October 5, 2018
Stage
Struck – US, 1925
The world has always had celebrities, but
one look at the walls in Orme Wilson’s room is all it takes to know just how
much had changed from the days when there were only local theatrical
productions and occasional traveling performers. Sure, there have always been nationally
known singers and actors, but perhaps never so many at one time. And just what
was the effect of these new stars and starlets, with their dashing good looks, hourglass
figures, and luxurious attire? Well, probably to create in more than one person
an abnormally high level of angst and the recurring thought that you just didn’t
stack up to those famous figures in either looks or desirability.
This is the situation that Jenny Hagan
(Gloria Swanson) finds herself in in the beginning of Allan Dwan’s Stage Struck. After an entertaining
opening scene in which we are privy to Jenny’s private daydreams, ones in which
she envisions herself as the most greatest actress to have ever graced the earth,
we see the reality - that Jenny has an ordinary job and that the man she loves,
the aforementioned Orme Wilson, does not seem to return her affection. He even
has a somewhat condescending pet name for her – Mouse.
In one scene, we see her enter Orme’s room
and register utter amazement at the sheer number of pictures of actresses that
envelop his room. Her envy is all too apparent, and in a cute scene, we see her
mimic some of the poses struck in the pictures. It’s as if she saying, “See. I
can do that, too.” She stops short, however, at emulating one that is wearing a
particularly revealing gown. There are some lines, it seems, that her modesty
will not allow her to cross.
The central conflict in the film comes when
a show boat named the Water Queen arrives, bringing with it the latest crop of
actresses. Orme’s expression could not be more telling. Upon arriving outside
the boat, he adopts the aw-shucks
look of a teenage boy who’s being flirted with by someone way out of his
league. He is the poster child for the
boy who’s just happy to be there, and when given a chance to take the hand
of the newest leading lady, he is so innocent that he doesn’t pick up on the
fact that she is waiting for him to kiss her hand.
So, just what is a woman like Jenny to do?
Why, become an actress herself of course. I don’t need to tell you that things
don’t quite work out the way she hopes, but the good news for the audience is
that they unravel to hilarious effect. Gloria Swanson, known to a generation as
the elderly version of Rose in James Cameron’s Titanic, proves to be quite versatile, which is important because
the role called for one. Swanson has to be confident and bold in her fantasies,
fun and silly in interactions with Orme, and hopeless and lovelorn at times of
let-down. She is also called upon to be a shape-shifter, changing herself to
such a wide extent that she could very well be the actresses in Orme’s pictures.
She adopts a sly, furtive demeanor in a scene in which she tries to sidle
alongside Orme and casually take his arm while he is walking with another
woman, and then has to play the moment as if it was nothing out of the
ordinary. I can understand why in 1925 one critic referred to her as “Chaplin’s
nearest rival.” She is that good in the film.
The film falls apart slightly toward the
end, as characters begin to reveal motivations that don’t jive with what
previously transpired. The introduction of a character who has a peculiar
relationship with his drum is ill-advised and unexplored, and the insertion of
a female boxing match at the end of the film is slightly off-putting until you
recall that boxing was very much a part of traveling circuses. Whether the
audience for a rendition of Uncle Tom’s
Cabinl would cheer it to the degree that the one in the picture does is
debatable. Perhaps the film’s greatest mistake, though, is the insertion of
possible physical violence on the part of a character that had up until that
moment been a pillar of calm, as well as its use of suicide as a comic device. I
suspect neither of these things is likely to strike contemporary viewers as
deserving of laughter.
Still, Stage
Struck is a mostly a joy to behold. Along with Swanson, we get to see
Lawrence Gray in all his splendor – humorous, skilled with a pancake skillet, openly
flirting with the young ladies who stand outside the restaurant window to watch
him work, and utterly childlike in the presence of a beautiful actress. He and
Swanson make quite the cinematic pair. In short, Stage Struck is an excellent introduction to Gray, and it is an
absolutely incredible showcase for the immensely talented Gloria Swanson. (on
Blu-ray)
3 and a half stars
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