Make Me a Star

Once again TCM comes to the rescue of a forgotten gem. I agree with the posters here who comment on the interesting mix of pathos and comedy in this film. The film is truly touching in a way that could not come across today. Why is that? I think that nowadays it is an either-or : either you are a comedy or you are going for pathos. The trick of balancing both seems to be lost.

There is additional pleasure in seeing Paramount stars of the times in walk-ons in the scenes on the lot or at the disastrous/successful preview. Look quickly and you can see Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, Tallulah Bankhead among others.

Joan Blondell is excellent in her specialty, playing the tough cookie with a huge sentimental streak. I found the sweetness of the comedy in the scenes back home in Simsbury absolutely refreshing. Not a touch of cynicism even though these characters are so clearly the objects of humor.

Catch this when you can. I just checked the Turner schedule for the next three months and it doesn't seem to be on.

"Make me a Star" is a heartrending film, one that superbly demonstrates the sincerity, honesty, and versatility of Stuart Erwin. Although many of the early scenes are farcical and satirize slapstick comedy, specifically the kind directed by Mack Sennett, the movie turns serious when it delves into the boorish behavior of the Hollywood studio system moguls, who prey upon starstruck acting hopefuls. And Stuart Erwin, as one of these unworldly hopefuls, handles both the farce and the drama equally adroitly. The final scene between Erwin and Joan Blondell is heartbreaking. In fact, I was so impressed with the movie that I decided to devote much of one chapter to this remarkable film in my book on Stuart Erwin.

Here I am, in 2007, and I'm a huge Joan Blondell fan. Yes, Zasu Pitts appears in MAKE ME A STAR – daffy and confounding – but only for a bit. I think it's Joanie's movie.

Stuart Erwin stars as Merton Gill, a.k.a. 'Whoop' Ryder, a kid from a small town who wants to make it in Hollywood as a serious actor in Westerns. He gives it a huge effort, but he's dismissed as the rube he actually is. Flips Montague (Joan) is sympathetic. She gets him a job, with a Mack Sennett-like director whose big star is that "cross-eyed man" Stuart dislikes so much. Merton thinks he's acting in a serious film, but it is edited and spliced, his voice changed to make him sound effeminate, and turned into a farce.

Merton proposes to Joan before the film's big opening, but she feels guilty and fakes sickness. He goes to the opening by himself and is humiliated.

I won't give away the ending, and the film is resolved by the closing scene, but it's nice to imagine his future if he takes the course which involves the girl.

This is a fun film.

This one is slow to get going, as a small town guy who wants to be a movie star (Stuart Erwin) doesn't have any charisma, and his attempts at a couple of pratfalls are weak. Early on it seemed like this would be a pale reflection of a film that came out a few months later in 1932, 'Movie Crazy', starring Harold Lloyd. However, where that film goes for madcap laughs, this one goes for pathos, and it's in Erwin's bumbling but sincere character that we find an awkward, earnest charm. Amidst a few touching scenes in this guy's story, it's also got some behind the scenes looks at Hollywood sets, several cameo appearances from stars of the day, and a small critique of the industry.

Three well-executed and touching scenes stand out:

• After an actress (Joan Blondell) takes pity on him and gets him a part as an extra, we see him get a single line to deliver, which he nervously flubs a few times before being asked to leave by the director. He does the line one more time and nails it, but while triumphantly looking around, sees the stage has emptied for lunch.

• In desperation he begins sleeping on the lot in the hope he'll get another break, and disheveled and broke, he digs through the trash to try to find food. Blondell finds him this way, and treats him with great kindness and dignity, getting him breakfast. Her looks of empathy reminded me of her 'My Forgotten Man' performance in 'Gold Diggers of 1933.' Being down and out and suffering hunger was a theme in Depression era films, and filmgoers were likely moved by Erwin's plight at a very basic level. He plays this scene very well too, with the perfect touch of humility, and little things like his hands shaking while he lifts his coffee cup.

• Fast forwarding a bit, after getting the starring role in a movie he believes is a classic Western, he attends the preview, only to find he's been duped and the movie is a farce. He's been set up to look like a fool not only by the director, but by Blondell. The scene in the theater where the film cuts to shots of audience members guffawing and then back to him squirming in discomfort is brilliant - and it should remind modern audiences of James Franco in 'The Disaster Artist', which perhaps owes a debt to it. We see several scenes on the big screen after having seen them on the set earlier, including a 'blue screen' scene on a horse, and it's really nice work.

If you watch closely, you'll also see many stars, including Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, Tallulah Bankhead, Frederic March, and Sylvia Sidney, adding another bit of interest. The film pokes a little at the phoniness of the industry, epitomized by the cowboy star Erwin idolizes (George Templeton), who isn't such a nice guy in reality. Blondell is charming in her part but Erwin, well, he's almost too damn sincere and milquetoast to really love the film. Its ending is also a bit abrupt. Still, worth seeing, and an interesting little pre-code curio.

Despite what you might have read, this is not a comedy. It's upbeat and amusing but the theme is about the cruelty of people finding it funny to laugh at people with 'learning difficulties' and how those people should appreciate how hurtful that can be.

I've never heard of Stuart Erwin before and maybe that anonymity helps us see his character, Merton, exactly as we're meant to: an unknown trying to make it in the snake-pit of Hollywood. Merton is a simple, child-like young man who thinks he can just walk up to the door of a film studio and become a star. His naive innocence makes us warm to him and feel sorry for him as people laugh at his stupidity and take advantage of him. His character is intentionally flat and one-dimensional but somehow Erwin manages to make his Merton believable and quite endearing.

Joan Blondell, playing a reasonably successful actress, who like us the viewer, first laughs at him, then feels sorry for him and eventually learns that she actually likes him. Her performance is outstanding, full of depth and pathos as she allows her character's true personality to emerge and develop. Although we're more used to seeing her playing funnier characters she's brilliant in this more dramatic role. Even though she's not playing for laughs she is just as sassy, witty and of course incredibly sexy.

Without giving anything away, the last scene is one of the most moving and touching few minutes on screen I've ever seen. This outpouring of emotion isn't just thanks to the amazing Joan, the surprisingly impressive Stuart Erwin but also from veteran Hollywood director William Beaudine. He is perhaps more well known for coming over here to make four classic Will Hay comedies - he could clearly turn his hand to anything and this motion picture shows just how much talent he had.

This film does take a while to really get going but overall it's a lovely bitter-sweet, light heated drama. The clever thing about it is that you don't realise until it's finished is that it's just so "nice."