The Warner movies of the early thirties with a more female sensibility are forgotten. Here this traces back to the script by Mary McCall who also did IT'S TOUGH TO BE FAMOUS.
They pussyfoot round the scandalous issue of Brent sparking both actress Teasedale and daughter Muir and that stops this from being the strong melodrama it might have been but the team are still at the peak of the form that made the studio excel in the first years of sound and this one plays well and is full of imaginative minor touches of the kind that would fade from director Mayo's later work - Teasdale's success shown in a view of the audience the curtain shadow falls across, her passing the key seen silent through a window or an unseen doorman dismissing a taxi.
There's even a night life montage with champagne glasses.
The cast are in their element and, with a less rushed ending, this could have been a notable item.
They pussyfoot round the scandalous issue of Brent sparking both actress Teasedale and daughter Muir and that stops this from being the strong melodrama it might have been but the team are still at the peak of the form that made the studio excel in the first years of sound and this one plays well and is full of imaginative minor touches of the kind that would fade from director Mayo's later work - Teasdale's success shown in a view of the audience the curtain shadow falls across, her passing the key seen silent through a window or an unseen doorman dismissing a taxi.
There's even a night life montage with champagne glasses.
The cast are in their element and, with a less rushed ending, this could have been a notable item.
