Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

mark.waltz If you can believe Dr. Kildare's receptionist (and Grandma Addams), Charlie Chaplin's protégée and Andy Hardy's girlfriend as Parisian thespians, then you can also place a bid on a certain tower in the city of lights as well. Of course, with Luise Rainer as the lead, there is some realism there, but very little. Of these stars attempting to be anything other than the artificial "Stage Door". Rainer shines as does Gale Sondergaard in a believable storyline that has the resentful older Sondergaard (as a drama teacher and professional actress) resenting Rainer's youth and potential for greater stardom. Paulette Goddard, Ann Rutherford, Lana Turner, Virginia Grey and Marie Blake just don't pass muster as French damsels no matter how much suspended dramatic belief you try to obtain. As talented as they are (with some of them believable in foreign settings in other movies), in a large group, it just doesn't work.The main plot has Goddard plotting revenge on the hard-working Rainer who tells a white lie about meeting a French nobleman while she's really working all night in a factory. The prank she plays along with Rutherford and Turner is mean-spirited and ridiculous in nature. Sondergaard attempting to play Juliet here while teaching her class only ridicules MGM's 1936 version with the far too old Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard, but Rainer really is striking as Joan of Arc in a brief audition sequence. Don't expect to be easily able to recognize Turner who gets no memorable material and has darker hair that hides the beauty she would explode with when dyed platinum. Margaret Dumont has a nice small role as the teacher who warns Sondergaard not to be too intensely jealous towards the promising Rainer.

wes-connors In Paris, acting student Luise Rainer (as Louise Mauban) works nights in a factory, but keeps it a secret from her dramatic classmates. The other worker women look like smudge-faced drudges, but Ms. Rainer wears glamorous MGM make-up to work. Her smooth features glow when the factory girls are visited by handsome Alan Marshal (as Andre D'Abbencourt). Rainer fantasizes about the man. Pretty full-time students Paulette Goddard (as Nana) and Lana Turner (as Mado) steal the film from the top-billed star...This was Rainer's MGM swan song, after just winning back-to-back "Best Actress" awards from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Then, she left town. How could this have happened? "Oscar" royally goofed with Rainer's wins, and they wound up hurting a promising career in Hollywood pictures. Watch for an up-and-coming Dick Haymes as a student, listen for bushy-haired young Hans Conried to say "A shapely leg never hurt the box office," and don't miss Rainer's tragic turn as "Joan of Arc".**** Dramatic School (12/9/38) Robert B. Sinclair ~ Luise Rainer, Paulette Goddard, Alan Marshal, Lana Turner

hrd1963-1 Strangely, it's set in France, yet features a bevy of American actresses playing girls with names like Nana, Yvonne and Simone. It's not as good as the similar Stage Door, which was released by RKO the year before, and the story takes a while to get going. Lovely, dark-eyed Luise Rainer stars as the young woman who aspires to be a great actress; Paulette Goddard is cast to type as a cynical, knowing classmate; Gale Sondergaard is the teacher who resents Rainer for her youth and talent; and Alan Marshall is the wealthy cad who misuses Rainer, thus allowing her to experience the suffering required for her to achieve great dramatic success. It's not a bit credible but, when all is said and done, it's fairly entertaining. With Lana Turner in an early role, Virginia Grey, Ann Rutherford and Margaret Dumont, Henry Stephenson, Genevieve Tobin, John Hubbard, Marie Blake, Erik Rhodes and moist-eyed Rand Brooks.

lostto I was expecting a film barely worth the effort to watch, because of the other reviews,and the fact I'd never heard of it. I was surprised its reviews or obscurity were not true. The story was interesting, and I thought Luise Rainier brought a fey sort of innocence to the part. Her Louise was the perfect foil to the cynical, bitter characters of Nana and Therese. Ranier seems a combination of Hedy Lamar and Ingrid Bergman. Gale Sondergaard was very good here, as was Goddard. It was interesting to watch such eventual major stars as Lana Turner and Ann Rutherford at the dawn of their careers.