O Cabaret da Morte

Pitiful acting, a crashing bore. Skip this one. Kane Richmond wasn't what you could call first rate in the acting department, but he was handsome--in this one as in all his films. Poor Audrey Long never had a chance in Hollywood--she was just a nice girl, hardly Hollywood material. In fact Richmond was also a "nice guy"--very boring by Hollywood standards of the time. Anyway this picture is a flop--Richmond left movies after this and so did the director, and probably with relief.

Nightclub owner Benny Nordick is arguing with his hostess Helen Howard. They fight over his gun and he shots her dead. Petty criminal Nick Mantee offers to cover it up and dumps the body in the streets. Police Lt. Williams and Sgt. Tom Ramey starts the investigation by interviewing the family. Helen's sister Nancy gets involved. Meanwhile, Nick blackmails Benny over the murder.

The investigation is too slow. The movie spends too much time with the family. Everything about the cops move at about half a step too slow. Even their walking is a slow mosey. The family is bland. Maybe they could streamline it to just Nancy. The movie slows to a crawl when the cops take over the narrative. Nick is the only truly interesting character. The criminals have some fun. It's the saving grace in an otherwise bland crime drama. The cops need to be more compelling.

This is a film about what you don't see and what they don't say. When one girl claims Nick is going to introduce her to theatrical producers another girl says "So that's what he calls them."

When the cops come to the club unannounced they're swarmed with 4 young ladies all anxious to get to know these total strangers. When the cops make it clear they are not interested in this bevy of beauties, the girls all slink away looking of greener pastures.

The word "talent" is used like a code, maybe for sexual availability: "He said I have a lot of talent," "They're looking for new talent," "that girl didn't have any talent."

I'm not sure what the latin guy is planning but it requires a truckload of friendly young females. We're just left to imaging this orgy.

I'm wouldn't call what's going on here sex trafficking. These women seem free to leave if they want. They don't have a lot of optional occupations in mind. Make a note, if you're a hot girl with no plan B, someone sleazy will have a suggestion.

SMOKING RITUAL

At times, Conrad Nagel is engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke. Imagine how he must have smelled.

Watch the conversation at the bar between the new recruit ("He's going to give me the lead part") as the seasoned escort handles a 4 inch cigarette holder. This trashy/classy accessory is one I've seen only in the movies.

"Stage Struck" is an excellent B crime story, with good script and great cast. It even attempts to provide a moral, especially to naïve young women. But it's in the very last words and I won't give it away here.

On 25 January 2023, TCM took a break from being "woke" and PC -- meaning preachy and racist -- and presented several movies about night clubs and singers and gangsters. All were generally unknown and might not actually be considered "classics," but all were much better than might have been expected.

This one has not only a good story, with many characters, all of whom have at least a moment to shine, but it has a cast of great talent if not a lot of fame.

Kane Richmond is usually considered a hero of thrillers and serials so perhaps that's why his performance here is, to me, extraordinary. It shows, again, just how little justice there ever was in Hollywood, when actors with far less talent got more acclaim and money.

I do recommend "Stage Struck."

Hostess Wanda McKay's corpse is found, and police Lt. Conrad Nagel is assigned the case, but Miss McKay's small-town sister, Audrey Long, grows impatient with nothing happening. She decides to go undercover herself at the suspects' talent agency, where Kane Richmond and John Gallaudet charge ridiculous fees to girls for dramatic training, feed them to their operations as b-girls at their club, and eventually into the white slavery trade.

William Nigh's last movie is filled with competent talent in a 1930s B movie plot. If you wish to play spot the performer, you'll have a good time seeing Ralph Byrd, Pamela Blake, Nana Bryant, Evelyn Brent, and Franklyn Farnum, and the dialogue is pretty good, but the story is tired.

Nigh had entered movies in 1913 as an actor at Keystone. By the next year he was directing, and by the 1920s he was directing for MGM. Like many directors, his career went downhill fast during the sound era, and by 1931 he was on Poverty Row. He was in charge of 121 movies in total. He died in 1955, shortly after his 74th birthday.