Stage Door

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Scott R @ScottR Aug 26, 2026 NYT 1000 films. A hidden gem of a movie where 80% of the cast is women, who are roommates, and their quest for stardom on broadway. Although some of its quick quips and one liners don’t land like they may have back in the day, this film still touches a string and keeps your interest. Some of the writing could also have been tighter. But there were some good characters. Rogers was a bit much and I’m still not sure I liked her. Ultimately, Hepburn’s dramatic took the movie to a whole other level. Watched on Prescott Library dvd. See more

michael d @RT16138633 Dec 26, 2021 Director Gregory LaCava apparently liked to hit the bottle and so had a spotty career, but Stage Door is his masterpiece. Not in some personal, auteurist way, but in having achieved an almost ideal example of Depression-era movie entertainment. Its venue is the Footlights Club, a theatrical boarding house near Broadway, where lamb stew and broken dreams are the nightly staples. Among the gals with stiletto tongues but hearts of gold are Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller, Gail Patrick and formidable Constance Collier ("Could you see an older woman in the part?"). But the movie centers on the rivalry between roommates Katherine Hepburn, as a spoiled rich kid who tries acting as a lark, and Ginger Rogers, as a plucky thespian waiting for her break. Believe it or no, those diametrical opposites (aristocratic, ethereal Kate and tough, pragmatic Ginger) work like a dream together. The script negotiates a delicate path between pathos and bathos, and somehow keeps its balance, even when one of the troupers loses her grip on reality and...Well, enough said. Best of all: this is the movie in which Hepburn gets to elocute: "The calla lilies are in bloom again...." Sheerest heaven. See more

Aug 17, 2021 Not mentioned enough for the classic it is. Adore Katherine Hepburn in everything I've ever seen her in but this might be the best of them all. The dialogue in particular is so fast and so sharp, while the film in general is charming, funny and even very emotional towards the end. See more

william d @acsdoug Aug 12, 2021 The wisecracks are not funny and the story of Hepburn's character's rise to stardom is implausible. Still, I enjoyed the movie. See more

ionut m @The_Last_Movie_I_Saw Mar 29, 2021 Sadly, not much has changed in the world of theater since this film was made, that why it's easy for it to stand the test of time. See more

steve d @RT35616104 Jul 23, 2020 In a film of legends it is Andrea Leeds who steels the show. See more

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Stage Door

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