Dramatic School

Strangely, it's set in France, yet features a bevy of American actresses playing girls with names like Nana, Yvonne and Simone. It's not as good as the similar Stage Door, which was released by RKO the year before, and the story takes a while to get going. Lovely, dark-eyed Luise Rainer stars as the young woman who aspires to be a great actress; Paulette Goddard is cast to type as a cynical, knowing classmate; Gale Sondergaard is the teacher who resents Rainer for her youth and talent; and Alan Marshall is the wealthy cad who misuses Rainer, thus allowing her to experience the suffering required for her to achieve great dramatic success. It's not a bit credible but, when all is said and done, it's fairly entertaining. With Lana Turner in an early role, Virginia Grey, Ann Rutherford and Margaret Dumont, Henry Stephenson, Genevieve Tobin, John Hubbard, Marie Blake, Erik Rhodes and moist-eyed Rand Brooks.

Louise Mauban (Luise Rainer) attends drama school during the day while working a lowly factory job at night. She is obsessed with becoming a great actress and has no time for the fun-loving girls at school. They suspect that she's an arrogant upper class snob and that's exactly who she pretends to be. She tells them about dating Marquis Andre D'Abbencourt (Alan Marshal) which leads some to suspect her lies. Nana (Paulette Goddard) discovers the truth and plans to embarrass her. Andre turns those plans upside down.

Luise Rainer is an early acting star and this role asks a lot from her. She has to play a great actress, an enchantress who entices Andre at first sight, and be a lower-class every woman. She's mostly successful... mostly. In reality, she is a great actress. So that's a given. I can accept the love at first sight but it could be filmed better cinematically. She's not the type to stand out as typically the most beautiful. The camera needs to do more. She is also a little too old to be still in school. It is interesting that the teacher talks about Juliet's age and having to be older to play the part. The story meanders around. There are future stars like Lana Turner. It's fine but it's not holding me.

DRAMATIC SCHOOL was obviously designed as a star vehicle for LUISE RAINER, the European actress whose career fizzled after winning two Oscars in the mid-'30s. Her acting here is even more mannered than usual, aside from seeming eccentric as compared to the more natural acting styles of others in the cast. And it's quite a cast--a whole bevy of up-and-coming young stars on the Metro lot.

PAULETTE GODDARD gets most of the footage as a glamorous and scheming bad girl while LANA TURNER, VIRGINIA GREY and ANN RUTHERFORD play more conventional types.

But oddly enough, in a film concentrating on its young female talent, the picture is stolen by ALAN MARSHAL in the film's only substantial male role--elegant, debonair, sophisticated and as handsome as any matinee idol. And the other scene stealer is none other than GALE SONDERGAARD as a drama instructor who lets jealousy get the upper hand in dealing with her students.

It's all formula stuff, interesting only for the cast and offering very little in the way of a credible plot. LUISE RAINER's "magic" as a performer eludes me. I never cared for her artificial poses and her Joan of Arc sequence is ludicrous.

Worth noting is RAND BROOKS (he was Charles Hamilton in GWTW) as a young actor who can't act. A clever bit of typecasting.

Luise Rainer wrapped up her Hollywood career with this minor B movie that also served as an early showcase for Lana Turner and Ann Rutherford.

The Viennese Teardrop isn't bad but her habit of staring soulfully skyward comes across as a bit affected.

Paulette Goddard co-stars but she was in a transitional phase. After having recently been elevated from the ranks by Chaplin and featured in Modern Times she was a bit ahead of the other girls career wise but this was still before her period as a top star although that was right around the corner.

An interesting contrast can be made between the two other future stars featured. MGM was still experimenting with Lana and her look, her hair is still red not her signature blonde, her makeup is slightly different from scene to scene and her part is small although she is prominently billed. Ann Rutherford on the other hand who was at about the same point in her career already has her screen persona down. Of course she was always the girl next door so retained more of her natural attributes while by the time Lana reached the top there was little if anything girlish about her.

The picture itself moves at a decent clip and is mildly entertaining but has several large reality gaps in its story line. It's filled with familiar faces though to distract you from the holes in the script with Genevieve Tobin and Marie Blake both adding nice touches in small roles.

Unlike other posters, I found this film delightful and entertaining. But what was most fun was seeing all these stars as incredibly young people: Lana Turner, Paulette Goddard, Virginia Grey, Hans Conried. Luise Rainer was at her luminescent best with her big, soulful eyes, gorgeous bone structure, and beautiful speaking voice.

The story takes place in France, with those dissolves that translate French into English right away. It concerns a young dramatic school student whose fantasies become real due to a series of happy accidents. The end is particularly delightful.

I don't understand the backlash against Luise Rainer. She was a beautiful, principled actress who was discovered by Max Reinhardt, escaped Hitler, and came afoul of another dictator, Louis B. Mayer, who would not give her roles befitting the status of an actress who had won two Oscars.

After an unhappy marriage to Clifford Odets, she found happiness in a marriage and left the U. S. She's still alive and works occasionally. You can't say that about many people born in 1910 or anyone in this film, including Ann Rutherford, who is still with us as of this writing.