La femme traquée

This is a badly dated melodrama about an actress whose dark past is revealed by a conniving reporter. Kay Francis is luminous, but she can't play trash.

When Stella gets tough and starts on her downward trend, Kay, with her patrician beauty and educated accent, can't do it. A very talky movie, supposedly set in England, but the atmosphere and language aren't very British.

Apparently the play she appears in has something to do with Caligula - trust me, it's no starmaking play or performance. It was fun to see that the play actually had an orchestra, a reminder of the old days when "straight plays" were really huge events.

Stella Parish (Kay Francis) is a famous stage star in England. Her private life is private. As she reaches new heights, a mystery man from her past threatens it all. She escapes to America with her daughter Gloria and close personal friend Nana (Jessie Ralph). Eager reporter Keith Lockridge (Ian Hunter) smells a story and follows them.

I really like the mystery man with him not showing his face. I would like for the mystery figure to show up once in awhile. In comparison, Keith is less compelling. The exposition is a bit too long, but she does have to tell the whole story. I would have liked this story more as a mystery thriller and less as a melodrama.

I Found Stella Parish masterfully engages the viewer. It is very stylized hokum, but yet it is sincere and rather poignant. Kay Francis plays an actress with a secret past that involves having given birth to a child out of wedlock. Taking a break from her stage career, she decides to focus on her role as a mother and travels incognito with her daughter, played by Sybil Jason. It's a nice bit of casting, and their performances nicely complement each other.

Three years later, Warners would reunite Francis and Jason on screen in Comet Over Broadway. Once again, they are mother and daughter, and once again Miss Francis is an actress.

Kay Francis had started out a couple years back when the talkies were just starting. Here, she's Stella, a British stage star who runs off to Amurrica to escape her past in this Warner Brothers film. Her daughter is child-star Sybill Jason, a precocious eight year old. and her mother, played by the amazing Jessie Ralph. check her out in Bank Dick, and so many other great films. what a presence. Co-stars Ian Hunter as the newspaper guy chasing after Stella to find out what's going on. What IS the big secret ?? Pretty good story. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. From a story by John Saunders. Had won an oscar for Dawn Patrol. and wrote the 1927 version of "Wings". and was married to Fay Wray. who could ask for more? apparently that wasn't enough. offed himself at age 44.

Super melodramatic sudser with Kay suffering and suffering and suffering and the audience suspending disbelief. If you can do that you'll enjoy this exercise in excess.

Kay is as usual dressed in high fashion throughout. A kaleidescope of 30's fashion, which was what the public expected from a Kay Francis vehicle at the time and it's easy to see why. Due to her height, slenderness and perfect posture she's able to carry off even the most exaggerated clothes. However the clothes only take the film so far and the story that it's pegged on is the usual preposterousness that was also a regular component her films. Supported by a good cast, although Ian Hunter is rather stiff as the male lead, Kay plays one ridiculous situation after another with complete conviction. This was one of her biggest hits.