What does a socialite do when she finds out that her investments have caused her to go bust? Take in a pretty female who is a suspect in a crime, and being arrested on a train that crashes, supposedly killing the sheriff she's attached to, make her your niece, and try to find a wealthy husband for her to bail you out, that's what. Here, it's none other than the future "Queen of Hollywood Hats", Hedda Hopper herself, hopping into one of her few leading roles, and being bad to the bone, albeit with a charming demeanor on the outside. But inside, she's rotten-lying every step of the way to keep her name in the blue book, even throwing lavish parties knowing that her bank account is collecting dust mites. And when she finds out the truth about "niece" Marceline Day's guilt or innocence, she continues to hold it over Day's head, just so she can get her hands on ultra-wealthy Nick Stuart's extremely valuable Stanhope diamond which Day will inherit if they marry.
Hedda is having a grand time here, enjoying her amoral character's decent into damnation, yet playing every moment as she did when she stepped into the spotlight as the co-queen of Hollywood gossip, rivaling Louella Parsons, yet occasionally still acting when the right part came along and time permitted. She is so gracious as she throws society parties, having gotten her name in the paper by surviving a train crash. But does lightning strike in the same place twice? For her and Day it does as the train where she reveals everything becomes loose from the caboose (and the engine) and heads towards its own destructive destiny. While made on a very low budget at a poverty row studio, it still is a ton of fun to watch, knowing that Hedda's sins will catch up with her, that love with the misunderstood heroine and handsome hero will triumph, and there's even a sense of retribution and atonement. I could have done without the annoying dumb blonde and her much older new husband (whom she obviously despises and has no intention of sleeping with), but that's minor.
Hedda is having a grand time here, enjoying her amoral character's decent into damnation, yet playing every moment as she did when she stepped into the spotlight as the co-queen of Hollywood gossip, rivaling Louella Parsons, yet occasionally still acting when the right part came along and time permitted. She is so gracious as she throws society parties, having gotten her name in the paper by surviving a train crash. But does lightning strike in the same place twice? For her and Day it does as the train where she reveals everything becomes loose from the caboose (and the engine) and heads towards its own destructive destiny. While made on a very low budget at a poverty row studio, it still is a ton of fun to watch, knowing that Hedda's sins will catch up with her, that love with the misunderstood heroine and handsome hero will triumph, and there's even a sense of retribution and atonement. I could have done without the annoying dumb blonde and her much older new husband (whom she obviously despises and has no intention of sleeping with), but that's minor.