I enjoyed this vintage Hollywood tragi-comedy the more it went on. Not knowing the story in advance, I thought I was in for ninety minutes of fast-talking, wise-cracking comedy especially with Ginger Rogers and Katherine Hepburn in the lead parts and introductory scenes of young, good-looking women living cheek-by-jowl in a dingy, overcrowded boarding house for actresses, all with the same dream of either snagging a millionaire nice-guy for a husband or getting discovered for a big part by the manager of a talent agency. It's only as the movie progresses that you realise that some of the girls are close to starving or suffering psychologically the latter culminating in a shocking incident which becomes the fulcrum of the film and inspires its main message as to just how hard it is to get on in acting, especially if you're a woman.Rogers and Hepburn get exactly the parts you'd expect them to, the former as the street-smart, cynical girl prepared to go along for the ride even if it means welcoming the dubious charms of the playboy manager who'll wine and dine her and get her a starring part in a new play, the latter as the undercover, terribly posh rich girl, slumming it to achieve her twin-dreams of independence from her super-rich daddy and stardom on the stage. They're both just as good as you'd expect them to be, but I enjoyed just as much the performances of their supporting cast, some of whom, like a very young Ann Miller and Lucille Ball who went onto real-life stardom and others who obviously didn't. The rapid-fire repartee between them all in the early scenes, apparently much of it improvised, is as amusing as it's authentic-sounding. There's barely a male in sight and those that are, are mainly men-on-the-make or dumb klutzes. However it's the introduction of the tragic heroine, Andrea Leeds as the desperate, beaten-down Kaye which gives the film its bathos and changes its tone completely. Despite her fellow-boarders best efforts we see her edge closer to her shocking demise in a memorable scene which anticipates "Sunset Boulevard" by over 10 years.On the debit side, Adolphe Menjou seems miscast as the lecherous casting-couch manager and scenes where Hepburn's character is told she is only good for washing dishes and the only black actor we see is a young shoeshine boy betray some of the social norms of the day. Nevertheless, this was an excellent behind-the-scenes portrayal of just what it takes for women to get on in a man's world, especially in the glass-ceiling world of theatre.

This is a brilliant ensemble piece that more than holds up after seventy years. Trivia buffs will have a field day asking which movie finds Ann Miller and Giner Rogers dancing together but they are only a small part of a great cast that includes Eve Arden, Lucille Ball and Katie Hepburn. There's also a nice touch of irony when Hepburn, who had been a successful Broadway actress prior to going to Hollywood, has to come on like an amateur for plot purposes. Although radically altered from the stage version the film does retain the main setting, Foolights, the boarding-house for aspiring actresses which, on Broadway, comprised the principal set, the film, of course, allows us to accompany the girls to casting offices etc. This is absolutely first-rate entertainment and somewhere out there I hope there's a DVD with my name on it.

Framed and shot as though a stage play – which it was originally, but much changed for the film – and with a stage play within the staged play, le tout ensemble in this witty farce delivers a virtual non-stop, wise-cracking, virtuoso performance. Timing is everything and in comedy, it's particularly so; and the director, Gregory La Cava – who cut his teeth, in the silent era, as a director beginning in 1916 – doesn't miss a beat with this one.From a play by Edna Ferber (of Giant fame) and George S. Kaufman, the film tells the story of what happens to a group of aspiring actresses who happen to board at a place called the Floodlights Club in New York City, supposedly. Of course, there are minor players, as in all plays – Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller and most of the men, the exception being Adolphe Menjou as a caricature (almost) of the Big Bad Producer of those days. The majors, Katharine Hepburn (as Terry), Ginger Rogers (Jean), Gail Patrick (Linda) and Andrea Leeds (Kay) form the core about which this story revolves.Which, when all is said and done, is about the ascendancy of Terry as an actress and the decline of Kay as another: out with the old, in with the new, if you will. That would tend to make for a somewhat pedestrian story if it were simply that. Happily, what sets this apart from, say, the almost maudlin characterization by Hepburn in Morning Glory (1933) in a similar situation (for which, however, she did receive a Best Actress award in 1934), is, first, the scintillating dialog. Which means the viewer must really listen: it goes so quickly between characters that you'll miss the one-liners and sight gags if you take a chomp on a sandwich or sip of coffee, or whatever. So, be prepared.What's left? Well, of course, the great acting by Hepburn, Rogers, Ball, Miller, Menjou, Arden, Patrick and Leeds, the latter getting a Best Supporting nomination for her somewhat overly tearful acting; so much so, she reminded me of Olivia de Havilland, in looks and style.The direction, already mentioned, is in the hands of an old hand and it shows, explicitly. Add to that the camera work that included almost manic cuts up and down stairs, superb face-on tracking shots and perfect timing while up to a dozen people would mill about in the frame concurrently – and with dialog. Confusing? Perhaps to some. Just concentrate on the majors.What's more interesting for me, however, is the sub-text of this comedy. Made just before USA finally shook free of the Great Depression, as you listen, you'll hear many references to the hard times: at the Floodlights, everybody is down, but not out; rich and unscrupulous producers just want to use and abuse actresses; the women are all scraping for even the lowliest acting or dancing job at the meanest of wages; despondency and depression are endemic. Despite all of that, the women 'soldier' on, pushing themselves to their emotional and physical limits.Women in the audience at that time must have felt the pull: don't deny your dreams of self-fulfillment, despite what chauvinistic clods of men might say and do, even powerful men. It's a stirring message, albeit idealistic, but it sets the tone for the larger section of a country that was about to engage in the world war which, in a very real sense, changed the role of women as never before. So, some may die, yes, but the show must go on...There have been a number of introspective and self-referential films about the acting business, Morning Glory being the earliest I've seen. Others include A Star is Born (made and remade many times), All About Eve (1950) – arguably the best, I think – The Dresser (1983), The Player (1992), and others, but all heavy dramas. So, it's refreshing to find a gem that's prepared to treat the matter lightly, more rather than less.A final thought: it must have been fun for the actors to act at being actors; it's even more fun to know that the director used much of the banter between the women off-camera to actually use in the film – much to the playwrights' displeasure, so I understand.Recommended for all.

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.