User Reviews

... in one of the wacky early talkies that I bet Michael Curtiz wishes he could have erased from his resume.

I give this 7 stars mainly for the early talkie fan. It really is pretty good for a 1930 back-stager and pretty original. The alternate title "Adventures in Africa" is rather puzzling since the movie spends all of ten minutes there, in a South African cabaret. However these are important moments as the conclusion to the entire story is dependent on events there.

The movie opens with Louanne's (Dorothy Mackaill) last night on the Broadway stage as she is marrying the wealthy Fairchild after the show. Fairchild is accompanied by his sour-faced mother and sister who look more like they are going to a funeral than a wedding since they are none too happy about the family heir marrying an entertainer. Frank Fay has a very good role here as Wally, the man who has been Louanne's protector and somewhat on-stage partner for years. Wally is definitely in love with Louanne, and Louanne seems to have a bit of a thing for Wally in spite of her engagement, although the love has remained unrequited. If you think it the thing of curiosity seekers to see Frank Fay playing romantic lead to Dorothy Mackail, then think again. The two have real chemistry.

The fly in the ointment? Noah Beery as the diamond smuggler Miguel who resents Louanne because she once forcefully resisted his attempted rape. Honestly, Mr. Beery! Didn't Warner Brothers ever think you plausible as simply asking a girl out for dinner and a show? In every early Warner Brothers talkie in which I've seen Mr. Beery he's either threatening human sacrifice (Golden Dawn) or execution by firing squad (Noah's Ark) in order to have his way with a woman.

Besides all of the drama, there are some really great musical numbers, some bizarre to the point of being charming. The opening number has Frank Fay in a big musical production entitled "Wall Street". From the lyrics people didn't like bankers any more in 1930 than they do today. After seeing Dorothy Mackail scantily clad for the tropical hula number "Cannibal Love" in which her fellow cannibals yield shields with crosses on them - maybe they ate some Crusaders??? - she returns for "Man About Town" dressed like Fred Astaire in tuxedo and tails with her blonde hair hidden under her top hat. The grand prize for most bizarre number has to go to a very short jazz number performed in the South African club by an unnamed stout short female singer with a booming voice accompanied by a rather clumsy chorus dancing right behind her. It looks as if any of the chorines took a wrong step and kicked just a little harder the jazz singing dynamo would have taken it right in the pants and landed in the front row of the audience.

Also look out for Frank McHugh as a drunken fresh reporter who even in 1930 is sporting his trademark mischievous laugh and James Murray of "The Crowd" in a rare talkie appearance.

I watched the Warner Archive copy of Bright Lights, and if you want to see it the way it should be seen I would advise getting a copy of this restored version. It doesn't have that fuzzy look that black and white copies of two strip Technicolor films generally have, and the picture and sound are crisp and clear throughout.

"Bright Lights" was for years virtually unseen, unappreciated in its day due to the huge number of musicals that exploded across early talkie screens. Shot by director Michael Curtiz in two-strip Technicolor in Dec 1929, its belated release on Sept 21 1930 found an unreceptive audience, so the film was pulled back, its 73 minute running time trimmed by five minutes, and reissued under the new title "Adventures in Africa" (the only existing title on all current prints, all unfortunately in black and white). Top billed Dorothy Mackaill had been a huge star in silents, somewhat overshadowed by the large cast, but still able to spice things up in all her scantily clad glory, director Curtiz failing to hide anything as she undresses in silhouette. Her singing isn't too bad either, but the songs tend to slow the pace of a wild, over the top script that juggles her impending marriage to wealthy socialite Fairchild (Philip Strange) with various backstage shenanigans on the night of her farewell performance. Frank Fay, then husband of Barbara Stanwyck, co-stars as Louanne's possessive former partner, who listens to her stories to the press about some of her past experiences, including a naval baring number in South Africa titled "Song of the Congo," witnessed by Portuguese smuggler Miguel Parada (Beery), whose lascivious attempt at rape finds her throwing a lit oil lamp at his face. Now on her last night in the Broadway footlights, Miguel (to no one's surprise) just happens to be in the audience, a hidden gun just waiting to exact revenge. It's somewhat jarring to find such a comedic ensemble huddled into a murder mystery for the film's second half, after Miguel winds up shot dead with his own pistol (at least the pace picks up at this time). The solution doesn't make much sense, and the possibility of a second murder at the fadeout really makes this musical a true pre-code oddity (lots of suggestive dialogue survives: "that's the cleanest proposition I've had all day!"). While most of the performers have long since faded from memory (Dorothy's making a comeback, God bless her), one uncredited actor was here making his screen debut at age 23, a Shakespearean wannabe calling himself 'Peter Richmond,' eventually going by the name John Carradine by 1935. Arriving in sunny California in 1927, Carradine was living a vagabond life, working as an artist and dishwater to make ends meet when not performing on stage, meeting his idol John Barrymore around this time with the goal of doing "Richard III." In adopting Barrymore's lifestyle of drinking and carousing, the already flamboyant Carradine found a kindred spirit, each possessing 'The Divine Madness,' forever looking down his nose at movie work, never mentioning this film while touting his next title, "Tol'able David," as his first (understandable, since there he had a featured role). In "Bright Lights," Carradine appears at the 11 minute mark for a period of 20 minutes, mostly off camera among the many newshounds gathered in Louanne's dressing room for a spot of note taking. He's the tallest one, clean shaven and wearing a hat, a newspaper photographer who gets to speak two lines, a total of four words: "Telegraph here" and "sure, sure!" Always seen in the background, he enjoys over two minutes screen time, while the unbilled blonde chased by boozing reporter Frank McHugh, Violet Madison (Jean Laverty), surely deserved a screen credit ("no matter where you hide it, I'll find it!"). He undoubtedly looked upon this as a quick buck, not intending to have a future in the movies, but by 1936 his screen career was assured, his affinity for on screen perfidy earning him kudos in John Ford's "The Prisoner of Shark Island."

"Bright Lights" is a good example of early cinema after the advent of sound. It includes some popular actors from the silent era who transitioned well enough in sound, but whose careers lasted less than a dozen more years. Dorothy Mackaill, Frank Fay, Inez Courtney, Edward Nugent, Daphne Pollard, and Philip Strange had short careers in sound.

James Murray and Edmund Breese died in the mid-1930s and Noah Beery died in 1946. Only Tom Dugan had a film career that lasted into the 1950s and ended with his death in 1955. I mention this as one reason that few of these names may be known today – other than by serious movie buffs.

Mackaill was a moderately talented singer and actor who played glamor roles in a variety of film genres. But, as film technology advances leapfrogged within a few short years of sound, the competition increased. The glamor age of Hollywood was just beginning. Many new beautiful and talented actresses came on the scene. That included several multi-talented women who could also sing and/or dance. Alice Faye, Jeanette MacDonald, Deanna Durbin, Judy Garland, Eleanor Powell and Ginger Rogers had talents that dwarfed Mackaill. Mackaill made her last theatrical movie in 1937. She was just 34, and she would live to be 87.

Frank Fay started in movies with sound. Although a talented actor and singer, he faced the same competition Mackaill had. But, added to his declining career was his huge ego, a drinking problem, and difficulty in working with others. His film career all but ended with three early films in the 1940s.

Some viewers and the DVD sales company like to promote this as a "pre- code" movie. I think that's done for a lot of films that would not have much of a problem when the motion picture industry began to enforce its code in 1934. But, Mackaill was one of the stars who played roles that had provocative scenes or scantily dressed women. This film has a silhouette scene of the actress undressing behind a screen. Other than that, the chorus costumes and performances were no more revealing or suggestive than any of the many musical films from the mid-1930s onward.

"Bright Lights" is what might be called a formulaic film of early musicals. The musicals most of us remember and enjoy from the past are those that have considerable plots. They tell the stories with musical and/or dance numbers at intervals. But, the earliest of the sound era musicals were mostly revues. They had scripts with very thin plots, if any, and were mostly staged music and dance numbers, sometimes with comedy stuck in, as in the vaudeville days.

Besides this example, the technical and production aspects of "Bright Lights" are examples of the early transitions in film. For instance, the heavy use of makeup in this film is most obvious with Frank Fay. The acting at times seems stuck in place – probably because this was filmed with fixed microphone locations. And, the acting itself still has some twinges of melodrama – a carryover from the silent film days.

There are no memorable songs from this film, and the choreography of the big numbers is rudimentary compared to later accomplished musicals. The film has a thin plot, but there are no exceptional performances. It has some historical value for a look at a handful of early actors who bowed out of films within a few short years. And, it has some value in showing the state of the film craft in its early years of transition to sound and other major advances.

This backstage musical and murder mystery was originally filmed in 2-strip Technicolor but only a B&W version exists.

Dorothy Mackaill stars as a stage star on the night of her final performance. She's leaving show biz and marrying into a wealthy family. As the tributes pour in about the great star, we are shown via flashbacks her true past. It's an interesting narrative structure and keeps the plots moving.

Despite her cleaned-up image, Mackaill is shown to have started out in a dive in South Africa, doing a sleazy hula number and cavorting with several men. Frank Fay plays her devoted (and ignored) pal, and Noah Beery is a lecherous suitor. When the men get into a fight, Mackaill hurls a lit oil lamp at Beery and burns his face. Of course Beery shows up on Mackaill's final night and gets involved in murder.

Mackaill gets to sing and dance to outrageous numbers like "Cannibal Love" and "Song of the Congo." She also gets to dress in a tuxedo and sing and dance to "I'm Just a Man About Town." Frank Fay sings several songs as well, and the spirited Inez Courtney sings a terrific "Hey, Hey, He's Not So Dumb."

Also along for the ride are James Murray as Courtney's suitor, Frank McHugh as a drunken reporter, Tom Dugan and Daphne Pollard as the comic relief, Edward Nugent as a chorus boy, and Jean Laverty as a chorus girl.

Mackaill had been a Ziegfeld showgirl before hitting movies in 1920. She was a big star by the mid-20s and made 65 films, easily making the transition to talkies. But when Warners bought out First National in 1928, Mackaill was on of several stars (Colleen Moore, Alice White, Betty Compson) whose contracts were not renewed. She freelanced for a while and finally quit films in 1937.

Frantic soaper concerning a musical star on Broadway who is on the verge of leaving show business behind for married life; during her latest stage-extravaganza, police investigate a murder/suicide backstage. Hackneyed early talkie is too ambitious for its own good (and attempts to pack too much plot into 70 minutes of running time). Dorothy Mackaill doesn't fire off many zingers in this one but, as always, she's hypnotically fascinating. Mackaill may have become another Bette Davis had she hit Hollywood just a few years later. Supporting cast and surrounding chaos don't do Dot justice. *1/2 from ****

I watched "Bright Lights" (1930) for the first time on TCM last night and felt that it would've been better if we could see it like it originally was presented.

First of all, I wish the film could be reconstructed. It seems disjointed in places because the movie was truncated between the time it was filmed and the time it was released. It's obvious that a few songs are missing. The part played by James Murray seems to have suffered the most. He was wonderful in King Vidor's "The Crowd" (1928). I knew of his tragic early death, but wondered if he truly showed promise, or was a one-time flash-in-the pan. His acting ability in this talkie was pretty good. His potential in sound movies can only be conjectured.

The screenplay was strong for the time, with witty lines and novel dramatic situations. There were unexplained holes in the plot, seemingly because of the cuts, not the screenplay. The dialog and gags delivered by Daphne Pollard and Tom Dugan were unexpected. Frank Fay's performance is likely the best he ever did on the screen. His delivery of the song, "Nobody Cares" is excellent. However, Dorothy Mackaill's singing and dancing are weak, to say the least.

The film stands out from other films of the time because of director Michael Curtiz and cinematographer Lee Garmes. Some shots are set up creatively. The visual pacing is above average for the time. There obviously was care and preparation used in making this film.

Now to the point of Technicolor. I think to film would make a much stronger impression on us if we could see it in the original color. The seemingly harsh make-up would have been more palatable in color. The costumes and musical numbers were obviously designed with color in mind. As we see it now, in mere black-and-white, the numbers pass in a blur of overblown activity. They are unquestionably over-done, probably to take the focus off Dorothy Mackaill's limited singing and dancing, but would be more impressive if we could see them in color.

It is unfair to judge "Bright Lights" as it exists today. We can only dream of what it originally was like. Only then it would seem better than we had originally thought!

As I sat and watched "Bright Lights", I did what I often do--checked out the IMDb reviews for the film. Imagine my surprise when I noticed several reviews which gave this film extremely high scores...too high. It made me wonder if we were watching the same film, as "Bright Lights" was just awful--dated, dull and among the worst early musicals I've ever seen. It lacks polish and is flat but more importantly, it abounds with overacting. How anyone could give this silly film a 10 is beyond me. It obviously is a transitional film--one where the folks who made the film still haven't figured out exactly how to do a musical. The choreography is pretty lousy, the sound quite flat and the story lacks so much.

By the way, if you are wondering, I love old movies--especially early talking pictured. It's just that I don't like this particular one!

The First National Musicals that have been turning up on TCM are interestingly elephantine antiques for fans of old movies. In many ways they are as interesting for what the film makers got wrong as what they got right. No Broadway theater ever had such immense stages as are seen in this one, not even the new ones, miked when they were built. The chorus lines are dwarfed on the stage.

Likewise, director Michael Curtiz and cinematographers Lee Garmes and Charles Edgar Schoenbaum can't seem to figure out how to stage people for camera and microphone. Frank Fay seems stagy and ill at ease in close-ups and two-shots, but when he is performing on stage and shot in medium long range from about the sixth row, (although there are no seats) he is fine. Contrariwise, star Dorothy MacKaill is at her best in Dutch angle close-ups. She may have started as a chorine, but she had become a star in silent pictures.

The other performers offer interesting contrasts. Who knew that Daphne Pollard could sing? Can you spot John Carradine in his first film performance? Could Frank McHugh be more annoying as a drunk reporter? These are the things that make this movie interesting more than eighty years later.

They don't make it good. The movie musical went into eclipse for three years from ill-managed things like this. It's certainly not hard to understand why.

A catastrophe! I like a lot of early sound films but this is to awful to describe. An incoherent mess that Warner's pulled before release and retitled "Adventures In Africa." This was an improvement on the original title. Having read a Barbara Stanwyck biography, I wanted to see Frank Fay's performance. You can see why his movie career failed. Some reviewers point to this movie as a transitional sound film and it might be better in it's original lost Technicolor print. Color would only point out the garish sets and costumes and Gong Show performances. Don't waste part of your life on this. If you want to see an entertaining musical from this period wait for TCM to show "Sally" or "Spring Is Here".

The title actually says "Adventures in Africa", but it's listed on Turner Classics as "Bright Lights!". and the trivia says there's a lost technicolor version, but personally i'm glad its in glorious black and white... i like my early talkies to be in charming but ancient black and white. a bare minimum of a story. In this show-within-a-show, Frank Fay is Wally, the emcee of the big production. Dorothy Mackaill is Louanne, about to leave the show and marry into money. the other big names are Noah Beery as the interloper, and funny guy Frank McHugh as the reporter, always lurking about. he's listed way down in the credits, but he's in almost every scene. one of his first roles in hollywood. This was before any film code, so there's an abundance of cleavage and walking around in night-gowns. one of the running gags is the Averys, husband and wife who are continually nagging each other. LOTS of song and dance numbers, but it keeps moving along. it's fun... light and fluffy. A Curtiz production... probably his best known films were Casablanca and Yankee Doodle Dandy.

An early musical that I believe was made before Busby Berkeley made his way. About a won't they couple of the stage, as she tries to trap her rich fiance AND he tries to let her go whilst helping her get away from her sordid past. When one past admirer returns, problem rises. *Musical Number in between stories*.

I guess you could see why people love Busby and forgotten about this. Something about this is just spells to old. The way it was directed seems to be static for something about musicals. The story is misguided and from one reviewer notes - never really finds its tone. The dance too seems too stagy that comparing it to Berkeley success would be entirely stupefying.

Overall, A product of its time AND is rightfully forgotten.

A Broadway star is giving up the stage to marry a millionaire, but she might be happier with the man who brought her up through the showbiz ranks.

BRIGHT LIGHTS (1930) is ultimately a movie about a show business family and how everyone supports each other. The action takes place on the night of Louanne's (Dorothy Mackaill) last performance in a successful musical revue before settling down with a rich society type. Louanne's co-star Wally (Frank Fay) has been with her through the ups and downs, and in fact groomed Louanne to be the star she's become. Wally loves Louanne and wants nothing but the best for her, even if that means letting her marry another man.

Director Michael Curtiz uses flashback sequences to contrast Louanne's press-friendly account of her "innocent" past with the more vulgar realities of her life (dancing the hula in African saloons and cheap carnivals). When her past threatens to ruin her impending marriage, Wally steps in to protect her.

I'd recently seen Dorothy Mackaill in another talkie and was disappointed with her performance, but she's much better here. Much more "alive", joking around with Fay in an early scene in her dressing room and doing her fair share of singing and dancing in the musical numbers. Frank Fay plays his role like an old pro. He made relatively few movies in his career but I still find ones I haven't seen before.

Joining them in the cast is Inez Courtney, who pops up in lots of early-'30s films as the female lead's funny friend. She's awfully cute here as another performer whose boyfriend (THE CROWD's James Murray) makes a business deal with a ghost from Louanne's past. That ghost (and the villain of the piece) is Noah Beery Sr., playing a Portuguese (?!) diamond smuggler from Louanne's African days. Frank McHugh is the inebriated reporter who hangs around backstage and Tom Dugan and frequent Laurel & Hardy co-star Daphne Pollard play a battling married couple in the company.

The cast of the show-within-the-show, along with their romantic partners, the stage manager, the security guard, and the usual crowd buzzing around backstage make up a sort of close-knit family, and it's touching to see how they cover for each other when the theater becomes the scene of a murder investigation.

There are several musical routines featured within the context of the story. The songs are nothing special and the choreography isn't very elaborate (we're not talking about Busby Berkeley here), but it might've been the bee's knees back in the very early days of film musicals. The opening number is an ode to New York City (including a bizarre Wall Street set piece), and there's a "rah rah" college-themed number and an exotic "cannibal" number.

Some of the jokes fall flat, but the cast is engaging and the film balances music, romance, comedy, and suspense all in a comfortable sixty-nine minutes.

TCM aired BRIGHT LIGHTS under its rather misleading re-release name ADVENTURES IN_AFRICA.

"Bright Lights" (re-named "Adventures in Africa" for TV broadcasting many years after its release) is a cinematic Mulligan stew consisting of a murder mystery, multiple love stories, several musical numbers, and tedious stretches of low comedy barely held together by a witless and improbable script about a show girl (Dorothy Mackaill) who, with her partner- manager (Frank Fay) shimmies her way from small-time tropical dives and traveling carnivals to the Broadway big-time only to announce that she's giving up the stage to marry into wealth (in the person of Philip Strange as Mr. Emerson Fairchild of Long Island whose accent is British but whose mother's is Midlantic).

The Fay character loves and protects Mackaill in a fatherly or businesslike manner but refrains from marrying her; every time he is about to give in to that urge he pulls back because some part of him senses that he is not worthy to be her husband. Mackaill finds his hot/cold behavior frustrating and infuriating. The development of this complex relationship takes a back seat to sometimes heavy-handed subplots enacted by the likes of Eddie Nugent in an ill-defined role (star's press agent?) eagerly trying to manage a gaggle of reporters which includes a barely visible young John Carradine and an all-too-visible Frank McHugh as an obnoxious drunk, who have assembled to cover Mackaill's final performance; James Murray and Inez Courtney as young lovers; Tom Dugan and Daphne Pollard as a violently discordant married dance team; Noah Beery as a lecherous figure from Mackaill's and Fay's sordid African past. Other, later, pre-Code films with similar elements include "I'm No Angel," "Forty-Second Street," "Murder at the Vanities" and Mackaill's outstanding 1932 feature "Safe in Hell."

As far as the songs go, "Wall Street" near the beginning, despite a stage-filling chorus and carloads of set pieces and costumes, falls flat, even with expert song-and-dance man Fay at the center. He comes off better in the Harry Akst-Grant Clarke standard "Nobody Cares If I'm Blue." In dramatic scenes, however, his haggard appearance distracts from his emotionally nuanced performance. The makeup applied to his rugged features suggests Count Dracula and clashes with his gently rapid speaking voice and smooth singing style and stage manner. Among the other musical numbers, "Song of the Congo," "I'm Crazy for Cannibal Love" and "I'm Just a Man About Town" are the catchiest, both visually and melodically, though one can't help wondering what Busby Berkeley might have done with the staging. Mackaill is the centerpiece of all three; she performs a hula-type dance in the first two and wears a man's tux and top hat in the first half of the latter before emerging via camera trickery from the huddle of a male chorus wearing a dress. She also has some effective dramatic moments but, due perhaps to sloppy editing, misfires during a poorly staged dressing room temper tantrum. Her vocal range is limited, but she carries her songs confidently, dances gamely and looks magnificent in skimpy, spangled costumes as well as in screen-filling closeups.

It is a shame that no Technicolor print of this Vitaphone musical has survived, because the aesthetic oddities of the 2-color process would be a match for this preposterous Broadway story. Star Louanne (Mackaill) plans to marry a rich dud, but deep down pal Wally (Fay). Sadly, Wally is a jerk. There is a flashback to an African local (like Disney's Tarzan, sans Africans), and some silly backstage gunplay. Frank McHugh is swell as a drunk reporter. Mackaill is appealing in the production numbers, but as lost as everyone else with the poor script. Guilty fun for fans of early musicals, though.

A musical/comedy/drama starring some long-forgotten Broadway and Hollywood stars. Dorothy Mackaill stars as Broadway star hiding her sleazy past from her tycoon fiance. Her partner is stage actor Frank Fay, who is about to lose her to marriage, and Noah Beery plays the heavy who remembers her 'way back when'. There are several musical numbers interspersed but the songs are not memorable - long forgotten, like this picture. There are scenes that are alternately dramatic and comical, as the film can't decide which it is.

It was entertaining, particularly if you are a "movie archaeologist" and enjoy seeing stars of long ago, stars who haven't seen the light of day in years. I like Mackaill and had never seen Fay, although my parents talked about him from his stage roles. Frank McHugh as a drunken (as usual) reporter, Eddie Nugent and Daphne Pollard are some of the other names sure to please old movie fans.

6/10 - The website no longer prints my star ratings since the changeover.