The Girl in the Show

When MGM decided to move its production into sound pictures, they took their time. They were the last major studio in Hollywood to convert to all-talking productions, with their last silent picture, THE KISS, being released in November of 1929.

They were already issuing talking, like this movie, directed by Edgar Selwyn. Bessie Love is playing Little Eva in a barnstorming production of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN in Kansas. The troupe is having a rotten time, with empty houses, because the production isn't very good. So, when they are stranded in Centralia, Kansas, Miss Love accepts a marriage proposal from successful local businessman Jed Prouty, not knowing he is an undertaker.

There are some technical issues with this movie; these can be ascribed to MGM's still-shaky understanding of sound techniques. However, there are other problems with the production, including a deliberately poor production of the central play. While there are some technically interesting aspects of the movie, concerning the problems of running a poorly-financing touring company, this one never exceeds decent and frequently fails to meet that standard.

Miss Love's starring career would end within a couple of years, but she would continue to play small roles through her death, with a couple of more important parts, like her role in Warren Beatty's REDS. It is a pity that she could not sustain a regular movie career, as she had real talent.

This is an early talking picture from MGM and, interestingly, most of the actors had very short careers in talkies...and in seeing the picture I can understand why! Too many of the actors simply suck...no other way to say it!

Hattie (Bessie Love) is a member of a low-budget traveling acting troop that specialize in doing a god-awful rendition of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (complete with white actors in black-face). Not surprisingly, they are living hand to mouth and are always on the verge of folding. So, when Mr. Wompler offers to marry Hattie, she jumps at the opportunity...but, oddly, starts to regret it.

The girl who played Oriole (Nanci Price) is simply terrible...overacting, annoying and so bad I wanted to see a piano fall out of the sky on her! Love, who was pretty good in films like "Broadway Melody" is not very good here...and the rest of the actors are only fair at best. The bottom line is that this picture ages poorly...and it's mostly due to the acting which was far from subtle. Hard to watch today.

Mostly interesting for its place-holder as an early talkie. Cheesy acting. Cheesy backdrops. A show-within-a-show concept. I guess the poor sound quality is probably due to poor microphone placement, or maybe just the bad quality of the early equipment. Liberal use of black-face. Our star, Bessie Love had a LONG career, and had started in the EARLY days of the silent films. She was nominated for an Oscar for Broadway Melody, and was still in the biz in her eighties. Not many folks made the jump into talkies, and even carried on acting into the 1980s! The plot is pretty plain and simple..the manager wants the star to cozy up to a gent with lots of money who might want to pour money into the show, but it doesn't really work out. It's a pre-Hays commission production, so they don't have to white-wash it.. .they still said it like it was in the early days before all the rules of propriety started being enforced. A secondary plot has "Oriole" (Nanci Price) stowing away to hide from the truancy officer. Durned if Bessie Love doesn't have the same slightly nasal voice and mannerisms that Claudette Colbert sometimes has... especially in "Imitation of Life". Pretty good story. Details are pretty dated and lightweight, but still enjoyable. Directed by Edgar Selwyn, with "MG" and later the other "M".... Mayer.

This was Edgar Selwyn's first go at directing....fortunately he didn't give up after making this drivel and went on to direct some outstanding 1930s classics. It was he who actually co-founded Goldwyn Pictures...he contributed the 'wyn' to Goldwyn! This wasn't his best work.

You can see why serous theatre actors baulked at film acting when Hollywood started calling for actors for the talkies. Obviously there were some fantastic movie actors but generally it wasn't considered 'proper acting'. Most silent stars weren't characters you could believe in, as we see in this, they were just pretty puppets. Bessie Love, who was great in BROADWAY MELODY under Selwyn's amateur direction is completely unconvincing in this as a real person. Despite her poor performance, believe it or not, Bessie Love is actually the best actor in this!

Although this gives an interesting view of pre-Depression rural America (which for the poor wasn't that much different to Depression America), the story and Edgar Selwyn's script is staggeringly dull. For a guy who virtually invented Hollywood, who'd been writing films since 1914 and whose moto was 'Ars Gratia Artis' this is terribly disappointing. For Bessie Love, who shone so bright a couple of months earlier in MGM's first musical, this is also terribly disappointing......she still looks lovely, sweet and adorable though which is the only positive thing which can be said about this waste of celluloid.

Bessie Love stars as an actress touring in a fifth-rate company of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. While playing in a hick town in Kansas, the local league of do-gooders discovers there's a child traveling with the show. They think it's Bessie Love, who plays Little Eva in the show, but it's really her kid sister (Nanci Price). The local undertaker (Jed Prouty) takes a shine to Bessie so she strings him along so they can get out of town with the kid sister. But in the next town, the company gets stranded when the manager (Ford Sterling) absconds with what little money there is.

Prouty has been following the touring company and helps them stage a benefit show for local flood victims if Bessie will abandon the stage and marry him. She agrees but the new manager (Raymond Hackett) secretly decides to use the kid sister as Little Eva. When Bessie finds out, she stuffs the kid full of chocolates so she gets sick and can't go on. Realizing how much she loves acting, so dumps Prouty because the show must go on.

Based on a Broadway play, EVA THE FIFTH, this is a solid early talkie vehicle for Love and she's quite good. The supporting case is also good, although Price is a bit much. Co-stars include Edward Nugent, Mary Doran, Lucy Beaumont, and Ethel Wales.

Historically this film is interesting because up through the Great Depression, plays based on UNCLE TOM'S CABIN famously toured the boonies of America and had for more than 50 years. These touring shows were called "Tommers" and took great liberties with the original novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Worth a look.