood living is a bit more raunchy than later 30’s films and Bennett’s outfits show a lot
Cukor passed on the 37’ remake but did the 1954 version with Judy Garland and James Mason- pretty easily the strongest version
There’s a nice soft dissolve opening that finishes by pulling back from a close-up
Clark Gable in magazine and mentioned again in text, Garbo impression- very 1930’s Hollywood self-referential and pop referential
Restaurant Brown Derby scene with executives on the phone (at the table) talking box office
A great shot going from outside Lowell Sherman’s mansion, moves in, cuts, then a tracking shot in on him hungover in bed
The narrative is different than A Star is Born in some ways. The drunk here who the lead female sticks by is the director (Lowell Sherman who is good here- died of pneumonia in 1934)
The camera floats in as she visits a movie set for the first time in awe- a nice shot/sequence—there’s a bit of a Trader Horn documentary going on here- like this is a Hollywood behind-the-scene insider’s look
Formally sound- many transitions are bounced off of newspaper and trade magazine/newspaper clips and tabloid headlines
Again, pre-code—Bennett has her body out here
Sad and sobering—the scene at the end with Lowell Sherman—withered up from alcoholism—sees an old picture of himself in his prime. Cukor goes for it brilliantly with the ensuing avant-garde montage to show his ruined psyche—slow-motion of him falling after that montage
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