I realize this was 1929 but this picture is not in the same class with "King Of Jazz" or "Broadway Melody Of 1929". The storyline of a backstage love triangle has been done to death and done much better; here, the story was disjointed and uninteresting. The cast is a group of no-names with the exception of Mary Eaton, the nominal star of the picture who was very pretty and could sing and dance a little.
The biggest disappointment, however, is the uninspired, pedestrian score by, of all people, Irving Berlin. The good songs are background songs or older, incidental songs written by other composers. It was great to see Helen Morgan, Eddie Cantor and Rudy Vallee but they don't appear until the last 20 minutes of the film.
In 1925 Florenz Ziegfeld signed a 5-year contract with Paramount to bring his brand of glamour and showmanship to Hollywood and to movie audiences. Foot-dragging, confusion and postponements led to a rush job called "Glorifying The American Girl", with Ziegfeld's contract about to run out. There are production numbers with strange themes, all of which lack a unifying coherence and featuring showgirls in various stages of undress. This was a staple of Ziegfeld's shows.
Cantor had a funny skit, Helen Morgan's number was poignantly sad, and Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees were refreshing, all of which was not enough to save this movie from mediocrity. Shown at Capitolfest 2011, Rome, N.Y. on a restored print from the UCLA Film Archives Dept.
The biggest disappointment, however, is the uninspired, pedestrian score by, of all people, Irving Berlin. The good songs are background songs or older, incidental songs written by other composers. It was great to see Helen Morgan, Eddie Cantor and Rudy Vallee but they don't appear until the last 20 minutes of the film.
In 1925 Florenz Ziegfeld signed a 5-year contract with Paramount to bring his brand of glamour and showmanship to Hollywood and to movie audiences. Foot-dragging, confusion and postponements led to a rush job called "Glorifying The American Girl", with Ziegfeld's contract about to run out. There are production numbers with strange themes, all of which lack a unifying coherence and featuring showgirls in various stages of undress. This was a staple of Ziegfeld's shows.
Cantor had a funny skit, Helen Morgan's number was poignantly sad, and Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees were refreshing, all of which was not enough to save this movie from mediocrity. Shown at Capitolfest 2011, Rome, N.Y. on a restored print from the UCLA Film Archives Dept.