What Price Hollywood?

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Movie
Original title What Price Hollywood?
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1932
length 88 minutes
Rod
Director George Cukor
script Jane Murfin based on a short story by Adela Rogers St. Johns
production Pandro S. Berman
David O. Selznick for RKO
music Max Steiner
camera Charles Rosher
occupation

What Price Hollywood? is a 1932 American film starring Constance Bennett . The film is one of the first films to realistically portray the glory and misery of a movie star's fame.

action

Mary Evans wants to be an actress in Hollywood. She thinks she has successfully taken a first step in this direction when she starts as a waitress in the Brown Derby, where the stars give each other a hand. One day she meets Max Carey, a film director. Carey believes he has discovered a new talent in Mary. They become friends and Carey turns Mary into a new Hollywood female star. At the same time, Carey's career, which began in silent films, is slowly approaching the abyss. Carey is a serious alcoholic and fears his demise could harm Mary's career. Meanwhile, Mary falls in love with Lonny Borden, a playboy and charming millionaire. The two marry, but Borden's pathological jealousy endangers Mary's career. She leaves her husband and, although pregnant, returns to Max Carey. The young woman tries to save Carey from the final crash, but in vain. Carey commits suicide. The scandal over his death destroys Mary's career. She escapes from Hollywood with her child to Paris, where she meets her husband again and is reconciled with him.

background

Constance Bennett had come to fame in the early days of the talkie . Their popularity was based on the one hand on their credible portrayal of ambitious young women who work their way up to the top of society out of misery and poverty on their own. At the same time, Bennett's personal life was more than tumultuous, and their affairs filled the gossip press. A first marriage to a millionaire ended in 1929 with a high six-figure settlement. The second marriage brought her together with the Marquis de la Falaise, who had recently left Gloria Swanson for Bennett. Bennett had more or less parallel relationships with Joel McCrea and Gilbert Roland . Thanks to an excellent business acumen, Bennett negotiated for herself the highest fees that were paid at the time: for Bought she received a weekly fee of $ 30,000 from Warner Brothers with a guaranteed shooting time of six weeks. The film was shot after 17 days and Bennett still got the full salary. In addition, her home studio RKO paid her an additional $ 350,000 per year.

In 1932, however, Bennett's fame was fading. With Irene Dunne and Katharine Hepburn , new competitors appeared who attracted more viewers to the cinemas for much less money. In addition, there was the deteriorating quality of the scripts, which were mostly limited to presenting Constance Bennett in a new outfit and with a new hairstyle in every scene, instead of promoting acting talent. David O. Selznick , a good friend of Bennett's, took on the actress as soon as he switched from Paramount Pictures to RKO as executive producer . A short story by screenwriter Adela Rogers St. John about the rise and fall of an ambitious young actress seemed to him the perfect vehicle for Bennett's next film.

Selznick took over the work on the script himself and built many facets from current events into the character of director Max Carey. One inspiration was the current case of Marshall Neilan , whose drunkenness had ended his career. Even John Barrymore and John Gilbert were notorious alcoholic whose addiction accelerated its decline. Carey's suicide in Mary's bedroom anticipates the events surrounding the death of Paul Bern , Jean Harlow's husband who kept the scandal press busy for months. Lowell Sherman was the brother-in-law of John Barrymore at the time of filming and took over a number of features of the star in his interpretation of the role. The film had the working titles The Truth About Hollywood , Hollywood Madness and Hollywood Merry-Go-Round , among others . First William Seiter should take over the direction and Joel McCrea take over the role of Lonny Borden. Cost of $ 411,676 made the film one of the more expensive RKO productions of the year. At the box office, What Price Hollywood? as one of the few hits in a year that was economically extremely difficult for the film industry.

What Price Hollywood? is in some ways a forerunner of A Star Rises , which David O. Selznick produced in 1937.

Reviews

Most of the reviews were mildly friendly.

In the New York Times on July 15, 1932, the reviewer found:

Parts of "What Price Hollywood" are very amusing, intentionally, and others are despite themselves. Sections of it are very sorrowful, in the bewildered manner of a lost scenario writer, and yet others are quite agreeable. There is some good acting in the picture — much more, indeed, than it deserves. There are two good portraits, by Lowell Sherman as the director (dead, as note above) and Gregory Ratoff as a producer. And there is Constance Bennett.

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1932 , the film received a nomination in the category

  • Best original story.

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