Stage Door ***** (1937, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick) – Classic Movie Review 2529

Director Gregory La Cava’s hugely entertaining 1937 classic comedy stars Katharine Hepburn as American rich society beauty Terry Randall and Ginger Rogers as sarcastic, smart-mouth broad Joan Maitland.

The duo spar delightfully as young actresses sharing rooms while waiting for their big break on Broadway in co-writer-director La Cava’s much-improved version of the already sparkling Edna Ferber-George S Kaufman stage hit play.

Terry decides to see if she can break into the Broadway theatre scene without her family connections. Her roommate Jean is approached by a powerful producer. Other appealing young hopefuls sharing their women’s New York theatrical boarding house include Gail Patrick, Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, Eve Arden, Constance Collier and Andrea Leeds.

This is very much one of the very popular ‘women’s pictures’ of the day, but Adolphe Menjou as the philandering married producer Anthony Powell, Jack Carson, Samuel S Hinds and Franklin Pangborn score strongly for the men’s team.

La Cava, Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiller’s lighthearted screenplay is overflowing with snappy, witty dialogue that raises big laughs in these capable hands, and the movie is smoothly and deftly directed by the comedy expert La Cava. But it’s really the sparkling performances from the rich crop of players that make it such a wonderful film.

Also in the cast are Ralph Forbes, Mary Forbes, Katherine Alexander, C Huntley Gordon, Pierre Watkin, Elizabeth Dunne, Phyllis Kennedy, Grady Sutton, Fred Santley, Frank Reicher, Jane Rhodes, Jean Rouverol, Theodore von Eltz, Jack Rice, Harry Strang and Frances Gifford.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2529

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com