Stage Door | Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers | Brilliant Ensemble Showcases Young Actresses...

Stage Door | Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers | a review

DVDs:

Stage Door

	Stage Door Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers Turner Home Ent, 2005 average customer review:based on 38 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Ginger Rogers and Ann Miller tap in time and rat-a-tat lines. Lucille Ball braves a date with an obnoxious lumber baron. Eve Arden can't recall Hamlet but one meets so many people in the big city. And Katharine Hepburn becomes Broadway's biggest star in a play wherein she notes "the calla lilies are in bloom again." Stars galore shine in this nominee for 4 Academy AwardsO* including Best Picture a fast witty story of aspiring actresses living at a theatrical boarding house. Based on an Edna Ferber/George S. Kaufman play the tale was considerably rewritten for film so much that Kaufman quipped it should be called Screen Door. What matters most to an acting hopeful is an open door. With humor and heart this excellent movie suggests some things matter more.Running Time: 92 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 053939675528

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Brilliant Ensemble Showcases Young Actresses Pounding the Pavement in a Classic Dramedy

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.

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a review

Most young people will only recognize Lucile Ball in the cast but all these women were superstars when this film was made. One of the best ensembles in film. If there are any wanna be actresses and they are interested in seeing how acting doesn't look like acting - this is the movie. The dialog is smooth as silk, even the intentional overlaps. Really a joy to watch.

a benchmark for ensemble acting

Take a talented group of RKO contract actresses and a proven Broadway hit; assign them to a director known for his sponaneity and wit and you have "Stage door", 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.

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Ginger Rogers impressed me the most!

I wanted to see this movie to see Lucille Ball many years younger than she was in "I Love Lucy" and she was very good but she didn't stand out like Ginger Rogers did. I only thought of Ginger Rogers as the graceful dancer in the Fred Astaire movies, but in this one she is sassy and streetwise. She tap-danced some with Ann Miller, but in this movie she was mostly the toughgirl in the group of women. I want to see more of that actress now.

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