Customer Reviews

Morning Glory

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Katharine Hepburn won her first Academy Award for her portrayal of Eve Lovelace (nee Ada Love), a star struck girl who comes to the big city to be a star. The party scene in which a drunk Lovelace does Hamlet's soliloquy and the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet is usually cited as means of an explanation for why she won. But the quintessential Hepburn scene is when she arrives at the office of the successful Broadway producer and charms an old English character actor. Her is the quick, clipped speech that would become so caricatured down the road and it is far and away the best scene it the film.

The last half of the film resorts to the old chestnut of our young heroine having to go on opening night, where she becomes a star. The problem is there is no proof of the pudding here. We hear people talking about how wonderful Eve is on stage, but we see none of her performance. The film gives us indications of her talent but totally ignores her moment of triumph in favor of people talking about it instead. It is useful to remember that Hepburn also made "Little Women" the same year as "Morning Glory" and that certainly her body of work that year was taken into consideration (her Jo March won the prize at Cannes that year I believe-the closest contemporary parallel would probably be Diane Keaton who did "Annie Hall" and "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" the same year, which you must agree is certainly an indication of range).

The first half would get 4 stars the last half 2 stars, and that's how we get to 3. Simple mathematics.

Once you watch this film you should then screen Hepburn in "Stage Door," the climax of which certainly provides what is missing from "Morning Glory." Within 15 minutes of that particular film you see Hepburn play a bad actress and a very good actress. The transformation is stunning and certainly integral to that film in a way it would not be to this one. Given that when she made "Stage Door" Hepburn was considered Box Office Poison, it is interesting to look at this pair of films as a set. "Morning Glory" jump started Hepburn's career, and "Stage Door" heralded her revival. So I highly recommend you watch the two films as a double feature.

Katherine Hepburn's first Oscar winning role is the perfect introduction to her personality and talent. An aristocratic, beautiful girl from New England takes the entertainment world by storm with her unique charm and iron resolve. Sound familiar? The "I don't wear cheap furs" scene had me choking with laughter, along with what I call the "drunken best of Shakespeare" scene where she launches into a chamgagne-fueled random explosion of highlights from "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet" at a party for top theatre execs.

"Morning Glory" is probably a movie that would be a lot harder to come across (and it isn't that easy to find as it is) if it weren't the movie for which Katherine Hepburn won her first Oscar. After watching it with mixed feelings the other night, it dawned on me that there is actually a pretty good facet to this movie. There are three main female characters and each of them gives us a portrait of a self-confident woman. What is interesting is that each of them gets their confidence from a different source. The first woman we are introduced to is an established movie star whose self-confidence arises from her career. She knows she will succeed because she has already done so repeatedly. The next woman we are introduced to is self-confident because she is having an affair with the producer. She knows she will succeed because her lover owes it to her. The last woman we meet is Hepburn's character whose self-confidence arises solely from her belief in herself. She knows she will succeed merely because she cannot envision any other outcome.

As I pondered the meaning of "Morning Glory", I came to understand that the writers and directors wanted to show that attitude IS the key to success. While the established star could lose her self-confidence with a series of flops and the gold-digger could find herself replaced by a new paramour, Hepburn's attitude would (and DID) carry her farther. While the acting, directing and other aspects gave me the impression that this was a "3 Star" movie at best, the subtle message made me realize that it actually deserved a "4 Star" rating.

Katharine Hepburn delivers a great performance in this otherwise routine movie. The story is rather trite, and mundane and just when there is hope for a good picture it ends. However the scene where Ms. Hepburn recites Hamlet's soliloquy and then the does the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet is worth seeing even if you must sit through the rest of the movie.

Not having seen Morning Glory in over three decades, I wanted to see if it would hold up better than I remembered it from my "salad days." Alas, if anything, it seems even more stilted and awkwardly structured than I recalled. Without the attraction of Katharine Hepburn's starring performance, it would likely be forgotten today, except by film historians.

The fact that it's dated and too obviously based on a stage play is not what I consider the film's main problem. It's the story of a stage-struck actress' rise to success, but several of the main plot points are either ambiguously presented or barely alluded to. To take one important example, why does Eva Lovelace (Hepburn's character) keep getting hired and fired when there is no clear evidence of what her acting ability is, one way or the other? We're left wondering just how good she is, since Eva's off-stage demeanor,as depicted by the young Hepburn, leaves us in considerable doubt. One minute Eva is charming and appealing and the next, shrill and irritating. (Whether this odd dichotomy is due to Hepburn's interpretation of the role or to her relative inexperience as a film actress is a mystery to me.) Eva's stage triumph at the movie's conclusion must be taken on faith alone. And the fact that it is the old understudy-going-on-at-the-last-minute-for-the-star cliché, à la 42nd St., does not add to the overall credibility of the film.

The supporting cast is solid, in general, with a fine performance from Menjou and a somewhat bland one from Fairbanks. But the film belongs to Hepburn and it won her the first of her four Oscars. Whether she truly deserved that award for her fascinating but uneven performance here seems doubtful to me, though without having seen her competition, it's hard to judge. I wish it had gone to her on the basis of her much more accomplished performance as Jo March in Little Women, which came out in the same year as Morning Glory. Now that would be an award which I believe she undoubtedly deserved!

Also, it should be noted that, a few years later, Hepburn played a similar role in Stage Door in which her character went from aspiring stage actress to star in a much more believable fashion. (Menjou played a character in it almost identical to the one he played in Morning Glory.) In this later film, however, there is enough evidence on display of her transformation from fascinating tyro to polished pro to convince us that her character truly deserved her success. That performance, too, went unrewarded by the Academy at Oscar time. Oh well, devoted Hepburn fans will be glad that all of these performances have been preserved and are available to watch and discuss, again and again.

"Morning Glory" is a 1933 film about Broadway, starring Katherine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Adolphe Menjou, and C. Aubrey Smith. It was based on a play by Zoe Akins (1886-1958), a Pulitzer Prize winning author whose works formed the bases for films like "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953), "Camille" (1936) and "Sarah and Son" (1930).

Katherine Hepburn (1907-2003) stars as a young girl from Vermont who comes to the "big city" to become a star. She is generally accepted to be the finest female actor of the 20th century. She won 4 Oscars ("Morning Glory", "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", "The Lion in Winter" and "On Golden Pond") and was nominated for 8 more (e.g., "The African Queen", "Philadelphia Story"). She won an Emmy ("Love Among the Ruins") and was nominated 4 more times. This was her third film and her first Oscar, and later in the same year she starred in "Little Woman", the 5th highest grossing film of the year and for which she won Best Actress at the Venice Film festival.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (1909-2000) co-stars as a writer. Fairbanks' father had been one of the top stars of the silent era ("Robin Hood", "Mask of Zorro", "Thief of Bagdad" etc.) so Junior began working early. He did a lot of relatively undistinguished work but did put in an amazing performance opposite Cary Grant and Victor McLaglen in "Gunga Din" (1941). This is another of his undistinguished roles.

Adolphe Menjou (1890-1963) brought an air of distinction to more than 100 films between 1914 and 1960. He was nominated for an Oscar for "The Front Page" (1931) and for a Golden Laurel for "Paths of Glory" (1957). He developed his suave persona during the silent years in films like "The Sheik" (1921), "The Three Musketeers" (1921), and "A Gentleman of Paris" (1927). He worked with Katherine Hepburn on "Stage Door" (1937) and "State of the Union" (1948). Here he plays a producer. Famed director William Wellman said of him - "There has never been anyone like Menjou...Brilliant, opinionated, smart as a whip, lovable, and a character."

C. Aubrey Smith (1863-1948) was a marvelous actor known for his roles as an aristocrat. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1915 to 1949. He gave us memorable roles in a host of films, including Major Hamilton in "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" (1935), Lord Capulet in "Romeo and Juliet" (1936), and Colonel Zapt in "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1937). I remember him best as Col. Williams in "Wee Willie Winkie" (1937) with Shirley Temple. Smith plays an actor who takes Hepburn under his wing. He seems to be the only actor who manages to hold his own against Hepburn, possibly due to the fact that he was 70 years old at the time and Hepburn was only 24.

Lowell Sherman (1888-1934) directs. He made 15 films between 1928 and 1935, specializing in "women's films", including Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong" (1933), Loretta Young in "Born to be Bad" (1934), "The Royal Bed" (1931) with Mary Astor and Bachelor Apartment" (1931) with Irene Dunne and Mae Murray.

Pandro Berman produced for RKO. Berman was to RKO what Irving Thalberg was to MGM. Under his careful eye RKO produced such classics as "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), "Of Human Bondage" (1934), "Alice Adams" (1935), "Top Hat" (1935), "Stage Door" (1937), "Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939), and "Gunga Din" (1939). Six of his films earned Oscars for Best Picture. He was originally a champion of Hepburn, but when her films started to lose money in the mid 30s, they became estranged (in fact, he vetoed her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara).

1933 was a good year for films - "King Kong", "Duck Soup", "42nd Street", "Queen Christina", "Dinner at Eight", "I'm no Angel" and "The Private Life of Henry VIII". All things considered, it's surprising that Hepburn received the Oscar for best actress, although it should be noted that in 1933 only 3 performers were nominated.

I'm not a big fan of the early Katherine Hepburn performances. Her voice is too high and nasal, she's far too skinny to be considered attractive, and she's definitely full of herself at this stage in her life. And in this film she never stops talking, to the point that she gets annoying. She seems to have modulated by the time of "The Philadelphia Story" (1939) and the rest, of course, is history. But unless you're an ardent Hepburn fan, you may find this film a little too much Kate.

The film has some problems besides the omnipresence of Hepburn. The climatic "girl makes good" success on the stage is never seen - instead we hear people talking about what a great job she did, but absent some indications of her work, we are left in the dark. Moreover, the "romance" between she and Menjou is also off screen, which seems questionable for a pre code movie. And the "romance" with Fairbanks seems artificial, at best.

The film was remade in 1958 as "Stage Struck" with Susan Strasberg in Hepburn's role, Henry Fonda in Fairbanks' role, and Christopher Plumber in the Adolphe Menjou role. The 2010 film "Morning Glory" is not related to this film.

Katherine Hepburn won her first Oscar for playing the role of Eva Lovelace in Morning Glory; and it's easy to understand why. Hepburn plays Eva Lovelace with style; and her convincing acting impressed me all the way. Morning Glory is an excellent film about the aspirations of a small town would-be actress and the politics behind Broadway shows.

The action begins when Eva Lovelace enters the offices of entertainment mogul Louis (Lewis) Easton (Adolphe Menjou). Desperate to play a part in his latest upcoming play, Eva tries desperately to get at least the tiniest of roles in the play. Of course, the world of Broadway is constantly churning; so we see Eva meeting Rita Vernon (Mary Duncan), pampered and spoiled blonde bombshell who gets what she wants from Easton. We also see Eva meet Gwendoline Hall (Geneva Mitchell) who is another snooty actress intent on staying big on Broadway and climbing even further to new heights. However, Eva does make one friend in the paternally kind Robert Harley 'Bob' Hedges (C. Aubrey Smith). Hedges takes Eva under his wing and under some pressure from Eva he agrees to give her some acting lessons.

The movie plot moves swiftly but we learn that Eva does get a small part--and she doesn't do well, undermining what little confidence Easton had for her. Eva eventually meets Hedges again and he takes Eva to a party given by Easton. Look for the incredible scenes at the party in which Eva performs the soliloquy from hamlet and recites lines from Romeo and Juliet.

Of course, this is very much Katherine Hepburn's movie. What finally happens between Eva and Easton--and how will it affect Eva's relationship with playwright Joseph Sheridan (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.)? Does Eva ever get her chance on the Broadway stage? No spoilers here--watch this great movie and find out!

The cinematography works well in the party scenes; and I liked the choreography, too.

Morning Glory is one of the first true vehicles designed to showcases Katherine Hepburn and her superlative acting ability. I highly recommend this film for fans of the immortal Katherine Hepburn; and people who like classic movies will not be disappointed either.

I thought it was good. Katherine Hepburn did a wonderful job in this movie & i enjoyed it alot.