How sad is this?

As Good As It Gets

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

In the aptly titled Stage Door, Katharine Hepburn plays a society girl with dreams of being a theatrical actress. She shuns financial support from her father and runs away from home, joining a boarding house full of other hopeful actresses and dancers. Determined to make it on her own, she learns the ins and outs of the theater. Ginger Rogers plays the most prominent roommate, and she and Kate have some interesting and influential dealings with producer Adolphe Menjou.While Kate gives some speeches that show her strength and willingness to help out her friends, she's not the most accessible character in the film. She's wealthy and can easily go back home to her parents if the going gets tough. The other girls are poor and struggling, so when less-than-honorable propositions are made, they don't feel they have the liberty to refuse. Ginger Rogers is given more one-liners than is realistic, so once again the audience doesn't really feel they can relate to her. Doesn't she have any characteristic besides cynicism?Ironically, my worst part of the film was the script. It felt like most of the exchanges between the roommates were ad-libbed, but that was actually director Gregory La Cava's intention! He told his actresses to ad-lib for two weeks, and wrote down much of what they said to add to the screenplay so that the dialogue would sound natural. If you don't mind an improvised script, you might enjoy Stage Door more than I did.There is one very famous line from this film. Katharine is onstage and remarks that the "calla lilies are in bloom". If you want to save yourself ninety minutes, you can just watch the famous clip and call it a day.

The hook in this film is the amount of female star power it has. From Ginger Rogers to Katherine Hepburn to Lucille Ball to Gail Patrick to Eve Arden. All the great stars of the 30's and 40's give really good performances all around.A bunch of wannabe theatre actresses and night club dancer/performers live in an all girl hotel that caters to girls who wanna be...actresses and performers. We go through their trials and tribulations of not getting that big part and also the comings and goings of their personal lives. Who likes who and who hates who. In the midst of all this be prepared for a boat load of fast talking wise cracks. The digs and put downs are never ending amongst these little high octane women.As much as I like all the performances in this I will say the Hepburn's was probably the most stale. She isn't near the quality of her 40's stuff with Spencer Tracy. For the most part she just seems to reprise her role from "Morning Glory"(1933). To get the most out of this film, watch Ginger Rogers. She really kicks it into high gear. Great performance she gives out.Watch this one on a Saturday afternoon and be prepared to smile. You'll see the cream of the crop of female actors showing off their best talents. These buncha girls are gonna give you a whole lotta laughs. The ending is somber but by that time you'll be prepared for what happens.

I'm always a little hesitant to see a movie made before 1945, particularly one that claims to be a comedy. There's a good chance that it will be corny or silly. Stage Door is very much an old movie, with its snappy humor and callback to a time when live theater was a more popular form of entertainment. And yet, it entertained me in a way that only an old movie can entertain.The film is striking for a number of reasons. First of all, the leading ladies are two established stars - Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, while two soon-to-be-stars – Ann Miller and Lucille Ball – make appearances as well. Second of all, the film is exhaustively wry. In the words of James Harvey, it "is like going to wisecrack heaven." With the exception of Andrea Leeds (who gives an overwrought performance that begs for an Oscar without actually deserving one), the boarding-house is somehow packed with quick-witted, sardonic dames. Rogers, though not especially know for her comic roles, is their smirking queen. This leads to another striking aspect of the film – how many other genuine comedies are completely driven by women? How about one whose plot does not revolve around romance? Of course the film did not mark the death of female humor, as one up-and-comer in the cast would demonstrate, but it is one of the few films where you will find a certain kind of comedienne – the relentlessly sarcastic gal retorting out of the corner of her mouth to another gal's barb. The sentimental moments don't always work, but when the armor breaks and Hepburn or Rogers feel, they feel, and the effect is rather touching.

Framed and shot as though a stage play – which it was originally, but much changed for the film – and with a stage play within the staged play, le tout ensemble in this witty farce delivers a virtual non-stop, wise-cracking, virtuoso performance. Timing is everything and in comedy, it's particularly so; and the director, Gregory La Cava – who cut his teeth, in the silent era, as a director beginning in 1916 – doesn't miss a beat with this one.From a play by Edna Ferber (of Giant fame) and George S. Kaufman, the film tells the story of what happens to a group of aspiring actresses who happen to board at a place called the Floodlights Club in New York City, supposedly. Of course, there are minor players, as in all plays – Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller and most of the men, the exception being Adolphe Menjou as a caricature (almost) of the Big Bad Producer of those days. The majors, Katharine Hepburn (as Terry), Ginger Rogers (Jean), Gail Patrick (Linda) and Andrea Leeds (Kay) form the core about which this story revolves.Which, when all is said and done, is about the ascendancy of Terry as an actress and the decline of Kay as another: out with the old, in with the new, if you will. That would tend to make for a somewhat pedestrian story if it were simply that. Happily, what sets this apart from, say, the almost maudlin characterization by Hepburn in Morning Glory (1933) in a similar situation (for which, however, she did receive a Best Actress award in 1934), is, first, the scintillating dialog. Which means the viewer must really listen: it goes so quickly between characters that you'll miss the one-liners and sight gags if you take a chomp on a sandwich or sip of coffee, or whatever. So, be prepared.What's left? Well, of course, the great acting by Hepburn, Rogers, Ball, Miller, Menjou, Arden, Patrick and Leeds, the latter getting a Best Supporting nomination for her somewhat overly tearful acting; so much so, she reminded me of Olivia de Havilland, in looks and style.The direction, already mentioned, is in the hands of an old hand and it shows, explicitly. Add to that the camera work that included almost manic cuts up and down stairs, superb face-on tracking shots and perfect timing while up to a dozen people would mill about in the frame concurrently – and with dialog. Confusing? Perhaps to some. Just concentrate on the majors.What's more interesting for me, however, is the sub-text of this comedy. Made just before USA finally shook free of the Great Depression, as you listen, you'll hear many references to the hard times: at the Floodlights, everybody is down, but not out; rich and unscrupulous producers just want to use and abuse actresses; the women are all scraping for even the lowliest acting or dancing job at the meanest of wages; despondency and depression are endemic. Despite all of that, the women 'soldier' on, pushing themselves to their emotional and physical limits.Women in the audience at that time must have felt the pull: don't deny your dreams of self-fulfillment, despite what chauvinistic clods of men might say and do, even powerful men. It's a stirring message, albeit idealistic, but it sets the tone for the larger section of a country that was about to engage in the world war which, in a very real sense, changed the role of women as never before. So, some may die, yes, but the show must go on...There have been a number of introspective and self-referential films about the acting business, Morning Glory being the earliest I've seen. Others include A Star is Born (made and remade many times), All About Eve (1950) – arguably the best, I think – The Dresser (1983), The Player (1992), and others, but all heavy dramas. So, it's refreshing to find a gem that's prepared to treat the matter lightly, more rather than less.A final thought: it must have been fun for the actors to act at being actors; it's even more fun to know that the director used much of the banter between the women off-camera to actually use in the film – much to the playwrights' displeasure, so I understand.Recommended for all.