Stage Mother (1933)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Let's be realistic.

Better Late Then Never

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

In some ways, "Stage Mother" is a decent film. But to me, it was really lacking something that it sorely needed....characters you could care about and like. Too often, folks are either jerks or plastic.When the film begins, Kitty (Alice Brady) is a stage star, as is her husband. However, he's killed and Kitty is stuck...pregnant and without much of a life for the kid. So, she moves in with the husband's family and spends a few years living the suburban life. However, she becomes bored and goes back to the hard life of the vaudeville stage and she leaves her daughter with his family. Years pass, Kitty's prospects are exhausted so she takes a behind the stage job--and brings her daughter, Shirley (Maureen O'Sullivan) to live with her. Kitty doesn't do this out of the goodness of her heart. Her plan is to make Shirley a star and live off her! And for the remainder of the film, Kitty manipulates her daughter and sees her rise to the top. But, when Shirley meets a nice guy (Franchot Tone) and wants to settle down, Kitty decides to destroy this relationship for her own selfish reasons. What's next? See the film...or not.As I mentioned, the characters (particularly Kitty) all seem like low-lifes. As for Shirley, she's nice...but in a very bland way and has little backbone. All in all, a curiously uninvolving story that should have been either more humanized or more hard-edged. By the way, there are a lot of song and dance numbers that looked like they were choreographed by Busby Berkeley's less talented cousin...or dog.

Stage Mother is one of those astonishingly camp early '30s musicals that are worth watching for their outrageously over-the-top production numbers--in this case, Dancing on a Rainbow ("I'm higher than a kite!"). If that isn't pre-Code enough for you, however, there's also a swishy dance instructor (Jay Eaton) who chants "we are fairies, we are elves" and some extremely translucent dance wear that shows off some shapely gams to good effect. As for the story--well, the less said the better. Brassy Alice Brady is awful as titular pushy parent Kitty Lorraine, who forces ugly duckling daughter Shirley (Maureen O'Sullivan, horribly mis-cast) to take up a career as an entertainer. The low-point comes when O'Sullivan bursts into song: her 'voice' clearly belongs to another, and little effort was made to align the actress' mouth with the words supposedly coming from it.

Flying trapeze swinger Alice Brady (as Katherine "Kitty" Lorraine) is grounded when she becomes pregnant, then takes the baby girl to go live with her husband's family in Boston, Massachusetts. Eventually, with encouragement from comedian Ted Healy (as Ralph Martin), Ms. Brady returns to the vaudeville stage. When her daughter grows up to be gawky Maureen O'Sullivan (as Shirley), the now older Brady makes pretty Ms. Sullivan over as the leggy star of a successful Busby Berkeley-type chorus girls show."Stage Mother" attempts to convey some seedy theatrical realities, but they are hesitant and humorous instead of dramatic. Writer Bradford Ropes helped adapt his original novel, but obviously had to tone down much the sexual content; what's left is a little silly. Two attractive young men, painter Franchot Tone and cruiser Phillips Holmes, court pretty O'Sullivan. Brady slices through the leading role. A highlight is the production number for "Beautiful Girl", which effectively celebrates the female form.****** Stage Mother (9/20/33) Charles Brabin ~ Alice Brady, Maureen O'Sullivan, Franchot Tone, Phillips Holmes

With the rows and rows of dancing girls all in unison, I would have sworn that Busby Berkley or Ziegfeld had to be involved in this, but no sign of them mentioned on IMDb. Alice Brady is Kitty Lorraine, the pushy mom who makes sure her daughter Shirley (Maureen O Sullivan) gets ahead in show biz. As usual, Brady is loud and a little lower-class, but you know exactly where you stand, and she means well. O'Sullivan made a whole bunch of Tarzan movies, and was in the Thin Man. Franchot Tone is Shirley's boyfriend in one of his earliest film roles. O'Sullivan sings (or pretends to sing) several numbers. Story is soooo similar to Gypsy Rose Lee... she would have been about 20 when this film came out. Novel and screenplay of "Stage Mother" written by Bradford Ropes. Viewers will recognize Alice Brady as the silly giggling aunt from Gay Divorcée; she seems to have died young at 47. The cast list shows Larry Fine (one of the Stooges) as a customer in the music store, but I must have missed him. Fun story. Plot starts a little slow and sad, but gets better as it goes along. Director Charles Brabin had been making films for 20 years, and this was one of the last ones he made. Turner Classic shows this now & then, and has it listed as G rated, but that can't be right....