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| A waiting game: John Payne and Linda Darnell |
STAR DUST (1940). Director: Walter Lang.
Thomas Brooke (Roland Young) was once a leading man in silent movies but now is a talent scout for Amalgamated Pictures and his boss Dane Wharton (William Gargan). Brooke sends two hopefuls to Hollywood -- college football star Ambrose Fillmore, better known as "Bud" (John Payne), and singer Mary Andrews (Mary Healy) -- but he fears that Carolyn Sayres (Linda Darnell) is too young, Convinced she has talent, Carolyn goes behind Brooke's back and writes to Wharton on her own, therefore there are three new candidates for stardom who wait anxiously outside Wharton's office after filming their screen tests. It may be surprising which if any of the three will be offered a contract.
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| "Secrets in the Moonlight:" John Payne sings |
Star Dust was loosely based on Linda Darnell's life, as she was also told she was too young to work in movies. The rest is pure fiction, of course. There are those who will tell you that Darnell wasn't much of an actress but I have to disagree, as she does some very good work in this and in other films. John Payne, one of the handsomest leading men in Hollywood, could actually sing and you can hear him doing a very nice rendition of "Secrets in the Moonlight." He also gives a smooth and charming performance. Mary Healy, who married Peter Lind Hayes, is a bit too odd-looking to be attractive and has a voice that is way too deep without being sexy. She is best-known for
The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.
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| A face meant for radio? Mary Healy |
Roland Young of
Topper fame is splendid, as is Charlotte Greenwood as his colleague, the acting coach for Amalgamated's young hopefuls. Donald Meek scores as one of Young's rivals at the studio, as does Mary Beth Hughes as a contract actress, June Lawrence, who acts snotty with Carolyn and gets her comeuppance. George Montgomery plays an actor who has learned that the studio dropped his option, and Robert Lowery is another actor who came out to Hollywood and wound up just another bellboy. Jessie Ralph and Irving Bacon each have a couple of good scenes as, respectively, Carolyn's non-nonsense aunt and the clerk at a small college town hotel. At one point 21-year-old Bud gives a big smooch to 16-year-old Carolyn, which is not seen as anything significant in 1940 but today would get a guy arrested! (Payne was actually 28 and Darnell 17.)
Verdict: Snappy and entertaining musical comedy with some basic truths about Hollywood. ***.
Looks like a Fox movie with all those memorable contract stars? Interesting premise, and I only know Darnell from her small role in Blood and Sand with Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth; can't remember any other film of hers I saw. YES, John Payne is adorable and would love to see his musical performance here.
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It's actually surprising that Payne didn't appear in many more musicals as he had a very good voice. I think, like Dick Powell before him, he wanted a more macho image than a song and dance man could provide. Payne later did a western TV series and a lot of B movie film noir as tough guys. He handled it all with aplomb.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth catching Darnell in other movies. Sometimes too much was put on her shoulders, as in Forever Amber, but other times she really scored.