Gloire éphémère

It's a tired old story - maybe not so tired in 1933 - about a young hopeful, Eva Lovelace (Hepburn) who comes to Broadway in search of fame. Kate's character is just so naive and so forward - and broke yet proud - that she is captivating. I can't think of anybody else who played it just like this so early in the talking film era.

She bursts in on producer Joseph Easton's (Adolphe Menjou) office thinking because he actually said a few kind words to her in passing that there was some kind of professional connection there. She has several completely forward conversations in his office with complete strangers, and some react positively and some negatively. But it establishes who Eva is as a character.

Playwright Joe Sheridan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is in love with the girl from first sight. Easton uses her one night and casts her aside, although from the set up it doesn't seem to be something he planned. Eva is just so naive that she thinks that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Easton is such a coward he doesn't want to face her again.

RKO spent money on the stars for this one - they didn't rely on their stock company to populate it except perhaps for Hepburn who was under contract for several years and made her worst films for them. Only after she got away from RKO did she become great. But wasn't that true of everybody except for perhaps Robert Mitchum, Astaire, and Rogers?

The dialogue is very creaky, some of the scenes are too long, in particular the last one. And after watching it I was puzzled that Hepburn actually won her first Oscar for this, but not Alice Adams. So I looked up her competition. Only two other Best Actress nominees that year - Diana Wynward for the lead in one of the most puzzling Best Picture winners of all time - Cavalcade, and May Robson in Lady for a Day. So she won in a weak year.

If there had been Best Supporting Actress awards that year, I'd nominate Mary Duncan as diva Rita Vernon who is a completely obnoxious person who thinks her fame will last forever even though she is rounding the top of the hill. She trades catty remarks barb for barb and simply doesn't know what to do when confronted with the guileless Eva.

Lowell Sherman directed this one, and he got good performances out of everybody involved. I don't think I've seen a 30s film without a gimmick in it in which Fairbanks Jr. Looked better.

I ordinarily don't like Katharine Hepburn even with her four Academy Awards. She, Gloria Swanson, and a handful of other actresses sound like they're putting on--like they are trying to hard to sound like something and someone they're not. To this day I can't place Katharine Hepburn's accent and manner of speaking. It's like she made up a way of speaking just to be different. So you can trust me when I say she was perfect for the role of Eva Lovelace.

Eva Lovelace was a young unknown actress who traveled to New York to try to make a name for herself on Broadway. She went to see Louis Easton (Adolphe Menjou) (Louis per end credits, Lewis per a poster in the movie), a big time Broadway producer. Louis wasn't terribly impressed with her gumption and her flare, but Joseph Sheridan (Douglas Fairbanks) certainly was. Douglas was a playwright who wrote many things for Mr. Easton.

If Eva was going to make it in New York she was going to have to be spectacular and she was going to need some help.

Katharine Hepburn playing an actress is great. It fits her perfectly. It's the perfect role to explain everything about her I mentioned in the first paragraph. She was made for the role of Eva Lovelace and she truly brought the character to life.

2.99 on YouTube.

It was interesting to see Lowell Sherman directing, being somebody that knows him better as an actor specialising as villains and cads. My main reason though watching 'Morning Glory' was the cast, this has always been one of my most frequent main reasons for watching a film (that and appealing concepts, as well as wanting to see everything from an admired actor/actress/director). Not just Katharine Hepburn, who garnered her first Oscar here, but also Adolphe Menjou, C Aubrey Smith and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

'Morning Glory' is not an easy film to rate or review. It is interesting for historical interest, to see how Hepburn's performance fares and whether the Oscar win was deserved or not. There are a fair share of big strengths in 'Morning Glory' but also a fair share of obvious and not at all overlookable drawbacks, which is why my feelings are so conflicted here for a film that is perfectly watchable but didn't quite click with me somehow.

The best thing about 'Morning Glory' is the cast, with the performances being so good that they make up almost half my rating. The obvious starting point being Hepburn, who dominates the film in a very winning performance. It is not a subtle one by all means and all the talk could definitely have been less, but she is at her most radiant at this stage of her career and was clearly enjoying herself, if she appears mannered that was the point of her character and she clearly relished those mannerisms. Fairbanks is a lot more subdued in comparison but is appealingly earnest as the film's most likeable character.

Smith is in a role that suits him to the ground and he is a very warm presence in it. Menjou is in the type of role he specialised in and played better than anybody else in his generation, and he is deliciously smarmy. Mary Duncan charms and amuses. Max Steiner's lush score is another plus, there are moments of nice wit, the film starts off really well and Hepburn's Shakespeare recitation is priceless.

Which is why it's sad that, with all those pluses, 'Morning Glory' wasn't better. The script has far too much talk and overdone babble and gets pretty flabby in the latter stages. Sherman's direction seemed erratic and unsure, if to choose as to whether there was a preference for his acting or direction it is a no-brainer. While there are moments of lovely photography, namely with how Hepburn is captured, it tends to be too restricted and static with too much of a filmed play feel.

Editing seemed jumpy and while the costumes are nice the sets could have been a lot more expansive and less stage bound. While 'Morning Glory' started off very well, the story became increasingly creaky and the second half jumps around a lot, which affects the coherence of character decisions and events and can feel rushed yet also bland. Do agree with others about the ending being very abrupt to the point of not being much of one at all, not to mention it is not a surprising one at all.

On the whole, doesn't quite bloom or glow. A bit on the fence here. 5.5/10

In only her third film, Katharine Hepburn gives a lovely performance as a skinny, aspiring actress coming to New York from a small Vermont town convinced she will become a star. From the opening scenes where she stares admiringly at portraits of famous actors in the theater lobby, and then nervously starts her chatterbox conversation with C. Aubrey Smith in producer Adolphe Menjou's outer office, you are compelled to root for her because of her exuberance. But the climb to stardom is not that easy, she learns, failing in a small role Menjou gives her, taking menial jobs in vaudeville to keep from starving until she can get a break. When she does get the break of a lifetime, replacing the star who quit on opening night when her financial demands were not met, Hepburn is filled with fear of failure once again.

I loved the famous scene where Hepburn gets slightly drunk at a party given by Menjou and recites the "to-be-or-not-to-be" soliloquy from Hamlet and the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. So did the guests, who applauded, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who fell in love with her. The supporting cast were all excellent, but I particularly liked Helen Ware playing Hepburn's costumer, who was briefly once a famous star, but faded quickly, like a morning glory.

If you are interested in credit errors, note that Menjou's onscreen character name credit is given as "Louis Easton," but when you see it printed throughout the film it is spelled "Lewis Easton."

Story about Eva Lovelace (Katharine Hepburn) a stagestruck girl who comes to NY determined to be a great actress. She learns quickly that it isn't that easy and falls in love with producer Louis Easton (Adolphe Menjou) who doesn't love her. And writer Joseph Sheridan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) DOES love her but she doesn't have a clue.

The story is VERY old and the movie itself is incredibly stagy (it's based on a stage play--and it shows) but it is worth watching. It's well-directed and cast and Hepburn is just incredible. She won her first Academy Award for this and it's easy to see why. She never strikes a false note (even during a drunk scene at a party which could have been done very badly) and she's young and beautiful. Also Menjou is very good (as usual) and Fairbanks is just so-so but he WAS an incredibly handsome young man.

See it for Hepburn. And it is short (about 72 minutes).