When Katharine Hepburn first appeared on cinema screens, she was deemed a great new star, even winning an Oscar – for the film under review – almost instantly; however, before long, audiences had grown tired of her particular brand of histrionics and the actress was quickly declared "box-office poison"! She then wisely changed pace to screwball comedy with Howard Hawks' BRINGING UP BABY (1938), was subsequently handed a once-in-a-lifetime part on a silver platter (by playwright and personal friend Philip Barry, no less!) with "The Philadelphia Story" (superbly filmed by George Cukor in 1940), eventually became an institution when she teamed up (for 9 films and in real life) with Spencer Tracy, and ultimately grew into the "First Lady of Acting" – going on to win 3 more golden statuettes, a record, several years after her first! But, for what it is worth, it all started here...Truth be told, I have never been much of a fan of Hepburn's – though I concede that she has appeared in many a fine film throughout her lengthy career. Anyway, the role she plays here fits her like a glove i.e. that of an ambitious young actress rising to the top out of pure chance and sacrificing stardom for love (indeed, the title is a trade phrase for such meteoric members of the profession). Actually, the narrative is not quite as maudlin as it appears from this plot line – and, yet, the brief 74-minute running-time does not give it much of a chance either: we are told that Hepburn seeks acting lessons from aged luminary C. Aubrey Smith (but we never see them at it) and, crucially, her crowning achievement on the stage is only represented by the enthusiastic applause of the audience and the bows she takes at the curtain call!! That said, her thespian skills are displayed in a drunken party sequence at the home of her producer (Adolphe Menjou, with whom Hepburn would be reunited for another classic about the artistic vocation i.e. STAGE DOOR {1937}), where she dutifully quotes a couple of Shakespearean perennials ("Hamlet", "Romeo And Juliet")! For the record, director Sherman had himself been a prominent actor (his most notable appearance perhaps being that of the washed-up film director in Cukor's WHAT PRICE Hollywood? {1932}) who briefly made the switch behind the camera before his untimely death in 1934.The afore-mentioned STAGE DOOR was characterized by the bitchiness among the myriad female performers, here represented by the original temperamental (and blackmailing!) star of the production which ultimately gives understudy Hepburn her one shot at glory. The heroine (which, at a low ebb in her striving to make it on her own, is reduced to appearing in vaudeville!) is infatuated with the much older Menjou (who quashes her romantic illusions by stating that she now belongs to no man but to Broadway alone, a line which has since become a cliché in this type of film!); consequently, she overlooks the attentions of love-struck young author Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (playing a character named Joseph Sheridan!). In the film's closing moments, after finally confessing his feelings to her but ready to back down so as not to be in the way of her success, she is persuaded to make the right choice for herself (obviously, happiness) by the company's elderly personal assistant – herself a former leading light of the so-called "Great White Way" but whose single-minded pursuit of fame had rendered lonely and bitter! It must be pointed out that MORNING GLORY would be remade 25 years later by Sidney Lumet: renamed STAGE STRUCK, it was still good but inferior overall, and starred Susan Strasberg, Henry Fonda, Christopher Plummer and Herbert Marshall.

O.K. This is it. The.Worst.Old."Classic".Black.And.White.Movie.I.Have.Ever.Seen.Film adaptation of a stage play about young,naive actress coming to New York searching for a big break, with pockets full of dreams and hopes about becoming theater legend like her idols. Along the way, she is pitied, abused and laughed at, than suddenly gets a last-minute- chance and turns out to be new discovery. At the end she realizes that success means personal sacrifice and accepts it for the sake of her art.At the paper,it sounds fairly harmless arty warning against sharks in show business, but in reality this must be the worst over acting I have ever seen in my entire life. Usually I love old black & white movies and have no problem if they are a bit dated, but this was laughable, annoying and simply bad. Don't know should we blame the script, director or Katherine Hepburn - we see her first waiting with other hopefuls in front of producer's office, talking and introducing herself to strangers (so far so good,she is obviously not sophisticated and very naive) but during the next five minutes we realize something is wrong with this girl, she talks to much, she is too eager, in fact she never listens anyone and talks constantly about herself without pausing for a breath. Again, maybe this were director's instructions - Hepburn is so annoying that today we would classify her as deluded,deranged and definitely off- balance. All trough the movie her character talks,talks,talks and than talks some more, gestures like she is on a stage, lives on another planet from other people around her and in a final scene when she yells "I'm ready!" it sounds so overbearing that she might as well be ready for a hospitalization. Now, this is all very confusing - I have seen lots of old classics from 1920s,1930s and 1940s and from what I have seen, these old movies reflect atmosphere and public morals of the times,however this is simply bad case of overacting. All the other characters, including obvious comical cameos, have certain human, normal touch to them but Hepburn is simply mad. I mean, I would press "help" button under my table and call for the ambulance to sedate her and get her away. That Hepburn actually won "Oscar" for this movie is absolutely mystifying - just look at the acting of Mary Astor,Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow not to mention Bette Davis,Garbo or any other actress of the 1930s and underneath obvious Hollywood cellophane we can see natural acting or at least attempts to appear human. This was so bad that it spoiled my enjoyment of Hepburn and keep me wonder about point of Academy Award at all.

Yes Katherine Hepburn did a great job and got an Oscar for her role as Linda Lovelace in this 1933 film. It was good to see her in her youth and her first great performance.I was also impressed with the role performed by Mary Duncan, the gorgeous blond actress. I had never seen her before and it looks like Morning Glory may have been her last performance in movies. I am going to see if I can download some of the other movies she was in to see what character she played. Mary's bio states that she lived until 1995 and was 97 when she passed away - I see in this role the satin and lace bombshell that predates, Harlow, Monroe and Madonna.

i'm a big fan of classics and don't mind a movie if it's dated but this movie was just plain bad-even for it's time period. hepburn is good in almost anything but in this she's shrill and annoying. her performance a few years later in "stagedoor" (where she also plays an aspiring Broadway actress who assumes she's better than she is and somehow pulls off a star-making performance at the last moment) is such a better role. in almost ever scene where she's talking to someone she's over-acting and looking past them like she's having a delusional moment-talking to unseen and unknown person out of frame. it's hard to believe she's a good 'broadway' actress, because she's acting the same way ALL the time-even more so when she's off the stage than on. and when she gets drunk at a party and embarrasses herself she starts doing romeo & juliet and everyone gasps like it's so good and it just seems obnoxious. in short, i'd have been happier and like hepburn more if i'd never seen it. AVOID!