Morning Glory

Aside from Hepburn, this film doesn't have a whole lot going for it. The storyline has promise, but the execution is very lacking. The movie goes by to fast and attempts to cover to much ground and, as a result, the film never gets time to breath. An example of one performance making a movie much better than it has any right to be.

Katharine Hepburn really deserved that Oscar! I was mesmerized. Stunned struck. You couldn't help but feel for her with all her nonsensical talking and frail manners. And the producers wonderfully played by Adolphe Menjou & Douglas Fairbanks Jr. only expressed how I felt for her as I watched her go through her far-fetched dreams. Feeling sorry for her.... and admiration at the same time. There wasn't really much to the script. It was all about the acting in Morning Glory. And that was top shelf!

It's easy to see why Hepburn got her first Oscar for this one. She shows more range than seen in her more famous, persona-driven performances. In the midst of it all, she even gets to play a bursting drunk scene that's equal parts sadness, comedy and includes a Shakespeare recitation to boot. The film is a little stiff and stagy and it has as an ending that could be used to illustrate "abrupt." Besides Kate, there's a wonderfully sharp supporting turn by Mary Duncan as an imperious stage star.

I suppose it's a fine line through which naive ambition crosses from endearing to pitiful. The comedy in this film is a surprise, though all too often I find myself laughing at and not with, as in Hepburn's drunken Shakespearean recital (allegedly breathtaking, actually strained and silly). A stagey and obnoxious film.

The acting was fine and committed but the story itself or I should say the direction was completely uninteresting and jarringly presented.