Oh those early years of sound in movies. The things they tried, the things that worked, and the things that failed. Here, there are both some success and failures, but most work. One thing that comes out of it is that it is easy to see why this is one of the few remembered early musical films without a major film star in the lead. Helen Morgan, who was the toast of Broadway in "Show Boat" and "Sweet Adeline", plays a vaudeville star who is desperately trying to raise her daughter well and keep her away from her sordid life. She is seen at the beginning saying goodbye to her husband, who is being executed, and her struggle as a single mother is dramatically very interesting. To see her slow fall from the top of the boards to the worst vaudeville theaters is quite sad. She has sent her daughter off to a convent school and years later, her wretched partner orders the drunken Morgan to bring her back to spice up their act and for sickening reasons of his own. The young girl (Joan Peers) finds love with a nice young sailor and mom doesn't want to spoil it. Mom's name happens to be Kitty Darling, which gives you a small idea of her personality. Helen Morgan gives a stagy but memorable performance as the hard-drinking vaudevillian whose best days are behind her. She is the whole show. Rouben Mamoullien, who directed "Porgy and Bess" and "Oklahoma!" on Broadway, only did periodic films, but the list of his credits is very memorable. He is an artist rather than a film maker, and here, he takes a creaky subject and makes it very interesting. The finale is gripping and will leave the viewer able to make their own guess as to what transpires. Fuller Mellish Jr. is slimy as Morgan's partner, while Jack Cameron is merely adequate as the sailor. Peers is no star to be. But in spite of those casting shortcomings, when Morgan is on screen, the film is magnetic. She adapted a great deal more to the screen when she did the film version of "Show Boat" seven years later, but unlike Marilyn Miller (in her film versions of "Sunny" and "Sally"), Morgan comes off here as more alive even under the influence. She may not be the ideal mother, but for an early sound film, she's more dimensional than most.
Review of Applause
