Rating: 
Summary: Another great Ginger Rogers RKO movie of the 1930's.
Review: "Stage Door" was released for RKO Radio Pictures in 1937, and was directed by Gregory LaCava, the man who gave us the great "My Man Godfrey" just a year earlier. It has a number of top stars, such as Ginger Rogers (who is easily the Best actress ever). Then you have Kate Hepburn, Adolphe Menjou (Who appeared with Ginger again in 1942's "Roxie Hart"), and Lucille Ball in an early supporting role. There is also a very early appearance from Ann Miller. Oh, and this movie is NOT a musical.The film is set at a place called the "Footlight's Club". It's a boardinghouse full of wannabe actresses, who are there, in New York, to try and get themselves parts in Broadway shows. It would seem to be a fairly realistic look. Its full of amusing lines, and a few dramatic scenes now and again aswell. It does not have a very happy ending, at all, I would like to add, which in an odd way, makes it great. The film is really a comedy, mixed with drama. It's a decent story, and the acting is extremely good from all of the stars, and it is a very enjoyable little movie, that I could recommend. Definately worth picking up a copy to add to your film collection.
Rating:
Summary: "The calla lilies are in bloom again..."
Review: "The Philadelphia Story" brought Katharine Hepburn's film career back from the oblivion of being considered "Box Office Poison" by the nation's theater owners, but she was making a string of first-rate pictures right before that classic 1940 film beginning with 1937's "Stage Door." Her next two films were "Bringing Up Baby" and "Holiday," both with Cary Grant, and all four films have Hepburn playing a rich girl. In "Stage Door" she is Terry Randall, a debutante and wannabee actress who comes to New York City to become a Broadway star. She moves into the Footlights Club, where she joins a company of poor, starving young actresses who are all trying to make it in show businesses. Terry ends up rooming with Jean Maitland (Ginger Rogers), an acid-tongued but softhearted dancer. The two trade barbs over everything from Terry's extensive wardrobe to Jean's affair with Anthony Powell (Adolphe Menjou), a Broadway producer who is working his way through an endless procession of young women. His next big production is "Enchanted April," and in order to get funding he is cornered into giving the inexperienced and patently inept Terry the starring role. The part should have gone to Kaye Hamilton (Andrea Leeds), a talented actress at the club who is broke and on the verge of starvation. When Terry gets the part Kaye is crushed. Based on the play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, the script by Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiler retained the basic plot line regarding Terry, Jean, and Kay, while provided some wonderful crackling dialogue amongst the girls (some of which was supposedly based on overhearing the actresses chatting during rehearsals). One of the prime attractions of the film today are the faces that would become familiar in the future, such as Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, and Ann Miller. The show piece of the film is the play-within-the-play sequences, which was remodeled after a scene in the third act of "The Lake," the infamous Broadway play were Dorothy Parker got off the famous shot "Katharine Hepburn ran the gamut of emotions from A to B." This is where the famous line "The calla lilies are in bloom again" is uttered by Hepburn. In rehearsal she butchers the line and the scene in the most horrendous fashion. But then, in the grand tradition of opening nights in such films, Terry turns in a transcendent performance. The comparison of the two scenes is ample evidence of the range of Hepburn's acting talents at this point in her career. Admittedly it seems strange that Terry could be so inept, but the transformation is rewarding, as is the payoff of the film. However, Hepburn's performance was apparently overshadowed by the realization that Ginger Rogers was also a pretty good comedienne as well as a great dancer. Still, it is the ensemble nature of the film, with all those wisecracking young girls trying to make it in the big bad city that is the prime attraction. "Stage Door" received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Writing (Screenplay), Best Director for Gregory La Cava, and Best Supporting Actress for Leeds.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful!
Review: all i have to say is that this movie is thouroughly enjoyable! i'm a big lucille ball fan so it was fun to watch her in her act during her days as a movie star. ginger rogers and katherine hepburn are perfect for their roles and do a great job. this movie is just a delight! grab the popcorn and you're all set.
Rating:
Summary: PLEASE release on DVD
Review: I am always amazed that when great classic movies are discussed, this gem is always left out. I discovered this movie when I was about 12 years old. I had grown so tired of the classics with quietly demure women in leading roles. This movie features spunky, smart, beautiful women. Leading male? Who needs a leading male when you have Hepburn, Rogers and Ball? Just watching these three interact is priceless.
Rating:
Summary: CANT WAIT for the DVD!
Review: I am SO glad that they (whoever) have decided to release this movie on DVD! It is SO good. I saw it for the first time on late tv only a few months ago.. it had Ginger Rogers in it, so I decided to tape it. Thank gosh I did!!
A favourite part of mone is when she comes back from her date totally DRUNK!! It is hilarious! Her brilliant drunken style was totally convincing to me, and I was laughing so much, when I watched it again I kept rewinding that part. So I can't wait for it to come on DVD!
Whoever hasnt seen it.. see it!!:):)
P.S. This is the type of movie where, if you don't pay attention, you might get a bit lost.
Babs
Rating:
Summary: Great depiction of the lives of aspiring actresses...
Review: In the past few years, many movies have been made about aspiring actresses, ballerinas, singers, etc, etc. None of these recent movies, however, have been able to even come close to the wit and energy of Stage Door. Made with an all-star cast led by Katherine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, this in an excellent movie: it is moving, sweet, and has a great script. Essentially, this movie describes the lives of many aspiring actresses living at The Footlights Club in New York. More specifically, it deals with Terry (Katherine Hepburn), a rich girl who enters the Footlights Club, and is initially rejected by the poorer girls there because of her arrogance. Terry is not made to be an actress, and she only eventually becomes one because of her fathers influence and a tragic event. Also important in the plot are the adventures of the other girls and their efforts to find employment, especially those of the spunky and sarcastic character played by Ginger Rogers. The acting is amazing - Katherine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, especially, are perfect for their roles and bring them to life. Overall, this is a great movie about the ruthlessness and injustice in the world of acting - it is witty, interesting, and moving. I don't know how else to recommend this - if you haven't already seen it, what are you waiting for?
Rating:
Summary: Life (and death) at the Footlights Club
Review: Nearly 70 years after its original release, "Stage Door" continues to shine as one of the best movies of the 1930's, if not one of the best ever. Credit must be given to screenwriters Morrie Ryskind & Anthony Veiller as well as director Gregory LaCava for turning a mediocre stage production into a striking screenplay. "Stage Door" can perhaps be regarded today as a 1930's period piece - specifically a realistic glimpse into the lives of a group of struggling Broadway actresses who live at the Footlights Club, one of the myriad boarding houses common in the West Forties & Fifties of Manhattan at that time. The actresses trade wisecracks between them as well as share their joys & sorrows. The cast of "Stage Door" is just as sterling as the movie itself: Katharine Hepburn as Terry Randall, the society girl who tries to barge her way into the theater world; Ginger Rogers as Jean Maitland, the street-smart dancer; Adolphe Menjou as the cynical, womanizing producer Anthony Powell; Constance Collier as the hard up but still proud veteran actress who becomes Terry Randall's coach; a group of up-and-coming stars including Eve Arden, Ann Miller (who wasn't even 18 yet), and Lucille Ball; all the remaining members of the ensemble who contribute in their own small way, especially Phyllis Kennedy as Hattie the maid, and Norma Drury as Olga, the prospective concert pianist who'd rather talk about subjects other than men & the constant complaints re boarding house food. But of all the performances in "Stage Door", the most outstanding & poignant is that of Andrea Leeds who received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as the sensitive, tragic, defeated actress Kaye Hamilton who was a Broadway sensation a year earlier but now can't find a part to play anywhere & literally starves herself to be able to stay at the Footlights Club. Gregory La Cava called Ms. Leeds "...the best natural actress that has ever passed under my hands." "Stage Door" is also famous for one of Katharine Hepburn's best-known & most-mimicked lines: "The calla lilies are in bloom again." For one of the finest examples of moviemaking Hollywood has ever created, you cannot go wrong with this film.
Rating:
Summary: One of the richest little movies I've ever seen.
Review: One wonders whether or not STAGE DOOR could even be made today. Its primary story of aspiring actresses in a boarding house is set during the 1930's depression, and all through the film's scintillating 85 minutes, there is a theme of desperation, of blue-collar optimism- felt by just about every character in the story (even Katharine Hepburn's silver-spoon Terry). Though Hepburn and Ginger Rogers are essentially the leads as the oil-and-water roomates, Eve Arden, Lucille Ball, Andrea Leeds, Gail Patrick, and a disgustingly young Ann Miller (was she even 15 here?) are all marvelous in Morrie Ryskind and Anthony Veiller's sharp, caustic, wicked, lightning-fast screenplay. The punch lines alone ("when does your baggage get here?" "uh-oh, gangrene just set in!!" "when knighthood was in flower," "my grandpa sat around 'til he was 80," "speaking of funerals, these flowers just arrived for you") are platinum. I imagine it'll come to DVD eventually, but if you can get it even on VHS, get it!!
Rating:
Summary: excellent film featuring rising stars
Review: This film features many Golden Age actresses at the beginning of their careers: Eve Arden, Lucille Ball, Katharine Hepburn, and Ginger Rogers (in a non-musical role) amongst many others. The story centers around The Footlights Club, a boardinghouse for actress-wannabes newly arrived in New York to try and make it on Broadway. (Interesting side note: this house did exist -- though under another name -- during most of 20th century, and now the Museum of Modern Art occupies its address.) The wisecracks are hilarious, and the relationships between the women as they strive towards the same goal -- a part in a major play --- are realistic. There is a "sisterhood" air to the scenes at the house, though there is jealousy and cattiness as well. Unlike the films of today, there are no pat happy endings and that just makes the film more captivating.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome To The Theatre.
Review: This has always been one of my favorite movies. I've just watched it for maybe the tenth time, and my jaw hurts from the constant grin, along with a tear or two, that viewing this film produces. The story of the inhabitants of "The Footlights Club", those struggling young actresses pursuing the glory and heartbreak of show-biz, is just as fresh and witty as when it was produced in 1937. Katherine Hepburn was somewhere in the midst of her "Box Office Poison" phase when she made this film. She is wonderful as "Terry Randall", the heiress attempting to live in anonymity to pursue her starry dream, against the wishes of her wealthy father. She is assisted in all this comaraderie by the now legendary cast of Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, and Ann Miller. Other than Rogers, all the others were relatively unknown at this point, and their intimidation at the prospect of working with the Great Kate has been often told. Ann Miller was but a babe here, and we get to see her tap!, something she later became very famous for. Also, our beloved Lucys wisecracking and dead-pan humor foreshadow her future greatness as the worlds favorite t.v. clown. This superbly written film, taken from the play by Edna Ferber and George Kaufmann, is full of witty banter, repartee, occasional sweet sentiment, and tragedy, as the lovely gaggle of girls try and constantly out-talk each other. It is rich with wonderful character roles, the stand out being that of Constance Collier, as the older resident drama coach and faded actress. She is absolutely hysterical in her delivery, as she attempts to tell anyone who will listen about her acting glory days of past, always accompanied by the showing of her aged review clippings, which always just happen to be at hands reach. There just aren't any wonderful character actresses like this anymore, or, if there are, the roles for them are few and far between. In real life, Miss Collier, famous for her New York soirees, was Katherine Hepburns drama coach and dear friend, and, on her death in the mid-1950's, Miss Hepburn inherited Miss Colliers secretary, Phyllis Wilbourn, who remained with her for over forty years. Miss Collier was also drama coach for the great Garbo, as well as, for a brief time, her beloved Marilyn Monroe (Read "A Beautiful Child" by Truman Capote.) Some may find certain scenes and acting styles in this film dated, but, if so, don't let that distract you from its timeless wit in its depiction of those who will risk all to achieve their dream of their name in lights. This film also has one of my favorite endings and fade-outs, which always leaves a smile on my face. A classic.
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