Customer Reviews

Stage Door [VHS]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This has always been one of my favorite movies. I've just watched it for maybe the tenth time, and my jaw hurts from the constant grin, along with a tear or two, that viewing this film produces. The story of the inhabitants of "The Footlights Club", those struggling young actresses pursuing the glory and heartbreak of show-biz, is just as fresh and witty as when it was produced in 1937. Katherine Hepburn was somewhere in the midst of her "Box Office Poison" phase when she made this film. She is wonderful as "Terry Randall", the heiress attempting to live in anonymity to pursue her starry dream, against the wishes of her wealthy father. She is assisted in all this comaraderie by the now legendary cast of Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, and Ann Miller. Other than Rogers, all the others were relatively unknown at this point, and their intimidation at the prospect of working with the Great Kate has been often told. Ann Miller was but a babe here, and we get to see her tap!, something she later became very famous for. Also, our beloved Lucys wisecracking and dead-pan humor foreshadow her future greatness as the worlds favorite t.v. clown. This superbly written film, taken from the play by Edna Ferber and George Kaufmann, is full of witty banter, repartee, occasional sweet sentiment, and tragedy, as the lovely gaggle of girls try and constantly out-talk each other. It is rich with wonderful character roles, the stand out being that of Constance Collier, as the older resident drama coach and faded actress. She is absolutely hysterical in her delivery, as she attempts to tell anyone who will listen about her acting glory days of past, always accompanied by the showing of her aged review clippings, which always just happen to be at hands reach. There just aren't any wonderful character actresses like this anymore, or, if there are, the roles for them are few and far between. In real life, Miss Collier, famous for her New York soirees, was Katherine Hepburns drama coach and dear friend, and, on her death in the mid-1950's, Miss Hepburn inherited Miss Colliers secretary, Phyllis Wilbourn, who remained with her for over forty years. Miss Collier was also drama coach for the great Garbo, as well as, for a brief time, her beloved Marilyn Monroe (Read "A Beautiful Child" by Truman Capote.) Some may find certain scenes and acting styles in this film dated, but, if so, don't let that distract you from its timeless wit in its depiction of those who will risk all to achieve their dream of their name in lights. This film also has one of my favorite endings and fade-outs, which always leaves a smile on my face. A classic.

"The Philadelphia Story" brought Katharine Hepburn's film career back from the oblivion of being considered "Box Office Poison" by the nation's theater owners, but she was making a string of first-rate pictures right before that classic 1940 film beginning with 1937's "Stage Door." Her next two films were "Bringing Up Baby" and "Holiday," both with Cary Grant, and all four films have Hepburn playing a rich girl. In "Stage Door" she is Terry Randall, a debutante and wannabee actress who comes to New York City to become a Broadway star. She moves into the Footlights Club, where she joins a company of poor, starving young actresses who are all trying to make it in show businesses.

Terry ends up rooming with Jean Maitland (Ginger Rogers), an acid-tongued but softhearted dancer. The two trade barbs over everything from Terry's extensive wardrobe to Jean's affair with Anthony Powell (Adolphe Menjou), a Broadway producer who is working his way through an endless procession of young women. His next big production is "Enchanted April," and in order to get funding he is cornered into giving the inexperienced and patently inept Terry the starring role. The part should have gone to Kaye Hamilton (Andrea Leeds), a talented actress at the club who is broke and on the verge of starvation. When Terry gets the part Kaye is crushed.

Based on the play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, the script by Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiler retained the basic plot line regarding Terry, Jean, and Kay, while provided some wonderful crackling dialogue amongst the girls (some of which was supposedly based on overhearing the actresses chatting during rehearsals). One of the prime attractions of the film today are the faces that would become familiar in the future, such as Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, and Ann Miller.

The show piece of the film is the play-within-the-play sequences, which was remodeled after a scene in the third act of "The Lake," the infamous Broadway play were Dorothy Parker got off the famous shot "Katharine Hepburn ran the gamut of emotions from A to B." This is where the famous line "The calla lilies are in bloom again" is uttered by Hepburn. In rehearsal she butchers the line and the scene in the most horrendous fashion. But then, in the grand tradition of opening nights in such films, Terry turns in a transcendent performance. The comparison of the two scenes is ample evidence of the range of Hepburn's acting talents at this point in her career.

Admittedly it seems strange that Terry could be so inept, but the transformation is rewarding, as is the payoff of the film. However, Hepburn's performance was apparently overshadowed by the realization that Ginger Rogers was also a pretty good comedienne as well as a great dancer. Still, it is the ensemble nature of the film, with all those wisecracking young girls trying to make it in the big bad city that is the prime attraction. "Stage Door" received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Writing (Screenplay), Best Director for Gregory La Cava, and Best Supporting Actress for Leeds.

Excellent film of the George S.KaufMan-Edna Ferber play about young Broadway hopefuls staying at The Footlight Club, a boarding house for young actresses. Katharine Hepburn is the rich one trying to make it on her own as a new arrival, forced to room with tough Ginger Rogers who's barely getting by. Others include Lucille Ball, Eve Arden (who wears a cat around her neck) and an astonishingly young Ann Miller. Terrific ensemble cast gives plenty of room to watch the soon stars to be (Ball, Arden and Miller). The film is a "comedy-drama" but features enough bite and serious situations to just merit drama. Nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Andrea Leeds as a doomed young actress who finds herself cast aside after once scoring a hit on stage. Oddly, Leeds faded into obscurity after this. Adolphe Menjou also stars as a snakey producer with a lecherous eye for young talent. Wonderful showcase for a wonderful cast. Good DVD print. Enjoy this one.

Watch this movie, *any way* you can.

Seriously, you won't be disappointed.

It's a brilliant way to spend a couple of hours: where else would you get an all-star cast that would make your jaw drop today (Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller etc. etc.), and a clever, witty script played to the hilt by the astounding cast?

The story is fairly simple: Terry Randall (Hepburn) moves into the Footlights Club to begin her career as an actress. Viewed as an odd cookie by the rest of the girls, her room-mate Jean (Rogers) especially, she starts to win them over until she wins the part belonging to Kaye (Andrea Leeds). Not wins, so much as given. It takes a tragedy to turn Terry into the actress she could be, and the friend she eventually becomes as she remains in the Footlights Club.

This film benefits from a truly amazing cast: Hepburn is glorious as Terry, an independent, in-your-face girl from the upper class, unsure why she's not liked by her new friends as she blithely (and unknowingly) talks down to them; but fiercely loyal and protective of them nonetheless. Witness Terry's outburst in Powell's office, or the way she puts Jean, much the worse for wine, to bed. Hepburn is truly great in her emotional scenes, when she is called to perform on stage despite the revelation she's received just beforehand.

Hepburn alone doesn't make the movie though (as she eventually does in lesser vehicles with less worthy co-stars). Ginger Rogers as Jean is a breath of fresh air. She's quirky, charming, and just generally appealing in her role, playing Jean with a wonderful confidence that bodes well for the character. You warm to Jean immediately. I love Rogers' drunken scenes with Menjou--ditzy yet sweet.

The supporting cast is fantastic as well, Lucille Ball never missing a chance to steal a scene or make a quip, Eve Arden fast on her heels. Andrea Leeds overacts a little, I think, but is generally good in her demanding role as Kaye--she does an excellent job on the staircase towards the end of the movie.

Absolutely A+. Everything Hollywood should be, was, and now isn't.

The ups and downs of the residents of a theatrical boarding house. STAGE DOOR is a virtual showcase for the talents of Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn. The latters' career was in serious trouble due to rather boring films such as A WOMAN REBELS & QUALITY STREET; it was during this period that Kate was labeled 'box office poison' along with the likes of Joan Crawford. As Terry Randall, Hepburn gives a refreshingly honest performance (one wonders whether there was more than a little similarity to her own life in the role!). Ginger plays Jean Maitland with zesty aplomb; cheeky and affected, real and sensitive. Adolphe Menjou is in his element as Anthony Powell and Gail Patrick is so cold and bitchy that in one scene (when Ginger's on the phone) Rogers says confidentially to her pal "Hold on! Gangrene just set in!" I was not terribly impressed with Lucy's performance as Judy Canfield. A great fan of La Ball, in this early role, she seems a little awkward and self-conscious and her acting/personality is uneven; she was learning her craft. Amazingly, when I LOVE LUCY premiered in October of 1951, this fairly pretty 26 year-old ingenue we see here would become the most beloved comedienne on EARTH (she would look considerably prettier, too!). Ann Miller was only 14(!) years old when she played Stringbean and she's cute (her father got her a fake birth certificate in order for her to work in films: it claimed her birth year to be 1919 instead of 1923! --- her real name was Lucille Collier). As the tragic Kay, Andrea Leeds reminds me of a poor man's Olivia de Havilland; this is more than likely her best role/performance. Constance Collier is in fine form as the Shakespearean acting coach who meekly asks the plays director "Could you see an older woman in the part?" For a time, Collier was Hepburn's dramatic coach in real life. Eve Arden is amusing as the gal with the white cat (Henrietta) draped around her neck. The overlapping dialogue is beneficial to the film as it gives a feeling of natural spontaniety. An entertaining showcase of ripe and ripening talent for those in the mood for a nostaligic look back into the thirties.

Far more than George Cukor's vitriolic femme-extravaganza, The Women, this 1937 ensemble dramedy shows how vital women were during Hollywood's golden era, especially when they are not relegated to stoic wife roles or placed purely in adversarial positions. Following up on his 1936 screwball classic, My Man Godfrey, director Gregory LaCava guides a Grade-A cast made up primarily of fresh-faced actresses, many of whom went on to create legendary careers of their own. Speaking the laser-sharp dialogue provided by Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiller (fluidly adapting the original play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman), the ensemble fills in the distinctive characters with intelligence and enthusiasm. Even though the storyline creaks a little seventy years later, this still holds up as a genuine cinematic classic.

Mostly set in a ramshackle boarding house one could assume was modeled after Manhattan's Barbizon Hotel for Women, the story focuses on the women living there, all aspiring actresses who bond amid failed auditions and non-existent callbacks. It's an unacknowledged sorority house with a den mother and an assortment of theatrical archetypes milling about. At the outset, the alpha female is Jean Maitland, a dancer whose cynical wisecracks mask an unflagging pride in her talent and integrity. Complications ensue when she is made to room with the new girl, Terry Randall, a self-confident debutante whose patrician airs alienate almost everyone around her. Terry is determined to make it on her own as an actress, but once word gets to producer Anthony Powell that she is the daughter of a wealthy investor, she gets cast in the starring role of a drawing room weepie called "Enchanted April". Unfortunately, that's the role desperately desired by Kay Hamilton, another actress in the house. Kay impressed critics a year prior, but she hasn't had any luck in replicating that success. Of course, once Terry lands the part, she is disastrous in rehearsals until a tragedy occurs. The last part of the movie is played out as pure melodrama, but it works in deepening our affections for the characters involved.

As Jean, an Astaire-less Ginger Rogers expertly zings with abandon and grounds the film with her no-nonsense manner. Katharine Hepburn, although playing a blueblood variation of the same actress she played in Morning Glory, has the comparatively tougher role as Terry since her character's priggishness must give away to a revelation of humanism. She manages the conversion expertly and parries gleefully with the always-ready Rogers in the movie's best scenes. Adolphe Menjou has the right gruff spirit as the pompous Powell, though he seems a bit weathered to get away with his ladies'-man shenanigans. In very early roles, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden and Ann Miller show off the unique talents that would soon bloom. Arden, in particular, delivers her scabrous lines with devastating wit. In roles that perfectly reflected their screen personas, Gail Patrick plays the nasty Linda with the same venom she spewed as Carole Lombard's talon-bearing sister in "My Man Godfrey", while Constance Collier brings out all the vainglorious pomp in Terry's aging mentor.

The standout at the time was Andrea Leeds' poignant turn as Kay. A sharp actress who would retire within a few years of this film, Leeds is the only one who doesn't get any funny lines and consequently is made to come across as an oversensitive albeit beloved wet rag. However, she makes the most of her last scene to powerful effect. The 2005 DVD has a reasonable though not outstanding print of the aged film. Other than the theatrical trailer, there are just two extras. The first is a silly, twenty-minute musical short from 1937 called "Ups and Downs" about an enterprising elevator operator who tap dances. It stars a bleached blonde, baby-faced June Allyson in her film debut and features an almost-as-young Phil Silvers as a manic tailor. The more interesting extra is a condensed radio production of "Stage Door" with Rogers and Menjou repeating their roles and Rosalind Russell taking over for Hepburn and Arden taking over for Patrick.

This is one of the classics of the late '30s, and is long overdue for DVD release. When this movie was released, it redeemed Katherine Hepburn's slumping career and ensured that we had decades of later hits to enjoy. This was also the movie debut of the legendary Ann Miller (she was 14 when the movie came out and had to forge a birth certificate to show that she was 18). The film is based on the Edna Ferber/George Kaufman play, but Gregory La Cava, in a stroke of genius, wrote down some of the quips traded between the likes of Eve Arden and Lucille Ball and incorporated them into the script. Eve Arden's cat was not in the original screenplay, either, but was found by the actress during filming and became a fixture of the film.

This is not an example of slap-stick, but relies upon witty dialogue and one-liners to leaven the melodrama which was the norm of the late 1930s. The screenplay deals tastefully with the heartache of the Depression, and poignently depicts the lengths to which actors (in this case, actresses) will go to 'make it'. Adolphe Menjou is delightful as the philandering villain.

If you are looking for a movie with a great ensemble cast delivering caustic quips and clever one-liners mixed in with a little melodrama and a few tears, this is the movie for you.

It's a shame it took the passing of Katharine Hepburn to bring her great early work to DVD. There are at least three to look forward to come March 2005. The quintessential screwball, Bringing Up Baby, a re-release of The Philadelphia Story, and this astute, bittersweet drama.

Stage Door has one of the best female ensemble casts - Kate Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, and Ann Miller - and they all bring distinctive presences to this work about ambition and dreams. The women are aspiring actresses living together in a boarding house, co-existing in a lively, supportive group. They are wholesome and hopeful, but reality is ever present in failed auditions, making rent, and trying to make their mark in art.

Although the characters we get to know are all charming, the show really belongs to the patrician, idealistic newcomer played by Hepburn and the street-tough, hardy pragmatist that Rogers plays. The dialogue is smart and sharp, with Rogers and Hepburn trading barbs smooth as silk. Although loath to rely on each other, they both learn the strength of sorority as they deal with dishonest producers and even with crafting their trade.

The movie is mostly comedic with great characters, original lines, and palpable energy. The problems the women face are not simply explained away or brushed off with laughs. Since this underlies the whole story, this isn't quite a comedy, but not really a drama either. I can watch this in any mood because the actors bring authenticity and weight to their roles while still being entertaining.

Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers make this one well worth treasuring. Now if only the studios would also put Holiday and Sylvia Scarlett on DVD...

This sentimental look at a group of young women trying to make it in the acting profession and leaning on each other makes for a wonderful film. There is a terrific ensemble cast of 1930's actresses who all shine at various moments. Novelist Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman found their play in good hands with producer Pandro S. Berman and director Gregory La Cava. The screenplay by Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiller left all the wry humor and tender sentiments in tact.

A boardinghouse in New York called the Footlights Club is where most of the film takes place, yet it in no way feels claustrophobic. There is never a dull moment, in fact, as the girls go in and out to auditions looking for their big break and are constantly cracking wise to mask their fear of rejection. Eve Arden, Gail Patrick, Ann Miller, Lucille Ball, and Constance Collier all have some fine moments beside Kate Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Andrea Leads. Leads' performance as the young and fragile Kay, desperate to land the lead in Enchanted April to fulfill the promise of a previous shining moment on stage, is memorable.

While Hepburn's role as Terry, the rich girl among the bunch, trying to make it on her own and finding it hard to fit in, was perhaps meant to have a slight edge over the other players, it is Ginger Rogers' Jean who viewers care about the most. She is snappy yet vulnerable, and very softhearted underneath. The instant dislike between she and Terry dissolves as the film goes along, of course. Rogers is wonderful in a couple of scenes and her performance seems more genuine somehow than Hepburn's. La Cava would make Fifth Avenue Girl with Ginger two years later, and Pandro S. Berman, of course, produced the beloved Fred and Ginger films.

Gail Patrick proved fabulous also as the girl willing to sell out for furs to Adolph Menjou. There are many little subplots of the day to day survival of such a group which all add something to the story. Leads' performance as a girl starving in order to pay her rent will bring about a tragedy one of the girls will draw on for emotional inspiration in order to succeed. The often overlapping dialog is witty and fun to listen to. One must believe that Howard Hawks used it for inspiration three years later as the same technique is exaggerated to glorious perfection in His Girl Friday.

All in all, while it is dated, this is an enjoyable film classic with a wonderful cast. A must for classic film fans.

Take a talented group of RKO contract actresses and a proven Broadway hit, assign them to a director known for his spontaneity and wit and you have "Stagedoor", a surefire smash at the box office in 1937.

Ginger Rogers, ambitious to broaden her appeal beyond her association with Fred Astaire, and Katharine Hepburn, in need of a hit after a series of mainly pretentious and unpopular roles, are neatly matched in the lead roles of aspiring actresses sharing a room in a boarding house for actresses. If the plot is a bit contrived, who cares. The important thing is the dialogue filled with great one liners. The stars are supported by sarcastic Eve Arden, a teenage Ann Miller and tough Lucille Ball, all of whom are outstanding. Mention too should be made of Andrea Leeds who has a highly emotional role and pulls it off. Adolphe Menjou has the only decent male role as a lecherous producer - perfect casting.

The print is excellent and the extras include a good radio version of the film and an unusual musical short with the talented gangly dancer Hal le Roy and a platinum blonde (yuk) June Allyson in her film debut. She is almost unrecognisable.

The DVD is OK value but better if purchased as part of the Comedy Classics DVD set.