Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A Masterpiece!

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Aging middle aged actress Verree Teasdale is starring in the latest dramatic potboiler on Broadway, a tearjerker that has the men's mouths ajaw (probably from their awareness of how bad it is) and the women dabbing their eyes. A gold digger asks "daddy" for the same yellow dress that she wears in the closing scene, even though the movie viewer only hears Teasdale, not seeing her. In the audience is handsome George Brent, one of those with their eyes rolling over how bad it is (a sentiment echoed by one of the financiers he sees in the audience), and soon Brent is spending time with the vain Teasdale. One night while waiting for her, Brent is interrupted by the arrival of young Jean Muir whom Brent finds out is the daughter that Teasdale has been hiding away in boarding school, the product of a brief marriage during Teasdale's poorer days that was easier to hide. Teasdale wants to send Muir off to an aunt's while the school quarantine is on, but Muir doesn't want to go. In fact, she's become enamored of Brent and wants to stay. Having no choice, Teasdale introduces her to society, but the snobs of the uppercrust are not Muir's type, and an engagement to stuffy Charles Starrett results in a party where all of Muir's frustrations are revealed thanks to his snobby mother Virginia Hammond's demands on Muir's behavior.The glamorous Verree Teasdale is forgotten outside the legion of classic movie fans (so memorable in two other 1934 Warner Brothers movies, "Dr. Monica", also with Muir, and "Fashions", as the rival to Bette Davis), and I once had to explain to a tour guide of the Hollywood Cemetery that she was so much more than just Adolph Menjou's widow. Tall and regal with a very lady like presence that could turn acidic if you crossed her, Teasdale reminded me of another forgotten tall supporting player, Natalie Moorehead. In this film, Teasdale is trying to hold onto her image as a glamorous star, not the shop girl of her youth who married a poor man and got widowed early on, only to rise through the ranks to become a popular actress. She is desperate to hold onto what she has gained, so daughter Muir, as much as she loves her, becomes the bane of that attempt especially when Muir's feelings towards Brent become obvious. Muir, a rising starlet, could have become as big at Warner Brothers as Bette Davis was, but like another star at Warner's at the time (Ann Dvorak), Muir had other ambitions that couldn't be controlled by the studio system. Brent shows once again how he can make his leading ladies look good just by standing next to them in evening clothes and never upstaging them. This is an interesting and glamorous entry in the usually tough Warner Brothers line-up of pre-code movies, quite subtle in its display of sin, but obvious to those of us who look past what the script is telling us to see.

This film is about a hidden daughter. It seems that a very vain and rather awful stage actress has kept her daughter hidden from the world for many years. We aren't sure why, but assume it's because the awful mother doesn't want anyone to see how old she actually is OR because she didn't want to be bothered with a child (or both). The mother simply has no interest in the kid--and now that she's grown, she STILL wants to keep her a secret.When nice-guy George Brent accidentally meets this secret 19 year-old, he's taken by her innocence and how unlike her mother she is. In fact, while he takes on the role of a 'Dutch uncle' (like an unofficial guardian or protector), it's obvious he's falling in love with her. Amazingly, the daughter (Jean Muir) seems to have no inkling that this has occurred and sees him as a good friend...and that's all. While this isn't exactly a 'May-December romance', Brent's being in his 30s and she not quite 20 is a bit problematic. So he keeps this hidden desire to himself. What will become of this? Will the love continue unrequited? Will this sweet girl continue to allow her mother to treat her like an unwanted carbuncle? Tune in and see.I liked the plot of this film. It is unique and interesting. My only serious reservation is that Muir's performance in the beginning is a bit too 'aw, shucks' naive for my taste. She seems like an 8 year-old who's just come to the big city and her wide-eyed innocence seems to have been put on a bit thick. However, I did like her character later as she matured a bit. This persona did change a bit and she gained a lot of strength as the film progressed. I liked this--but just wished they'd toned down her initial characterization. Still, it's a nice little movie that packs a nice, though somewhat predictable, punch.

The Warner movies of the early thirties with a more female sensibility are forgotten. Here this traces back to the script by Mary McCall who also did IT'S TOUGH TO BE FAMOUS. They pussyfoot round the scandalous issue of Brent sparking both actress Teasedale and daughter Muir and that stops this from being the strong melodrama it might have been but the team are still at the peak of the form that made the studio excel in the first years of sound and this one plays well and is full of imaginative minor touches of the kind that would fade from director Mayo's later work - Teasdale's success shown in a view of the audience the curtain shadow falls across, her passing the key seen silent through a window or an unseen doorman dismissing a taxi.There's even a night life montage with champagne glasses.The cast are in their element and, with a less rushed ending, this could have been a notable item.

What a pleasant little movie this is, and I mean that in the best possible way. This older man, younger woman romance moves swiftly, has gorgeous sets and attractive costumes. I now see why George Brent was one of the more popular stars of his day. He has the unusual ability to be stoic and sensitive at the same time. You can feel his uneasiness and his pain as he realizes he is falling in love a woman he should not be. Jean Muir, as the object of his affection, is cute, perky, and marvelous. Verree Teasdale is cast perfectly as the mother.