"I'm in pictures. I'm in pictures!"
What Price Hollywood? (1932) is the story of aspiring actress, Mary Evans (Constance Bennett), who rises to fame and discovers all the pitfalls of a glamourous Hollywood lifestyle.
With the help of constant drunk and Hollywood director, Max Carey (Lowell Sherman), Mary shoots to super stardom, but at the cost of her marriage to Lonnie Borden (Neil Hamilton) and the sanity of the man who discovered her.
This pre-code drama was directed by George Cukor, and is a precursor to the 1937 film, A Star Is Born (Cukor also directed the 1954 remake), sharing many of its themes, albeit a different plot.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Even for an early '30s film, Max’s alcoholism isn’t played for laughs. Instead, it’s treated as his downfall.
- An Aesop: Celebrity Is Overrated. People die either because they have too much of it or not enough.
- Descent into Addiction: Max was in love with Mary. When she marries Lonnie, Max’s alcoholism spirals out of control.
- The Determinator: Mary works hard to get to what she wants.
- Driven to Suicide: Poor Max.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Max drinking gets worse when he loses Mary to snooty Lonnie.
- Dull Surprise: For Mary’s first acting job, she is incredibly stiff and unnatural. In the small scene she has, she sees a dead guy, and plays this straight.
- Fairy Tale Wedding Dress: Mary’s gets ripped to shreds by rabid fans after she marries Lonnie.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: After what seems to be mere hours, Mary and Lonnie decide to get married. Doesn’t go down too well.
- Funny Foreigner: Mary’s producer, Julius Saxe.
- Glamorous Single Mother: Mary has a son soon after Lonnie leaves them, and manages to find time for work and raising a kid.
- Gratuitous French: There’s a scene in Mary’s movie where she sings something in French for no reason at all.
- Millionaire Playboy: Lonnie is one, and Mary falls for him. He’s of the insufferable variety.
- Playing Hard to Get: Finding out that Lonnie doesn't like blondes or actresses and is an overall snob, Mary ignores his earnest pursuit of her. He gets so angry because she stood him up that he breaks down her window, gets into her house, takes her to his house while she’s still in her negligée, and forces her to eat the meal he prepared. We’re supposed to take this as romantic.
- Questioning Title?: Well? What price Hollywood, hm?
- Rule of Pool: Poor Louise Beavers’ maid is thrown into the pool by Max.
- Shout-Out: The film begins with Mary looking at a fan magazine with a picture of Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. She imitates Garbo’s accent and presses her face against Gable’s picture.
- Spinning Newspaper: Max’s suicide makes headlines and rumours swirl that it was Mary’s fault.
- Stood Up: See above Playing Hard to Get to know how Lonnie deals with this.
- Tabloid Melodrama: The tabloids twist Mary and Max’s relationship to sell their yellow rags.
- Third Wheel: Max becomes this much to Mary and Lonnie’s annoyance. In one instance, he comes to their house flat-out drunk and says he’ll burn their house down if they don’t let him in. They let him in, and he goes into their bedroom, spewing drunken nonsense, completely unaware that he’s driving a serious wedge between Mary and Lonnie.
- Visual Pun: Mary’s name is turned into dirt since she’s being implicated in Carey’s suicide. Cue footage of Spinning Paper and some dirt being thrown on top of it.
