Secrets of an Actress

Kay Francis stars as a minor actress who wants to make it on Broadway. She meets a bored architect (Ian Hunter) who has always wanted to produce a play. She has one. They team up and she becomes the toast of the Great White Way. But Hunter also has a partner (George Brent)and it's love at first sight. But he has a grasping wife (Gloria Dickson)....

Fast-paced with a lot of one liners, this little Warners film is fun from the getgo. Francis is, as always, a delight to watch. Brent and Hunter are solid. Dickson is suitably vile as the shrew wife. Isabel Jeans is very funny as Marion, playing a combination of Alice Brady and Eric Blore. The 2 secretaries are nicely played by Dennie Moore and Penny Singleton.

This was one of Kay's final film for Warners, and you'll note they had already demoted her to first billing but beneath the title. Her legal battles with the studio were front-page news in the late 30s. The studio put her in B films and then blamed her for slipping at the box office. Still, Francis had the last laugh; she turned in great performances even in the drek Warners gave her (while handing the plums to the new Warners queen, Bette Davis).

It's nice to report that once in awhile KAY FRANCIS actually got to emote in a fairly decent script. This one benefits from the participation of Julius J. Epstein, a writer at Warner Bros. who wrote many fine scripts for that studio and others. This one is a formula story that benefits from some clever lines and amusing dialog, factors often missing in Miss Francis' films.

GEORGE BRENT and IAN HUNTER are her romantic co-stars, as architects who become involved in her show business aspirations. There's never much doubt as to which male will win her in the final reel, but getting there is pleasant enough with everyone getting a turn at some good quips thanks to a better than average script.

PENNY SINGLETON (who later became "Blondie") is almost unrecognizable as a brunette secretary with eyeglasses, but the chief femme roles go to GLORIA DICKSON as a gold-digger and ISABEL JEANS as Francis' flighty roommate who is a bit annoying in her overacted role.

Francis gives a smooth performance and it's a shame she never got a chance at scripts of this caliber during most of her early days at Warner Bros., the studio that had Bette Davis waiting in the wings to replace Francis as the number one dramatic star.

Kay Francis must have had some interesting secrets in the way she had two men chasing her in Secrets Of An Actress. Beauty, talent, and that little something extra that makes one a star.

In Secrets Of An Actress, Kay is the daughter of a famous stage actor who has tried to match that career. But all she gets is road company tours in various classics. She wants to be a hit on Broadway and in a role created for her. As it happens she has a play that she wrote with just that in mind. To find a producer is the key.

Enter Ian Hunter who is a successful architect and pretty well fixed financially. A chance meeting in a bar with Francis and he's literally swept off his feet. Hunter has a younger associate in his firm played by George Brent who is likewise smitten with Francis, but he's just a little bit married to Gloria Dickson, one real piece of work.

If you're a fan of Thirties screen comedies I think you'll know where this one is going. Doesn't mean the ride isn't pleasant. The script is a witty, sophisticated one and the cast performs it well.

Look for a brilliant performance by Isabel Jeans as Francis's best friend, an old time actress with a little drinking problem. She plays it like a combination of Eve Arden and Zasu Pitts. In her case the old Latin phrase in vino veritas rings true as she has some really good observations, especially with a drink or two.

A few years down the road, I think someone would have recognized Diana Barrymore for the model of Francis's character. Secrets Of An Actress, though from the Warner B picture unit is a bright comedy, very typical of its time.

An urban architect along with his married partner get caught up in a romantic triangle with an ambitious Broadway actress.

Professionally done programmer that unfortunately fails to ignite. Frankly, the leads, Francis, Brent, and Hunter, go through the motions, but the men in particular don't project much emotion. Francis, on the other hand, lights things up with her smile and A-grade wardrobe. But she too doesn't go much beyond an indelible presence. Fortunately, supporting players Dickson, Jeans, and Singleton manage to inject needed verve and color.

So, will the tangled relationships get straightened out by movie's end. Silly question. Too bad the film wasn't made before the deadening Production Code (1934). That way some real secrets might have been revealed. Instead, I'm pressed to pinpoint even one titillating faux pas. Looks like the title was little more than a commercial ploy. Anyway, the dialog is occasionally sprightly while director Keighley keeps things moving. Overall, the 70-minutes amounts to a cranked-out professional product with a highly misleading title.

"Secrets Of An Actress" is pretty much a routine soaper without much to recommend it - except that this one has a stellar cast trying bravely to put it over. The odds are stacked against them as the plot is hackneyed and predictable right up to the ending. There is nothing exceptional to the story, no real highs or lows and the best part of this trudge through the landscape is the background music.

In a review above, blanche-2 explains why Kay Francis, one of Hollywood's more glamorous and sophisticated 30's stars, found herself in this exercise in tedium. Ian Hunter and George Brent also must have been at loose ends and looking for something to do, but between the two of them and Kay Francis they are able to keep the lightweight story afloat. For my money the website has this picture very overrated.