Curtain Call

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?