Stage-Struck Susie

According to IMDB, "Stage-Struck Susie" is a silent comedy short. However, the copy I saw had narration...something that probably wasn't possible back in 1929. Talking pictures were new and dubbing was NOT yet in use. As a result, some sound movies were made in multiple copies in various languages...with either a new cast using the same sets or the actors had to phonetically speak lines in various languages (like Laurel & Hardy). But having narration simply wasn't yet possible. So, I assume someone removed the original intertitle cards and then added the narration. How much they changed the film is uncertain...which makes rating this short difficult. It's also difficult because seeing a silent movie with CONSTANT narration where the narrator speaks all the parts is just annoying and hard to enjoy.

The story is about Susie escaping from Dr. Drybones' Academy so that she can become a chorus girl. Now back in 1929, such jobs were considered second-rate at best...and why a rich girl would run away for such work is odd. But with the help of her boyfriend, she manages to do just that...while Drybones himself is in pursuit.

As I already said, it's tough to rate this one...so I won't. What I saw wasn't particularly engaging nor funny...but perhaps the best parts were left out of this remix.

This is the eighth and seemingly the last of the 1929 series Confessions of a Chorus Girl which is not nearly as sexy as it sounds starring Frances Lee as Susie. She wants to be a chorus-girl, an ambition opposed by her father and has, in this episode, been consigned to Dr. Drybones' Academy for young ladies to keep her out of harm's way but thanks to her actor-boyfriend Jimmie (Harrison), she gets offered an opportunity to perform. Drybones goes in pursuit but gets himself into all sorts of trouble at the theatre. Lee is plesant to look at but it is Eddie Barry who steals the show and the film.

Not at all a bad film and an excellen little twist in the tail.