What Price Hollywood? **** (1932, Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton) – Classic Movie Review 1127

Director George Cukor’s 1932 gleaming comedy treasure is a real vintage treat from the Thirties. It is based on a story by Adela Rogers St Johns, who came up with this idea first, but we all know it better as A Star Is Born. St Johns and Jane Murfin were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Story but lost to Frances Marion for The Champ.

What Price Hollywood? stars Constance Bennett (October 22 1904 – July 24 1965), who is at her most entertaining and amusing as Mary Evans, a Brown Derby waitress who shoots from obscurity to movie stardom after she meets has-been, alcoholic director Max Carey (Lowell Sherman) and millionaire Lonny Borden (Neil Hamilton).

Five years later this film’s executive producer David O Selznick unofficially revamped the story and produced it again as A Star Is Born (1937) and the film bizarrely won the 1937 Oscar for Best Original Story. Despite the obvious similarities of the stories, RKO didn’t sue the company of their former employee, Selznick International Pictures.

But this delicious version is a funny, fast-paced, witty gem in its own right and gives intriguing Hollywood behind-the-screens glimpses. Bennett is a delight and Sherman makes a splendidly derelict, sodden film director who helps her to the top.

It is an early film from the legendary Cukor, who was offered the remake to direct by Selznick, but decided the films were too alike and ducked it, but eventually went on also to direct the Judy Garland musical version of A Star Is Born in 1954.

Gregory Ratoff (as producer Julius Saxe), Brooks Benedict, Louise Beavers, Eddie Anderson, George Reed, Alice Adair, Sam Armstrong, King Baggot, Gerald Barry, Veda Buckland and Nicholas Caruso co-star.

It looks like there has been a whole lot of re-writing of the screenplay. There are six credited and un-credited screenwriters, Ben Markson, Gene Fowler, Rowland Brown, Jane Murfin, Allen Rivkin and Robert Presnell Sr, while Louis Stevens provided the screen story,

The film’s original title was The Truth About Hollywood. Adela Rogers St Johns loosely based her plot on the experiences of actress Colleen Moore and her husband, alcoholic producer John McCormick (1893-1961), and the life and death of director Tom Forman, who committed suicide after a nervous breakdown.

Selznick wanted to star Clara Bow, but RKO executives baulked at a Hollywood story because similar projects had failed. By the time Selznick convinced them, Bow was committed to another film. The film went on to make a $50,000 loss.

http://derekwinnert.com/a-star-is-born-1937-fredric-march-janet-gaynor-classic-film-review-1124/

http://derekwinnert.com/a-star-is-born-1954-judy-garland-james-mason-classic-film-review-1125/

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 1127 derekwinnert.com

Selznick with Jennifer Jones in Los Angeles, 1957.