Show Girl in Hollywood (1930)
** (out of 4)
Semi-sequel to the 1928 film SHOW GIRL has Alice White playing Dixie Dugan, a young actress who goes to California after her play "Rainbow Girl" closes on Broadway. She's brought out to Hollywood by a scumbag director (John Miljan) and once there she realizes that it's going to be a lot harder to get into pictures than she thought. Before long her old boyfriend (Jack Mulhall) is trying to get "Rainboy Girl" onto the big screen with the help of Warner/Vitaphone. Film buffs might want to check this early-talkie out simply because of all the behind-the-scenes stuff but sadly even by 1930 this type of story was already beginning to feel beat to death and there's simply nothing new or fresh here. I think the biggest problem is the screenplay itself, which is just giving us another rags to riches story but the biggest difference here is that the lead character is such an idiot and a jerk that you want to see her fail, which isn't a good thing since the entire story is built around her finding fame. The Dixie Dugan character comes to town expecting doors to just fly open for her and her attitude is just to the point where you want James Cagney to bash a grapefruit in her face. For the life of me I can't understand why they had her playing the part this yes. Yes, part of the story deals with her having to come to reality but it still doesn't help matters. Another problem is the typical early-talkie stuff where there's nothing but dialgoue, dialogue and more dialogue. There's so much talk here yet very little ever actually gets done. The play closes, she gets a shot at singing and it just happens that a famous director is there. She gets to Hollywood, gets turned down but just at the last second a part comes open. The girl gets a break, gets fired and then gets a second chance and becomes a star. White never really took off in Hollywood and I can't say that I was overly impressed with her here. She's certainly got the attitude of a high-powered star though. Blanche Sweet plays an actress who has been chewed up and spit out by the system and she's certainly the highlight of the picture but sadly she's not in too much of it. Mulhall and Miljan are both good in their parts as is Ford Sterling as the big producer. Al Jolson, Loretta Young, Noah Beery, Noah Beery, Jr., Ruby Keeler and Walter Pidgeon all play themselves and can be seen at the end during the "Rainbow Girl" premiere.
** (out of 4)
Semi-sequel to the 1928 film SHOW GIRL has Alice White playing Dixie Dugan, a young actress who goes to California after her play "Rainbow Girl" closes on Broadway. She's brought out to Hollywood by a scumbag director (John Miljan) and once there she realizes that it's going to be a lot harder to get into pictures than she thought. Before long her old boyfriend (Jack Mulhall) is trying to get "Rainboy Girl" onto the big screen with the help of Warner/Vitaphone. Film buffs might want to check this early-talkie out simply because of all the behind-the-scenes stuff but sadly even by 1930 this type of story was already beginning to feel beat to death and there's simply nothing new or fresh here. I think the biggest problem is the screenplay itself, which is just giving us another rags to riches story but the biggest difference here is that the lead character is such an idiot and a jerk that you want to see her fail, which isn't a good thing since the entire story is built around her finding fame. The Dixie Dugan character comes to town expecting doors to just fly open for her and her attitude is just to the point where you want James Cagney to bash a grapefruit in her face. For the life of me I can't understand why they had her playing the part this yes. Yes, part of the story deals with her having to come to reality but it still doesn't help matters. Another problem is the typical early-talkie stuff where there's nothing but dialgoue, dialogue and more dialogue. There's so much talk here yet very little ever actually gets done. The play closes, she gets a shot at singing and it just happens that a famous director is there. She gets to Hollywood, gets turned down but just at the last second a part comes open. The girl gets a break, gets fired and then gets a second chance and becomes a star. White never really took off in Hollywood and I can't say that I was overly impressed with her here. She's certainly got the attitude of a high-powered star though. Blanche Sweet plays an actress who has been chewed up and spit out by the system and she's certainly the highlight of the picture but sadly she's not in too much of it. Mulhall and Miljan are both good in their parts as is Ford Sterling as the big producer. Al Jolson, Loretta Young, Noah Beery, Noah Beery, Jr., Ruby Keeler and Walter Pidgeon all play themselves and can be seen at the end during the "Rainbow Girl" premiere.