Stuart Erwin is enthusiastically dense as Merton Gill, a young man who has gotten himself a mail order diploma from an acting school and ditches his small town for Hollywood, determined to make it big.
It's harder than he expected, of course, but Erwin persists in hanging around the movie studio. Eventually studio star Joan Blondell takes pity on him and convinces a director to give him a bit part in a western. When star and director get a load of Erwin's comical overacting, they get an idea - and suddenly Erwin is starring in his own western picture, taking himself very seriously while everyone around him is well aware that the picture is intended to be a farce. As production wraps up, Blondell - who, it turns out, really is pretty softhearted - grows increasingly worried what will happen when Erwin figures out that everyone is laughing at him.
Blondell is fun to watch and quite good as the movie actor with a conscience. Stuart Erwin is just fine as Merton, a bit dopey but still a sympathetic figure. In fact, while the movie feels like it should be a comedy - with all of Erwin's "serious acting" scenes drawing laughs from those around him - it turns out to be more drama than comedy, and finally builds to a climax that aims to be moving rather than hilarious.
It's no classic, and the story feels like kind of a chestnut even for 1932, but still - it's hard not to feel yourself really rooting for Merton in the end there.
It's harder than he expected, of course, but Erwin persists in hanging around the movie studio. Eventually studio star Joan Blondell takes pity on him and convinces a director to give him a bit part in a western. When star and director get a load of Erwin's comical overacting, they get an idea - and suddenly Erwin is starring in his own western picture, taking himself very seriously while everyone around him is well aware that the picture is intended to be a farce. As production wraps up, Blondell - who, it turns out, really is pretty softhearted - grows increasingly worried what will happen when Erwin figures out that everyone is laughing at him.
Blondell is fun to watch and quite good as the movie actor with a conscience. Stuart Erwin is just fine as Merton, a bit dopey but still a sympathetic figure. In fact, while the movie feels like it should be a comedy - with all of Erwin's "serious acting" scenes drawing laughs from those around him - it turns out to be more drama than comedy, and finally builds to a climax that aims to be moving rather than hilarious.
It's no classic, and the story feels like kind of a chestnut even for 1932, but still - it's hard not to feel yourself really rooting for Merton in the end there.