Star for a Night
Cast & Crew
Lewis Seiler
Claire Trevor
Jane Darwell
Arline Judge
Evelyn Venable
J. Edward Bromberg
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In a village in the Austrian Tyrol, the neighbors of the blind frau Martha Lind give her a going away party as she prepares to go to New York to visit her three children: Anna, whom she says is a concert pianist; Fritz, whom she thinks owns an automobile factory; and Nina, whom she believes is a famous singer and dancer. In reality, Anna plays the piano at a music store, Fritz drives a cab, and Nina is a chorus girl. When the children receive their mother's cable that she is coming for a visit, Nina convinces them that they must keep up their deception because their mother would be ashamed to know that they have spent money that they really could not afford to send her to eye specialists in Europe. Because of Mrs. Lind's blindness, the ruse works, but it is endangered when Dr. Spellmeyer, a former student of Mrs. Lind's doctor from Austria, arrives at Anna's small Third Avenue apartment to examine Mrs. Lind. After listening to Anna's story about the charade, he calls her courageous and does not let on. Dr. Spellmeyer's operation to restore Mrs. Lind's vision is successful, and when Nina learns that her mother will be able to see in a few days, she breaks down and cries during a number, which angers the self-centered star, Josephine Hall, who wants to have Nina fired. Nina's two friends on the chorus line, Mamie DeLaMont and Mildred La Rue, convince a ditsy blonde friend, Ellen Romaine, to let Nina borrow her fancy clothes and large apartment that her wealthy beau has given her. After Mrs. Lind is able to see, the ruse continues in Ellen's apartment. Because Mrs. Lind wants to see Nina's show, Mamie, Mildred and Ellen ask Josephine to pretend to be sick one night so that Nina, Josephine's understudy, can go on in her place. When Josephine indignantly refuses, they lock her in her liquor closet, and when she does not appear at the theater, Nina is starred in the show. Mrs. Lind sees the performance, but at the end of the first act, Josephine, who has been let out by her maid, comes onstage and slaps Nina. The audience is unsure if the disruption is part of the act, and during intermission, when the producer learns what happened, he gives Josephine's role to Nina. Hoping to capitalize on the story, the producer calls the newspapers, and the next day, which is Thanksgiving, Ellen, Mamie and Mildred awaken to read about it in the headlines. They call Nina, who then plans with Anna to keep their mother from reading the papers. They find, however, that she has left the apartment. Mrs. Lind goes to the Third Avenue apartment, and later in the day, Anna's landlady calls to have the whole family come at once. They find that their mother has prepared a Thanksgiving meal and has learned about the ruse. Rather than being upset, Mrs. Lind says that she is prouder of her children than she would have been if they had really been what they pretended to be. When Mamie, Mildred and Ellen come to join the family, Mrs. Lind says grace and blesses them all.
Director
Lewis Seiler
Cast
Claire Trevor
Jane Darwell
Arline Judge
Evelyn Venable
J. Edward Bromberg
Dean Jagger
Alan Dinehart
Joyce Compton
Susan Fleming
Adrienne Marden
Frank Reicher
Dickie Walters
Chick Chandler
Astrid Allwyn
Hattie Mcdaniel
Doris Brenwald
Wally Albright Jr.
Moyer Bupp
Otto Fries
Kathryn Sheldon
Christian Rub
Constance Purdy
Torben Meyer
Annette Lake
Frank Mills
Lew Harvey
Fred Wallace
Fred Sylva
Eddie Tamblyn
Claudia Coleman
Eddie Anderson
Daisy Bufford
Phyllis Fraser
Mary Bovard
Grace Durkin
Herbert Ashley
Jean Houghton
Mary Mersch
Marvin Stephens
Georgie Billings
James T. Mack
Emmett Vogan
Matty Roubert
Fred Kelsey
George Magrill
Bobby Dale
Chuck De Shon
Jim Blair
Emmett O'brien
George Bruggerman
James Gonzalez
Frank Erickson
Perk Lazelle
Fred Mayon
Sol Haines
Jimmy Grant
Jimmy Notarro
Jack Morton
Tom Thompson
Eddie Daniels
Gus Hyland
Don Ackerman
Eddie Foy
Bobbie Woods
Frank Phillips
Harriette Haddon
Inez Mortensen
Elouise Rozelle
Lillian Lock
Diane Dorsey
Colleen Ward
Helen Seamon
Eve Reynolds
Rhea Neissen
Louise Larabee
Dale Dee
Pokey Champion
Lorraine Gray
Nanci Lyon
Doreen Mckay
Lucille La Marr
Betty Gordon
Kay Gordon
Jeannette Warren
Dorothy Haas
Virginia Ray
Valerie Traxler
Norah Gale
Martha Manning
Kathryn Barnes
Paul Stanton
Crew
Harry Akst
Sidney Bowen
Sidney Clare
Duncan Cramer
Saul Elkins
Herschel
Frances Hyland
Samuel Kaylin
Sammy Lee
Harry M. Leonard
George Leverett
Ernest Palmer
Lew Pollack
Alex Troffey
Lamar Trotti
Bobbie Woods
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was The Holy Lie. According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, producer Sol Wurtzel wanted to buy the rights to the play early in 1935, but the deal was held back until the next year because National-Film A.G., a Berlin-based production company, held the silent film rights for ten years from the time of acquisition. In a note, Wurtzel commented, "I consider that The Holy Lie has the basis of a story that can be just as important as the picture Four Sons which we made about six years ago, and as important as Over the Hill" (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.1459 and F3.3329). Later correspondence indicates that the studio planned to rewrite the story, "retaining the basic idea." The legal records indicate that Harry Akst and Sidney Clare wrote an additional song for the film, "Argentine Swing," which was cut. That song remained the property of Twentieth Century-Fox, and it was subsequently used in their 1937 film Big Town Girl (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.0335), which also starred Claire Trevor. The National-Film silent film based on the play was released in 1927 and entitled Die heilige Lüge.
