Applause

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Stage director Rouben Mamoulian jolted the (at the time) moribund sound-film industry with innovative sound experiments and revolutionary camera techniques with his electrifying feature-film debut Applause. In this backstage musical tragedy, Kitty Darling (Helen Morgan), a big-time burlesque star, sends her young daughter to a convent to get her away from the sleazy burlesque environment. Years later, Kitty has hit the skids, her best days behind her. Now an alcoholic living in the past, she has taken up with a low-life burlesque comic by the name of Hitch (Fuller Mellish Jr.). But then her now-grown daughter, April (Joan Peers) returns. Kitty, embarrassed by her condition, marries Hitch so that April won't be ashamed of her. Nevertheless, when April arrives, she is disgusted with her mother and her decrepit life. Shocked and lonely, April roams the city streets and meets an equally lonely young man --Tony (Henry Wadsworth). They fall in love and agree to marry. When April goes to tell her mother about their final plans for the wedding, she overhears Hitch belittling Kitty, calling her a has-been. Infuriated, April calls off the wedding, joining the chorus line of a burlesque show, and Kitty, thinking that April is going to be married, is deeply despaired. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Screen: Black and White
• Features:
  • Excerpt from the paramount musical glorifying the American Girl (1929), featuring Helen Morgan
  • Newsreel excerpt of Helen Morgan singing "What Wouldn't I Do for That Man"
  • Filmed interview with Rouben Mamoulian
  • Gallery of rare photographs
  • Gallery of promotional materials
  • Booklet essay by Miles Kreuger, president of the institute of the American Musical
  • Biographical and background essays by Helen Morgan biographer Christopher Connelly
  • "The Camera's the Thing," a 1929 text interview with director Rouben Mamoulian
  • Excerpt of Beth Brown's original novel
  • Excerpts from the 1929 censorship files

AWARDS

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Picture - 1929

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Helen Morgan - Kitty Darling
       Joan Peers - April Darling
       Fuller Mellish - Hitch Nelson
       Jack Cameron - Joe King
       Henry Wadsworth - Tony
       Dorothy Cumming - Mother Superior
       Jack Singer - Producer

• Director:

  Rouben Mamoulian

• Producer:

  Monta Bell, Jesse Lasky

• Screenwriter:

  Garrett Elsden Fort

• Book Author:

  Beth Brown

• Cinematographer:

  George Folsey

• Editor:

  John Bassler