Curtain Call

Helen vinson is "charlotte", the star, playing a star, in this sixty three minute shortie from rko pictures. She's been a complete pain, so the producer (donald macbride) and director (alan mowbray) give her a script that they think is just awful. Helen (barbara read) is the playwright, and when the producers try to make changes, charlotte convinces helen to stop them from making any changes, per her contract. It's all okay. The only character we root for is helen. Everyone else is evil and scheming. And when we get to the end, we're not really sure what lesson we learned. Donald macbride was always yelling at people in the marx brothers films. Directed by frank woodruff. Story by howard green. Read died young at 45 by suicide. Married four times. The irony of read, playing a writer who writes a play about suicide.

I wondered if Mel Brooks saw this film and got the idea for Producers, The (1968) from it. Both movies involve producers looking for the worst possible play - in this case for revenge, not for money. Helen Vinson is under contract to do one more play for Donald MacBride, but then plans to sign with another producer. So he and director Alan Mowbray decide to get her a bad play, and the one which naive would-be playwright Barbara Read has just sent them fits the bill. The problem is that Vinson adores the play and thinks it is a work of art. The movie bogs down a bit as Mowbray tries to get Read's permission to make changes in her play, and I didn't think much of the romance between Read and John Archer. Nonetheless, there's enough cute comedy throughout to enjoy, although the ending is a bit predictable.

One of the most brilliant, cutting, comedies ever made by a major studio (RKO.)

Alan Mowbry and Donald MacBride set out to find the most ghastly play imaginable to keep their temperamental star (Helen Vinson) from defecting to another producer. They hit on one by an earnest country girl, Barbara Read.

This ranks with "Twentieth Century" and "All About Eve" -- though clearly made on a far lower budget than either -- as a caustic study of venomous theater/movie types.

Mowbry is delightfully smarmy -- and there is more than a hint that he and his business partner are gay. Between its view of the Wide-eyed self-styled playwright and the demanding diva, this movie is misogyny personified.

The happy ending feels tacked on but it doesn't change, neutralize, or cushion what's come before it.

This film is about two people filled with huberis. One is a talentless writer who thinks she's written a play that is genius....the other an actress who thinks she is what makes plays successful...not the director or producer.

When the story begins, Donald Avery (Alan Mowbray) is on vaction...but folks keep pestering him because he's a famous Broadway producer. In particular, Helen Middleton (Barbara Read) has the nerve to try to get him to read her play...even though she's never written or published anything before. He essentially blows her off...telling her to submit the play to his secretary.

The trip is suddenly canceled when Avery's producer, Jeff Crandall (Donald McBride) calls him in a panic...their leading lady, Charlotte Morley (Helen Vincent) is talking about walking as soon as her contract is over...and she only owes them one more play. So, Jeff tries to pull a fast one...and looks for the worst play he can find...and it turns out to be Helen's. His notion is to tell Charlotte she'll have to star in this god-awful play....and teach her a lesson in humility. There's a problem with his plan...Charlotte loves the play and insists they do it! So what next? See the film.

This is a cute little comedy...not brilliant...but quite enjoyable. The best thing about it are McBride and Mowbray. The script by Dalton Trumbo is also quite nice. Overall, a clever little film, though I did not exactly love the ending.

Barbara Read has written the worst play in the history of American theater. Producer Donald MacBride and his director, Alan Mowbray, decide to produce it to sabotage their star Helen Vinson, and keep her from leaving them.

This variation on Kaufman & Hart's THE BUTTER AND EGG MAN is kept afloat largely by MacBride's over-the-top performance, although there are some good moments for Mowbray as he tries to romance Miss Read into letting him rewrite her script. Kudos also to Leona Maricle as MacBride's secretary, who carries out MacBride's senseless orders, from buying the worst script in the slush pile to renting a horse at 8 in the morning with a disdainful aplomb. With Frank Faylen and Tom Kennedy.