Curtain Call

This film is interesting because it serves as the prototype for the film, "The Producers". Though the story lines differ slightly, the plot is the same. Get the most horrible play you can find, produce it and ruin careers and reputations. The same sort of reckless abandon of "The Producrs" does not exist in this film. The producers want to get revenge on their star who is jumping ship to go to another producer at the end of her contract. They present her with a piece of garbage written by an aspiring young female playwright. They expect her to hate it...instead, she loves it. Making life uncomfortable for the star with script changes, and watching a naive young girl become wise to the ways of Broadway comprises the better part of the film. It's worth a watch because of the cast. Alan Mowbray manages to pull it off in believable fashion, with help from Don McBride, Frank Faylen, and other notable stalwarts of the period. If it comes on, give it a whirl.

This film is about two people filled with huberis. One is a talentless writer who thinks she's written a play that is genius....the other an actress who thinks she is what makes plays successful...not the director or producer.

When the story begins, Donald Avery (Alan Mowbray) is on vaction...but folks keep pestering him because he's a famous Broadway producer. In particular, Helen Middleton (Barbara Read) has the nerve to try to get him to read her play...even though she's never written or published anything before. He essentially blows her off...telling her to submit the play to his secretary.

The trip is suddenly canceled when Avery's producer, Jeff Crandall (Donald McBride) calls him in a panic...their leading lady, Charlotte Morley (Helen Vincent) is talking about walking as soon as her contract is over...and she only owes them one more play. So, Jeff tries to pull a fast one...and looks for the worst play he can find...and it turns out to be Helen's. His notion is to tell Charlotte she'll have to star in this god-awful play....and teach her a lesson in humility. There's a problem with his plan...Charlotte loves the play and insists they do it! So what next? See the film.

This is a cute little comedy...not brilliant...but quite enjoyable. The best thing about it are McBride and Mowbray. The script by Dalton Trumbo is also quite nice. Overall, a clever little film, though I did not exactly love the ending.

Stage director Alan Mowbray (Don) and producer Donald MacBride (Jeff) need a bad play to use as bargaining power for their star attraction actress Helen Vinson (Charlotte). Vinson contractually owes them one more play before she can defect to a rival producer. The plan is for this final play to be so bad that she pleads with Mowbray and MacBride not to do it. They will concede and give her a better play on the understanding that she signs for a further five years with them. The awful play that they choose is written by a young dreadful actress Barbara Read (Helen). However, things don't go to plan as Vinson loves the play.

This is an enjoyable comedy set in the world of the theatre and it zips along nicely. There are funny lines by all concerned, although I found Donald MacBride slightly irritating and sometimes a little harsh with his language. I like comedy that stems from bad performances and we get an amusing scene at the play rehearsal with the lead man storming off as the play is so atrocious. I once wrote a play. It was brilliant. Still is.

Helen Vinson was married to English tennis legend Fred Perry who went on to design a load of shirts. She plays her part well but the film just loses itself at the end. What is the outcome? I assume that as the play is a success everything is hunky dory and the team sticks together while Read slips away to marry her uninteresting boyfriend from back home. After all, even though she has written a follow-up to "The End of Everything", Mowbray completely re-wrote her play for the eventual performance. She can't write plays so it's back home to study domestic science. I think?

One of the most brilliant, cutting, comedies ever made by a major studio (RKO.)

Alan Mowbry and Donald MacBride set out to find the most ghastly play imaginable to keep their temperamental star (Helen Vinson) from defecting to another producer. They hit on one by an earnest country girl, Barbara Read.

This ranks with "Twentieth Century" and "All About Eve" -- though clearly made on a far lower budget than either -- as a caustic study of venomous theater/movie types.

Mowbry is delightfully smarmy -- and there is more than a hint that he and his business partner are gay. Between its view of the Wide-eyed self-styled playwright and the demanding diva, this movie is misogyny personified.

The happy ending feels tacked on but it doesn't change, neutralize, or cushion what's come before it.

This version of "Curtain Call" (the title has been used frequently) is a lot of fun, with a superb cast of remarkably talented performers. Strangely, few of the stars are household names, but they have all the ability in the world. The three female leads are also extremely attractive, both in their physical appearances and their personalities. "Curtain Call" has a cute story, and it's very well done. It's an odd type of script, in my opinion, for Dalton Trumbo to be connected to, but he must have had a good original story. "Curtain Call" is well worth seeing more than once just for the interplay of the characters.