Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d3e07fe9_481d_4d61_a26f_864d39d51245.png]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
''Bright Lights'' is a 1930 film directed by Creator/MichaelCurtiz.
Louanne (Dorothy Mackaill) is the star of a musical revue show titled ''Bright Lights''. She is about to play her last show, as she is leaving the stage to marry a starchy aristocrat named Fairchild. Her costar and longtime showbiz partner, Wally, is clearly in love with her himself but is putting up a brave facade. Another plot line follows Connie (James Murray, ''Film/TheCrowd''), a bootlegger who is trying to branch out into more legitimate (or at least less dangerous) businesses by partnering up with a Portuguese smuggler, Miguel Parada...who as it turns out has a past with Louanne.
''Bright Lights'' was filmed in color but only a black-and-white print exists, except for a 3-minute fragment that is not included in the current public print. Creator/JohnCarradine made his film debut in an uncredited bit part, as a photographer at Louanne's press conference.
----
!!Tropes:
* TheAlcoholic: Fish, the reporter, is drunk throughout the movie. This does not stop him from making some quick decisions.
* AttemptedRape: In the South Africa flashback scene, Parada is trying to rape Louanne in her dressing room when Wally comes in and saves her.
* BetaCouple: Connie the gangster is dating Peggy, a girl in the show. He's looking for good times while she's looking for commitment. She winds up extracting a promise of marriage after she gives him an alibi for Parada's death.
* {{Blackface}}: The backup dancers for the pretty darn racist "Cannibal Love" number are dressed in full black body stockings.
* BrandishmentBluff: Parada seems to be about to attack Louanne again when Wally jabs a pocket knife into his back and pretends that it's a gun. It works.
* ComedicSociopathy: One of the actors attempts to kill his obnoxious, shrewish wife by dropping a stage sandbag on her from the catwalk. After it misses and she scowls up at him, he muses about better luck next time.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Only a few hours before and during the performance of a stage show.
* {{Fanservice}}: Louanne is introduced in nothing but a slip.
* {{Flashback}}: A couple of flashbacks serve to illustrate Louanne and Wally's history together and provide comedic contrast to her claims of growing up as an innocent young maiden. The second flashback also tells of her violent encounter with Parada in South Africa.
* GilliganCut: Used when Louanne is making ridiculous claims about her past to the reporters. When she says that she studied at "a fashionable girls' school up on the Hudson", the film cuts to a flashback showing her dancing in the "Star Garter Beauty Show" as some sort of carnival sideshow act.
* KarmaHoudini: Parada was a real a-hole, but it's a mark of UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra that Wally, Connie, and Fish conspire to make the shooting look like a suicide, and are successful.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Louanne and Wally proclaim their love for each other and have TheBigDamnKiss just as Wally is supposed to go onstage for the closing number of the show. Someone desperately reminds Wally, "The finale!" Wally answers "Oh, what a finale!" and kisses Louanne again. TheEnd.
* MediumAwareness: A title card proclaims that "Between scenes, Louanne's marriage was celebrated."
* TheMusicalMusical: Very popular in the early talkie era as the studios put out scads of musicals. There are many numbers from the stage show ''Bright Lights''.
* SexySilhouette: Louanne's in the scene where Parada the creep sneaks into her dressing room.
* TitleDrop: Early on, the name "Bright Lights" can be seen on a trunk backstage. Later, Fish confidently asserts that his new girlfriend will be the new star of ''Bright Lights'' the show.
* ZipMeUp: Louanne's zip-me-up flirting with Wally as she's getting into her costume at the beginning shows the charge between them, even as she's supposedly marrying Fairchild.
Louanne (Dorothy Mackaill) is the star of a musical revue show titled ''Bright Lights''. She is about to play her last show, as she is leaving the stage to marry a starchy aristocrat named Fairchild. Her costar and longtime showbiz partner, Wally, is clearly in love with her himself but is putting up a brave facade. Another plot line follows Connie (James Murray, ''Film/TheCrowd''), a bootlegger who is trying to branch out into more legitimate (or at least less dangerous) businesses by partnering up with a Portuguese smuggler, Miguel Parada...who as it turns out has a past with Louanne.
''Bright Lights'' was filmed in color but only a black-and-white print exists, except for a 3-minute fragment that is not included in the current public print. Creator/JohnCarradine made his film debut in an uncredited bit part, as a photographer at Louanne's press conference.
----
!!Tropes:
* TheAlcoholic: Fish, the reporter, is drunk throughout the movie. This does not stop him from making some quick decisions.
* AttemptedRape: In the South Africa flashback scene, Parada is trying to rape Louanne in her dressing room when Wally comes in and saves her.
* BetaCouple: Connie the gangster is dating Peggy, a girl in the show. He's looking for good times while she's looking for commitment. She winds up extracting a promise of marriage after she gives him an alibi for Parada's death.
* {{Blackface}}: The backup dancers for the pretty darn racist "Cannibal Love" number are dressed in full black body stockings.
* BrandishmentBluff: Parada seems to be about to attack Louanne again when Wally jabs a pocket knife into his back and pretends that it's a gun. It works.
* ComedicSociopathy: One of the actors attempts to kill his obnoxious, shrewish wife by dropping a stage sandbag on her from the catwalk. After it misses and she scowls up at him, he muses about better luck next time.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Only a few hours before and during the performance of a stage show.
* {{Fanservice}}: Louanne is introduced in nothing but a slip.
* {{Flashback}}: A couple of flashbacks serve to illustrate Louanne and Wally's history together and provide comedic contrast to her claims of growing up as an innocent young maiden. The second flashback also tells of her violent encounter with Parada in South Africa.
* GilliganCut: Used when Louanne is making ridiculous claims about her past to the reporters. When she says that she studied at "a fashionable girls' school up on the Hudson", the film cuts to a flashback showing her dancing in the "Star Garter Beauty Show" as some sort of carnival sideshow act.
* KarmaHoudini: Parada was a real a-hole, but it's a mark of UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra that Wally, Connie, and Fish conspire to make the shooting look like a suicide, and are successful.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Louanne and Wally proclaim their love for each other and have TheBigDamnKiss just as Wally is supposed to go onstage for the closing number of the show. Someone desperately reminds Wally, "The finale!" Wally answers "Oh, what a finale!" and kisses Louanne again. TheEnd.
* MediumAwareness: A title card proclaims that "Between scenes, Louanne's marriage was celebrated."
* TheMusicalMusical: Very popular in the early talkie era as the studios put out scads of musicals. There are many numbers from the stage show ''Bright Lights''.
* SexySilhouette: Louanne's in the scene where Parada the creep sneaks into her dressing room.
* TitleDrop: Early on, the name "Bright Lights" can be seen on a trunk backstage. Later, Fish confidently asserts that his new girlfriend will be the new star of ''Bright Lights'' the show.
* ZipMeUp: Louanne's zip-me-up flirting with Wally as she's getting into her costume at the beginning shows the charge between them, even as she's supposedly marrying Fairchild.
