User Reviews

STAGE STRUCK (Warner Brothers, 1936), directed by Busby Berkeley, is a backstage musical that reunites the three principle players from GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (Warners, 1933), Warren William, Joan Blondell and Dick Powell. This time, Powell gets the promotion with top-billing (and a pencil-thin mustache) playing George Randall, the director of an upcoming musical show, LADY OF THE MOON. Also getting a promotion is Busby Berkeley, who was choreographer in the earlier film now director of entire production.

Following the pattern of other earlier 1933 hits, 42nd STREET and FOOTLIGHT PARADE, Joan Blondell is featured as blinky-eyed Peggy Revere, a temperamental actress with a bad reputation with men (she shoots them, but only giving her victims flesh wounds); Warren William as a smooth-talking promoter, Fred Harris, who tries to get George and Peggy on friendly terms; Frank McHugh as Sid, the harassed assistant dance director typically calling out, "Quiet!" "On stage!" etc.; and newcomer Jeanne Madden as a Ruby Keelerish-type young hopeful named Ruth Williams from East Weekaukeegan who wants a job in the show. As fate would have it, George takes an interest in Ruth, and because she's just a sweet young kid unlike the other girls in the chorus line, he tries to encourage her to forget about show business and take a job at a flower shop instead. But Ruth is insistent and goes against his advise. But George has his hands full with Peggy and will do anything to get rid of her, especially after a three day out-of-town tryout of the new show, WORDS AND MUSIC, in which newspaper critics report that "audiences laughed at all the wrong places" and that "Peggy Revere's performance disappoints." Eventually, Peggy does something on on opening night in her dressing room that involves her jealous fiancé (Craig Reynolds) and a shooting that prevents her from appearing (she gets arrested), and George must find himself a last minute replacement or the show won't go on.

STAGE STRUCK is a forgotten musical by all means, remembered, if at all, as the movie Busby Berkeley directed while going through courtroom trials for manslaughter (drunk driving that causes his car to swerve into another car after his tire blew out, killing three passengers.) This unfortunate incident was covered in the documentary presented on TCM: BUSBY BERKELEY: GOING THROUGH THE ROOF (1998), or the one in which Dick Powell and Joan Blondell got married during film production. Anyone expecting any lavish musical or a grand show-stopping finale Berkeley-style from STAGE STRUCK would be disappointed, because there aren't any. Good songs, however, by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, including "Lady of the Moon" (sung by chorus girls during rehearsals, with Frank McHugh); "Fancy Meeting You" (sung by Dick Powell and Jeanne Madden); "In YOUR Own Quiet Way" (sung by Powell) and "In HIS Own Quiet Way" (a try-out, sung by Jeanne Madden). What stands out here are the comedy antics from The Yacht Club Boys as The Mexican Serenaders, who wrote and sing their own songs, "The Government Takes Away" (titled in opening credits as "The New Parade") and the most bizarre of them all, "The Body Beautiful," the latter as an audition in Warren William's office. This wild and crazy music number relies mostly on special effects and defying the law of gravity. It must be seen to be believed. The Yacht Club Boys are at times reminiscent to The Ritz Brothers, another crazy bunch then making comedy antics in 20th Century-Fox musicals about the same time.

Also featured in the cast are: Spring Byington and Carol Hughes as Powell's mother and sister; Hobart Cavanaugh, and a young Jane Wyman who can be seen briefly as Bessie Fiffnick, one of many auditioning chorus girls, but it's Jeanne Madden (1917-1989), in her movie debut, who's the central character. Cute and a likable personality, she has a pleasing singing voice in the Deanna Durbin-style. Sadly, Madden's screen career would come to an end after appearing in two more forgettable films in 1937, becoming only a name for the memory book. STAGE STRUCK is worth a look only as a curiosity, if not much else. It's available for viewing on Turner Classic Movies. (***)

The above is an E.Y. Harburg couplet in a nimble ballad called "Fancy Meeting You," and it distills as well as any other lyric Harburg's huge gift for hyperbolizing hoary sentiments into fresh ones. The movie could use a little more of his wit and whimsy.

It's a slightly off-key Warner Brothers musical that wants to be a screwball comedy, with director Powell fending off wacky relatives and the advances of untalented diva Blondell, while producer William employs Freudian psychology to unite the mismatched pair, while Powell pursues an on-again-off-again-on-again romance with maddeningly fresh-faced ingenue Madden. (Her flat line readings make Ruby Keeler sound like Bette Davis.) Oh, the Yacht Club Boys are in it, too, with two endless specialty numbers that may have had resonance in 1936 -- one's about income taxes, the other about physical culture -- but their forced goofiness has dated badly.

Most surprisingly, despite the Berkeley imprimatur, there are no production numbers here; Warners, one has to assume, was on a budget binge. So the saving graces are the nice Arlen/Harburg songs, and Blondell, in an uncharacteristically broad and unsympathetic role. You don't believe her for a moment, yet she's terrific, batting her eyes and flashing her teeth and cavorting like an over-the-top Carole Lombard. This lady could do anything, but she doesn't really save this all-too-middling musical.

Weak musical comedy kept afloat by a great cast. Joan Blondell is amazing as usual. In addition to being a great comedienne, she was a curvy beauty. Joan is one of my favorites from the 30's and here she outshines everybody else by a mile. Mustachioed Dick Powell tries to get away from the boyish roles he had been playing up to this point. He's OK here but this isn't one of his better roles. Warren William is lots of fun as a producer with probably the only good lines that didn't go to Blondell. Solid support from Frank McHugh playing a character type he's played many times over and always to perfection. Carol Hughes is a hidden gem in a tiny part as Powell's sister, pretty and funny. Unknown Jeanne Madden plays Powell's love interest. Madden had a brief three picture career. It's easy to see why. She's not bad just unexceptional. Also look for Jane Wyman in a cameo.

Forgotten comedy and singing quartet Yacht Club Boys provide a couple of weird songs. The first is about taxes. It's really more of a rant than a song. A real oddity. The second song is "The Body Beautiful," a bizarre number about having muscles. It's the highlight of the film. Lackluster direction from Busby Berkeley. Even the aforementioned "Body Beautiful" number was poorly staged by his usual standards. Add to this a predictable script and tepid songs from Powell and Madden. However, I would still say it's watchable for fans of the period and genre. That recommendation is solely because of the personalities of the cast, particularly Blondell, and the odd musical numbers of the Yacht Club Boys.

... and I really like the leading players - (at that time) comic songbird Dick Powell, feisty Joan Blondell, that schemin' demon Warren William after the production code took his fangs away, and always reliable and likable comic support Frank McHugh round out the cast. What gums up the works is the completely predictable script which I could have written by just watching the first ten minutes, and the fact that this is supposed to be a back stage musical at 1930's Warner's where the payoff is usually in the finale where you get to see the stars work out their personal problems and perform some great numbers - but not here. Instead you have a complete unknown (Jeanne Madden as Ruth) laying on a couch singing the film's one catchy tune - "In Your Own Quiet Way", and that is it. There are no finished polished production numbers on display.

So what is good about it? The leading and reliable WB players whom I have already mentioned, and in particular Joan Blondell hamming it up playing a star who is only a star because she tends to commit violent acts against her boyfriends, but can't act, sing, or dance - a triple threat. You'd have to be a good actress to satirize one that is so bad and yet so egotistical at the same time.

What is really bad? The Yacht Club Boys for one. There are four of them, one more than the Three Stooges, and apparently they are going for that kind of humor but they are not funny. Worse, they are dull when they aren't being inane. Then there is ingénue Jeanne Madden as Dick Powell's love interest. She simpers around and projects zero personality, and we never get to see her dance either. So it's rather ironic that Blondell is playing what Ms. Madden actually is here - a flash in the pan (minus the violence I'm assuming) who is out of WB after two mediocre performances, this being her first.

I don't know if the studio thought they could get by with this just because Powell and Blondell were two of their stars who had recently married, but I'd only recommend it to completists and to film history buffs like myself who feel they have to see every film they can get their hands on.

This is a delightful backstage comedy/musical in the same vein as Warner Bros.' other 1930s Busby Berkeley fare. Dick Powell is great, Warren William is great, Joan Blondell is terrific, and even Frank McHugh is great. The weak link, unfortunately, is Jeanne Madden as the fresh-faced romantic lead. She can't perform at the level of experienced co-stars like Powell, and the romance suffers. But this was her first movie and she was probably hired for her voice.

I've seen several of these 1930s comedies (musical and otherwise) featuring the Warner Bros. contract players, and I haven't thought much of them as a rule. But for whatever reason I was very receptive toward STAGE STRUCK (1936). The movie is a lot of fun. It's comedy all the way through, with swell performances from the stars and some genuinely funny gags. It's the kind of pleasant movie you can sit back in your comfy chair and just enjoy. A nice distraction for an hour and a half.

Although directed by choreographer extraordinaire Busby Berkeley, STAGE STRUCK does not feature any of the major stylized production numbers that characterized his work earlier in the decade. As impressive as those larger-than-life dance sequences were, they brought the main story to a halt for an extended period of time. The closest thing here is an overlong, irrelevant, and increasingly bizarre song and dance number by the Yacht Club Boys in the middle of the film. A few songs are sprinkled about, but the movie is mostly a straight-up comedy set around a Broadway show.

Dick Powell played juvenile tenors in GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933) and FOOTLIGHT PARADE (1933), but here has matured into his more adult persona, complete with trademark sarcasm and a dapper mustache for good measure. In this Broadway story, Powell is not one of the young stars; he is the director, trying to keep the show together amid the chaos.

That chaos is played by one of my favorite actresses: Joan Blondell. Blondell was great playing sweet and wisecracking dames who'd often win the man in the end. It's a little different this time around, as she plays a crazy tabloid queen brought in to star in the show as a publicity stunt. Hilariously over-dramatic, Blondell's wealthy character adopts an air of sophistication that fools nobody and her lines are filled with amusing malapropisms. Initially at odds with director Powell, she is placated into cooperation by producer William's knowledge of Freudian psychology.

One scene that I enjoyed was when Powell sings through "In Your Own Quiet Way" at the piano while Blondell (convinced by William that she really loves Powell) tries to cozy up with him. As she inches closer, he calmly inches away and keeps on singing through the music. The body language is great as the two end up circling around the piano.

STAGE STRUCK is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon or an evening. If you're a fan of Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, or the kind of mid-1930s comedies they made for Warner Bros., you should give this one a try. As of this posting the film has not been released on DVD for purchase, so catch it on TCM if you can.

Although made only a couple of years after Busby Berkley's 'big four' starting with 42nd STREET, Warner Brothers' light comedy-musicals were running out of steam by 1935. Most of the old gang were now just making B-movies - even Busby Berkley was making this particularly cheap-looking B-movie. This however is pretty good. You're not expecting much from this are you but you'll be surprised by this one. It is of course not in the same class of the big four, especially as the budget didn't seem to stretch to even just one musical number but honestly, it's better than you'd expect. It's actually better, in terms of enjoyability, than GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 and also ...OF 1937.

If you loved GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 you will like this. Not only has it got most of the original cast but it's got a similar story as well. It's even got a Ruby Keeler substitute who's acting is even worse than the real Ruby Keeler's! STAGE STRUCK was clearly made for fans of GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933, it's got that similar cheery uplifting feel that the original had, it's got the same actors such as Frank McHugh essentially repeating their best lines from the previous four films, it's even got the same shabby looking sets. It doesn't sound like it should work but it does.

The positives outweigh the negatives but there are lots of negatives. The main negative is that it looks incredibly cheap, some scenes look like they were filmed in a the back of someone's garage - someone who couldn't afford to have more than one electric light on at a time. Another surprising negative is how flat and unimaginative Busby Berkley's direction is (strange how once he got the director's chair, his sense of innovation seemed to desert him - but I think he only had a $2.00 budget to work with). And possibly the worst thing about this is that it features various ten minute slots of acts who were enjoying their five minutes of fame in 1935. One of these 'turns' a group called The Yacht Club Boys sing a song bemoaning having to pay tax to the government. Doesn't seem very public spirited especially since everyone back then was meant to be pulling together along with FDR! I can't imagine something like this being used back in the good old days when uncle Darryl Zanuck ran Warners.

One final point - Joan Blondell is great in this. We're used to seeing her playing the usual sassy Joan Blondell character so it's refreshing to see her doing something a little different; this time a straight comedy role. It's a shame she never got the chance to do more comedy characters because she could be very funny. Admittedly her part is necessarily completely one dimensional but she's brilliant at it.

A mustached Dick Powell stars with Joan Blondell and Warren William in "Stage Struck," a 1936 musical that pokes fun at a couple of characters of the day. Blondell plays Peggy Revere, a wealthy woman in the news for shooting her husband. Peggy's decided that she wants to be a Broadway star and is backing a show being choreographed by George Randall (Dick Powell). Unfortunately, the two mix like oil and water and Revere demands Randall's job. And gets it. However, that show doesn't go on.

Revere then gives $50,000 to producer Fred Harris (Warren William) who has gotten Randall to sign an iron-clad contract. Now, can he keep these two from killing one another during rehearsals? Harris decides to rely on psychology and tells Revere that her hatred of Randall indicates deep love. Randall, meanwhile, has met an ingenue (Jeanne Madden) and, rather taken with her, is trying to discourage her from getting a job in the show.

Blondell is in fact doing a takeoff on the outrageous Peggy Hopkins Joyce, an heiress known for her six marriages, love affairs, million dollar shopping sprees and for being the owner of the Portugese diamond, which she sold to Harry Winston. She actually worked in the Ziegfeld Follies and Earl Carroll's Vanities. William's character is based on ruthless producer Jed Harris, the man so hated by Laurence Olivier that he modeled his Richard III after him.

The numbers by Arlen and Harburg aren't their greatest, but a standout is a quartet about taxes done by The Yacht Club Boys. Powell and Madden sing a lovely "Fancy Meeting You," and Frank McHugh replaces the female lead in the funny Lady of the Moon number.

Good fun - Dick Powell and Joan Blondell got married before the release of this film, which helped it at the box office. They stayed married for eight years, until she complained about all the guests they constantly had, at which point, he said, 'If you don't like it, you can get the hell out.' I guess I prefer to think of them as newlyweds.

I just happened to turn on TCM this morning when it began this all-star cast in a movie musical I'd never heard of: STAGESTRUCK.

This in itself was unusual since I had prided myself on knowing all the musicals from this studio during the 30s and I was unaware this production even existed. But as the movie progressed, I began to understand why: this ramshackle production was a disaster on every level--from miscasting, to botched script development, to the zero musical flash that the studio's musical productions always created.

The starring role is that of Joan Blondell as a madcap heiress who produces a Broadway show using her own money. But Joan portrays her throughout as this eye-rolling, mocking, hyper nightmare creature who never for a moment comes across as believable. Her whole portrayal is cartoonish as if she's trying to do a parody of someone but completely goes overboard.

She really looks out of her depth and I can hear the director screaming at her: "Roll your eyes more! Give us more fake laughs and snide remarks." But the real killer is the casting of an unknown named Jeanne Madden, as the Broadway star wannabe. She looks drab, colorless and sings one number in a piercing voice and I read later that she was "discovered" by studio mogul Jack Warner. But after two more movies, she "retired" because she had all the movie sparkle of an old bagel.

Nothing in this movie works and everytime Joan or Jeanne Madden came on, I muted the sound. They made a cringe-worthy entertainment a disaster.

This is a real curiosity for fans of Warner Brother musicals. It'd be interesting to find out the backstory about the filming of this fiasaco and why so many bad choices were made in terms of casting, script and behind the scene chaos.

I doubt if any of the principals were happy to include Stage Struck on their CVs--the songs are drab, and the screenplay seems to have been cut and pasted from those of several other very familiar movies, with its narcissistic, temperamental leading lady; cute, virtuous Midwestern newbie; nervous, devious producer; trampy chorus girls; dictatorial backer; and opening-night crisis when the understudy becomes a star.

It's very hard, however, to believe that this one ever got any raves--and, indeed, Jeanne Madden in real life made two more pictures, then dropped from sight. With her pinched voice, crinkly-faced wholesome looks, and complete lack of sex appeal, she's another Janet Gaynor--of whom one was more than enough. Joan Blondell, usually a reason to cheer up, mugs and clowns to a degree that would be over the top in a revue sketch--she's supposed to be a Park Avenue socialite but makes the role into that of a common, vulgar girl pretending to be one.

Dick Powell, tricked out with an imitation Don Ameche look, seems to be pretending to be somewhere else.

Stagestruck's biggest asset is the performance of Joan Blondell as the Paris Hilton heiress of the day. Blondell plays Peggy Revere which is a takeoff on Peggy Hopkins Joyce whose antics back in the 30s kept the tabloids buzzing the way the Hilton twins do today. Blondell overacts outrageously, but it's all to the good.

Warren William plays ego-maniacal producer Fred Harris which is also a takeoff of producer Jed Harris. Legend has it that Jed Harris was as full of tricks and deviltry that Warren William's character in Stagestruck is. It's very similar to the John Barrymore character in 20th Century. In fact looking at William's profile it's like looking at a poor man's Barrymore. But that is unfair because Warren William did a lot of good work on screen.

Dick Powell is the director here and he gets a couple of good songs to sing. Mostly he has to act annoyed at Blondell and falling for newcomer Jeanie Madden. Since Powell and Blondell got married right after this film, that may have been the biggest performance in the movie.

Jeanie Madden was the love interest. Ruby Keeler had departed Warner Brothers so Powell got a new Ruby, a singing Ruby. Ruby Keeler's singing voice was as flat as her dramatic delivery. Madden couldn't dance, but she sang beautifully especially in the duet with Powell, Fancy Meeting You. But her acting was as bad as Ruby's and she was gone after two more films.

There was a quartet in the film called the Yacht Club Boys and they had a couple of funny bits, especially one in Warren William's office where William plays a straight man for them (and looks like he's having a ball doing it). I suppose they were too similar in style to the Ritz Brothers over at 20th Century Fox so they were gone after this film.

It's a funny film on its own merits, but unless you know who Peggy Hopkins Joyce and Jed Harris were, a lot of the lines will be lost on you.

Jeanne Madden's performance is so bad it sears your corneas and punctures your eardrums. A Jack Warner "find", one can only hope they were at least shtupping each other!

Colorless musical that appears to strap flamboyant director Busby Berkeley into a musical strait- jacket. Surprisingly, there's no big dance numbers, overhead crane, flowering "O"s or other hallmarks of the Freudian obsessed filmmaker. Instead, there're only forgettable tunes and colorless backstage rehearsals. The multi-talented Powell sports a mustache but is otherwise wasted, while villainous Warren William gets a friendlier role, a Broadway impresario.

But what about everyone's favorite sassy dame, Blondell, whose role unfortunately sort of comes and goes. Looks to me like her part was an add-on to inject some badly needed pizazz into the feminine side. That's because poor Jeanne Madden looks lost in the aspiring ingénue role. At times, she seems almost achingly self-conscious of the camera, which I think carries over to the audience. Since her career ended soon after, I hope she found a more fitting line of work. Then there's the Yacht Club Boys, surely one of the worst novelty acts of any period to rant and somersault on the same screen.

Anyway, the plot couldn't be more familiar—the problems of putting on a big-time musical. Weirdly, we never get to see the actual show, which ordinarily would be the boffo climax. Considering the many eye-catching musicals from Warner Bros., this one looks like the least of the litter. Too bad.

During the 1930s, Hollywood must have made a bazillion films all about the production of a Broadway musical extravaganza. Most focused on the harried producer and the young ingénue who wants to make it big BUT the temperamental diva stands in her way. In this sense, "Stage Struck" is not the least bit original. It's just like "42nd Street", "Footlight Parade", the Gold Diggers films and many, many others. So why did I give this one a 9? Well, because although it was derivative, it did everything so well and featured some wonderful supporting players. For the genre, you can't do any better than this.

Dick Powell plays the producer, George Randall. He is very good but loses his job thanks to a very temperamental, annoying and untalented diva, Peggy Revere (Joan Blondell). She walks in to the theater, late for rehearsal, and begins barking orders and treating Randall like he works for her. Not surprisingly, he resents it and stands up to her--at which point she insists that Randall be fired. Ultimately, the show is shut down by her and her boorish behaviors. Oddly, she isn't even an actress but a lady who gained fame (much like Roxy Hart from "Chicago") for shooting someone! Some time passes and the unemployed Randall is enjoying the time off. Because of this, he is NOT thrilled when Fred Harris (wonderfully played by Warren William) tells him that he just signed him to produce his new show. Randall wants to go on vacation but his agent signed the contract--and Randall is stuck. Things couldn't get any worse, but they do...as his new leading lady is none other than Peggy Revere!! Neither is happy about this so Harris comes up with a wonderful plan--to use Revere's stupidity and faux sophistication against her. He convinces her that according to Freud, her hatred of Randall (and vice-versa) clearly is a sign that they secretly love each other! And, because Peggy Revere THINKS she is so sophisticated, she can't admit she knows nothing about Freud and soon falls for it. Now she's more than willing to work with Randall--in fact, she's thrilled.

There still is the major problem that Peggy Revere has no talent--other than the great ability to make folks hate her! What are they to do? And, there's also a very sweet and talented young wannabe (Jeanne Madden)--how does she stand a chance with Revere in the lead? See the film for yourself. What happens is both very predictable and crazy and unpredictable at the same time. Just see the film and you'll see what I mean.

In addition to wonderful acting by Powell, William and Frank McHugh, what I really, really loved were the song and dance numbers by The Yacht Club Boys. I've seen this quartet in other films but they never were used this well. Their song about the IRS and their acrobatic numbers were just amazing and could have stood on their own. Hilarious...simply hilarious. So was there anything I didn't like about the film I didn't like? Well, I thought Blondell actually overplayed her role a bit. It wasn't bad--just could have used a bit more subtlety.

Speaking of Blondell, one thing that makes this love-hate relationship more interesting is that she and Powell actually married about the time they made this film and the studio naturally capitalized on this. Alas, the film turned out better than their marriage--as they divorced a few years later.