Stage Door (1937)

Today, I watched Stage Door with my mother on TCM which turned out to be a pretty entertaining, if somewhat melodramatic movie, but with great acting from Katharine Hepburn in particular. It is about a wealthy woman Terry Randall, who has moved into a boarding house for women pursuing careers in theatre. She meets a shattered actress (Andrea Leads), who is desperate for the new role in a play called Enchanted April, a bitter dancer looking for love ( Ginger Rogers), among others.


The concept of this film seems so original and fantastic today: Can you believe it? A house for girls wanting to make it in the theatre? Such a great idea! In fact, back then, these houses really existed, according to the hosts of TCM.

Anyway, the script has a lot o great points, especially with Hepburn's character, who is so witty and shot out of a cannon. My personal favorite though was Rogers: I loved how perfectly she captured this woman, and made her so affecting and likeable. But sadly, neither received an Oscar nomination: Leads did for her role as Kay. I thought she was good, but the character lacked other dimensions. Too bad she was the only one nominated from the cast.




Anyway, I felt the film was entertaining and effective, but the ending didn't work as well as it should for me. I didn't buy the resolution to the film: It felt too predictable at points, like a new girl arriving at the house to replace the one who just left. We've seen that before! Still, I reccomend the film for it's story and overall great acting.