Rise and fall pictures were very popular in the 1930s. I mean films depicting the rise and fall of leading characters like Susan Lennox or Anna Karenina or Mata Hari or Tom Powers or Little Caesar. But even more popular were the Rise and fall and rise again brigade of which this is a top example. It has the benefit of an especially strong script. I must admit, though, that I'm a sucker for films with a theatrical setting. And when that theatrical background is as atmospherically created as it is here, then I take my hat off to all the artists involved, starting off with the director, the photographer, the orchestra, the production designer et al, and going right through to the associate producer. Mervyn LeRoy's direction was generally geared to a far more inventive style at Warner Bros than in his staid years at MGM. Here I heartily commend his naturalistic use of on-stage dialogue to complement the back-stage action and I love the idea of showing the blackmailer (Barton MacLane) in silhouette. LeRoy's handling of the many crowd scenes is equally as deft as his depiction of the picture's more intimate moments, and he sent me to seventh heaven with his brilliant contrasts of theaters high and low, legitimate to burlesque, Broadway to Skid Row. Kay Francis gives the performance of her career. Stella Parish enables her to encompass not only a wide range of emotions but a broad range of acting styles. I'm pleased to report that she is more than equal to the challenge. She brings off the many-faceted Stella with such panache and perfection, it's a shame she was not able to share this aspect of her talent with similar wide-ranging roles on other occasions. In the course of this picture, we see her as a gracious yet aloof leading lady, and as a sensitively romantic heroine, and in a mind-blowing character role. Plus her totally realistic portrayals of the various roles she enacts on stage. Ian Hunter too rises to the heights with a more rewarding part than usual. Almost always he plays uninterestingly stuffy, self-righteous characters, but here he's cast in what must be the only totally unsympathetic role of his career. He conveys with great insight the coldness, heartlessness, ruthlessness and deceitful hypocrisy of his Keith Lockridge. On the other hand, Paul Lukas has only a small part to play-which is just as well. At best, he's no more than adequate and makes no attempt whatever to grasp his dramatic opportunities. Despite Lukas, however, this movie still rates 100% in my book!

Even though the critics were happy to rediscover Kay Francis' flair for comedy in a trio of movies she made in 1935 fans stayed away. They wanted a fashion show and some highly emotional scenes and were rewarded with "I Found Stella Parish", a weepy tale of mother love. One cast member for whom big things were predicted was Sybil Jason who was billed as "the New Five Year Old Sensation". By the mid thirties every studio was looking for another Shirley Temple and Warners thought they had found theirs in South Africa but while Sybil was very cute she just didn't have the singing and dancing talent of Shirley. And Warners didn't go out of their way to find special vehicles for her - when she wasn't making shorts, she was given roles in support of Warner's big stars (ie Al Jolson and Kay Francis).The plot had to do with Stella Parish, England's premier actress of the stage who, even though American born, the British have taken to their hearts. Theatre owner Stephen Norman (Paul Lukas) loves her but cannot penetrate her inner life. She never goes to parties or opening nights but disappears to a secret life. Her "other" life revolves around her little girl Gloria (Jason) who wants to be an actress just like her mother. She is introduced singing a sort of "Barnyard Frolic" - and 20th Century Fox must have breathed a sigh of relief as Sybil was no Shirley.On the night of her triumph Stella is visited by a shady character, a Chicago thug (Barton Maclane, who even though prominently billed, his face is never seen, you only hear his voice) who threatens to expose her sordid past - so she disappears. Stephen has been puzzling over her existence for years but it takes newspaper reporter, Keith Lockridge (Ian Hunter, surely the most boring of all leading men of the 1930s) only a few hours to discover her country hideaway. He sails to America, hoping to find her trail, little realising that she is on the same boat, disguised as a spinster aunt. Lockridge also does a fine bit of detective work, tracing some of her costumes back to a 1930 play "The Lady Misbehaves" but then he delves deeper and finds, after she has innocently confided in him, that she was wrongly convicted of manslaughter and her baby was born in prison!!!!In true "weepy woman's picture" tradition the truth gets out and before you can say "Kay Francis" she is reduced to performing her story in honky tonks and burlesque, trying to earn enough money to keep Gloria, who she has sent away so she will not be part of her mother's shame.Honestly I have never noticed Kay's lisp - I have seen many of her movies but when her beautiful face is on the screen I am not concentrating on her speech impediment. Apparently this was the movie where critics and the public started to notice it - before this there were special readers to scan the script looking for words with too many of those pesky rs and ws!!

The film begins with the American, Stella Parish, well on her way to becoming the #1 star of the British stage. Yet, on the night of her greatest triumph, she disappears. This is because Stella (Kay Francis) has a hidden past as well as a daughter she's been keeping a secret. When her old mobster husband (Barton MacLane) finds her in London, this is what prompts her to disappear.Ian Hunter plays a very nosy reporter who inexplicably does some amazing things to try to find her. He actually goes to the trouble of following her trail on board a cruise ship, but finding Stella isn't easy, as she's in disguise as her daughter's 'aunt'. Ian insinuates himself in their lives and behaves like a friend---all the while planning on revealing her secrets once he learns them all. However, once he realizes exactly who she is and why she ran, he isn't terribly keen on betraying her to the public--though he already had sent some of the story to his publisher! But stopping this story is imperative, as by this point, Stella has fallen for him and he's come to realize what a great old gal she really is. Where this all eventually leads is,...well,...crazy! Up until the end, it's hard to dislike the film in spite of its faults but the end disappoints.This plot is all very hard to believe and if you can't get past all this, the film will be tough going. However, if you can look past this, the film is an entertaining soap opera--thanks mostly to good acting and direction. Also, when it comes to Stella's daughter, you'll either find her the most adorable thing you've ever seen on film or she'll make your blood sugar level shoot to the moon! Worth seeing but far from perfect.

Lots of people seem to have negative things to say about this old film, but you have to remember when you watch it that Kay Francis was the consummate precode actress. When the production code began to be enforced in 1934, Warner Brothers had to struggle to find the right vehicles for Kay that would also not violate the code. Although this is not the best work she did before Jack Warner threw her and her career under the bus in 1937, it is a solid little film.Kay plays successful American stage actress Stella Parish living in England. Stella lives a quiet life with her daughter, and refuses to be interviewed by the press or have any photo taken of her that is not a publicity still with her in full makeup for whatever role she is playing. One night, after a performance, someone who recognizes her from "her old days" waits for her in her dressing room and attempts to blackmail her. Stella reacts by fleeing England in the dead of night, daughter in tow. Reporter Keith Lockridge (Ian Hunter) is on her trail looking for the story of his career. He finds that story - where Stella is now and who she really is as far as her past is concerned - but he also finds romance. Of course the whole time Keith is befriending Stella she has no idea he is a reporter. After he has already turned in his story to his editor, Stella comes to him, confesses that she considers him a trusted friend and more, and then tells him the story behind the facts he has put in his headline, all the time thinking he knows nothing of her past. Justifiably feeling like a heel, Keith tries to squash the story he has sent back to London, but it is too late - the story is already in the papers being sold on the streets. What did Stella do in her past to cause her to flee, and how will this pan out for everyone involved? Watch and find out.This is worth watching for the reason that most Kay Francis films are worth seeing - nobody suffers for her past sins and more-so the sins of others that have done her wrong like Kay Francis, and nobody looks that good while doing so. As for Ian Hunter, I really liked Kay best opposite William Powell and George Brent, and I thought Mr. Hunter was just a bit too bland to be paired with the glamorous Kay in most cases. This is one of the exceptions as he really plays the part of the reporter quite well. He doesn't play a Lee Tracy style journalist here. Instead he plays a classy man with a not so classy job who has to reconcile this with a pesky conscience that's finally beginning to bother him.What is bad about the film? For one thing, I've never been a huge Sybil Jason fan, and in this part as Stella's daughter she's just over the top sticky sweet. Also, the production values are thrown together. Someone has already mentioned the business of English cars with the steering on the left hand side as well as the odd play Kay is starring in that is supposed to be about ... Caligula??? I'd recommend this to anyone who likes Kay Francis and old films from the 30's, but do be advised there are more than a few holes in the plot and the art design.