Curtain Call

Helen vinson is "charlotte", the star, playing a star, in this sixty three minute shortie from rko pictures. She's been a complete pain, so the producer (donald macbride) and director (alan mowbray) give her a script that they think is just awful. Helen (barbara read) is the playwright, and when the producers try to make changes, charlotte convinces helen to stop them from making any changes, per her contract. It's all okay. The only character we root for is helen. Everyone else is evil and scheming. And when we get to the end, we're not really sure what lesson we learned. Donald macbride was always yelling at people in the marx brothers films. Directed by frank woodruff. Story by howard green. Read died young at 45 by suicide. Married four times. The irony of read, playing a writer who writes a play about suicide.

I wondered if Mel Brooks saw this film and got the idea for Producers, The (1968) from it. Both movies involve producers looking for the worst possible play - in this case for revenge, not for money. Helen Vinson is under contract to do one more play for Donald MacBride, but then plans to sign with another producer. So he and director Alan Mowbray decide to get her a bad play, and the one which naive would-be playwright Barbara Read has just sent them fits the bill. The problem is that Vinson adores the play and thinks it is a work of art. The movie bogs down a bit as Mowbray tries to get Read's permission to make changes in her play, and I didn't think much of the romance between Read and John Archer. Nonetheless, there's enough cute comedy throughout to enjoy, although the ending is a bit predictable.

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.

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?

Barbara Read has written the worst play in the history of American theater. Producer Donald MacBride and his director, Alan Mowbray, decide to produce it to sabotage their star Helen Vinson, and keep her from leaving them.

This variation on Kaufman & Hart's THE BUTTER AND EGG MAN is kept afloat largely by MacBride's over-the-top performance, although there are some good moments for Mowbray as he tries to romance Miss Read into letting him rewrite her script. Kudos also to Leona Maricle as MacBride's secretary, who carries out MacBride's senseless orders, from buying the worst script in the slush pile to renting a horse at 8 in the morning with a disdainful aplomb. With Frank Faylen and Tom Kennedy.