Morning Glory (1933): A Review (Review #1995)

MORNING GLORY

Morning Glory has earned a place in history as being the first film for which Katharine Hepburn would win the first of her record-setting four Best Actress Oscar wins, a record that has not been tied or broken as of this writing. Unlike her future wins for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter and/or On Golden Pond, few people know or remember Morning Glory. I think the reason may be because it is not a particularly good picture. A film that now would be seen as a bit over-acted, Morning Glory feels surprisingly longer than its actual runtime.

A woman who often tells others that her stage name is Eva Lovelace (Hepburn) has come to New York to pursue her smalltown dreams of ruling the Great White Way. She hoodwinks her way into meeting theater owner and Broadway producer Louis Easton (Adolphe Menjou). He isn't too keen on Eva Lovelace (that's her stage name). However, there are a couple of other men who are. Elderly actor and Easton "good-luck charm" Robert Hedges (C. Aubrey Smith) takes a fatherly interest, offering to coach her. Playwright Joseph Sheridan (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) takes a less-than-fatherly interest in our ingenue. She may be a trump card against Rita Vernon (Mary Duncan), a Broadway diva par excellence who is driving both men crazy. 

Rita, however, is guaranteed box office. Eva Lovelace (that's her stage name) is not. Rita agrees to star in Sheridan's new play. In exchange, Easton and Sheridan agree to have Rita star in their future work, which would be a dramatic change of pace for Rita. Months pass, and Eva (that's her stage name) is struggling to keep body and soul together. Hedges, who lost touch with Eva, takes her to a party at Easton's penthouse. Here, Eva gets accidentally drunk, hit on by various stage door Johnnies and despite her boozed-up condition recites Shakespeare quite well. 

Eva manages to finally get a small role in Rita's show. She is also Rita's understudy, but would an understudy go on to perform on opening night? She would if she had Rita Vernon to study under. Rita makes outrageous financial demands with only minutes to go before the curtain rises. Refused, she leaves. Will Eva Lovelace (that's her stage name) rally beyond her own fears to go out there a youngster, but come back a star? Will Joseph Sheridan finally admit to Eva his feelings for her? Will Eva pursue romance, or be a "morning glory", fated to fade after the spotlight ends?

Looking back on Morning Glory, I think most people will be genuinely puzzled how this won Katharine Hepburn her first of those four Best Actress Oscars. To be fair, at the time there were only three Best Actress nominees: Hepburn, Diana Wynyard for Cavalcade and May Robson for Lady for a Day. I have not seen Lady for a Day as of this writing. I have seen Cavalcade, and if it came between the Wynyard and Hepburn, Hepburn was the right choice.

Even that though is a hard thing to say. Katharine Hepburn in only her third film was very mannered and overly dramatic in Morning Glory. I think that contemporary viewers would come to the same conclusion that I did: she was very theatrical in this performance. I can, perhaps, give a little leeway in that Eva Lovelace (that's her stage name) was as a character very theatrical, mannered and overly dramatic.

As a side note, she says "That's my stage name" at least twice, but I figure that I could exaggerate her declaration that Eva Lovelace is not her actual name in the same theatrical manner as Hepburn's performance. Katharine Hepburn always had that New England, WASP Mid-Atlantic tone to her voice. That, perhaps, could not be helped. The almost unhinged mannerisms that Eva Lovelace had, however, could have been.

I think that Hepburn was better and more natural in another 1933 film, Little Women. As such, I think her directing is a major reason for this being in my view the weakest of her four Oscar wins (and probably the weakest of her twelve Oscar nominations). At least when it comes to her specific performance. Director Lowell Sherman did not seem to have that same trouble with anyone else in Morning Glory.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. worked to be his own man separate from his famous father. Here, he has a youthful vitality as Sheridan. He makes it possible to believe that his passion for Eva is a blend of admiration for her talent and desire for her beauty.  He has a great scene where he reads out loud a letter that Eva received from none other than George Bernard Shaw. Fairbanks, Jr.'s performance here makes you believe that this letter did come from the famous playwright.

Adolphe Menjou was quite elegant as the unscrupulous theater impresario. He was not exactly a lech, but he was not one to be trifled with either. C. Aubrey Smith, in his small role, was wonderful as the old stage veteran willing to take a youngster under his wing. Duncan was highly appropriate as the demanding diva. 

Morning Glory is best for those who are Academy or Katharine Hepburn completists. It is not as if the Howard J. Green screenplay does not have some good ideas rolling around it. It might be, in the right hands, a good film to remake. It would have a hard time given that "ingenue overcomes herself to become a star" is not a particularly unique idea. Still, looking back at Morning Glory, I think it did not fully rise.

I do wonder if Morning Glory was the inspiration for another person to take the "Lovelace" stage name.

DECISION: C-