The story is about a young, naive precocious and pretentious posh girl wanting to join a bunch of pretentious luvvies. Katherine Hepburn is that girl and not only is she the most pretentious, affected fake person you'd ever meet in theatre-land (maybe not?), she's incredibly irritating. ......She's also brilliant at playing that role. It's an incredible testament to the acting skill of Hepburn that she makes such an unsympathetic character (she's not nasty, just annoying) so engaging.
Films from this era really don't allow the skills of the actors, directors and crew to hide behind fancy production or special effects. Under the unforgiving glare of early thirties film making techniques everything is exposed: specifically talent and lack of talent. Under that light nothing could be hidden but the cream rises to the surface. This is one of the good ones: it's classy, the acting is natural and believable and it looks professional.
As a story, as a piece of entertainment however, despite this being a brilliantly made film, it's not especially good. If you were an aspiring actor in the early thirties you might be able to engage with this but for the rest of us, it doesn't grab you. OK, none of you watching this (probably) are gangsters, 1930s prostitutes or forgotten First World War veterans but stories about those still resonate with us, they can affect us emotionally. It's strange that you'll actually enjoy this , you'll appreciate the superb way everyone and everything works but there's no heart, no feeling in it. As a snapshot into a small aspect of early 30s life, this is interesting but other than on an academic level, it's quite dull.
Films from this era really don't allow the skills of the actors, directors and crew to hide behind fancy production or special effects. Under the unforgiving glare of early thirties film making techniques everything is exposed: specifically talent and lack of talent. Under that light nothing could be hidden but the cream rises to the surface. This is one of the good ones: it's classy, the acting is natural and believable and it looks professional.
As a story, as a piece of entertainment however, despite this being a brilliantly made film, it's not especially good. If you were an aspiring actor in the early thirties you might be able to engage with this but for the rest of us, it doesn't grab you. OK, none of you watching this (probably) are gangsters, 1930s prostitutes or forgotten First World War veterans but stories about those still resonate with us, they can affect us emotionally. It's strange that you'll actually enjoy this , you'll appreciate the superb way everyone and everything works but there's no heart, no feeling in it. As a snapshot into a small aspect of early 30s life, this is interesting but other than on an academic level, it's quite dull.