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AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

mark.waltz In other words, it's all about scandal and it took two directors to get it done.In other words, it's combination soap opera, screwball comedy, mother love saga, backstage saga, love story and even a bit of a musical, although Constance Bennett never does sing "Poor Butterfly" for the pesky Sterling Holloway. It starts off with Bennett in court as a corespondent in a scandalous trial, losing her adopted daughter as a result, and then sailing off to Paris with vain mother Jobyna Howland, returning to star in a play ironically called "Rockabye", getting to visit her former daughter thanks to understanding respectable adoptive parents, and being fought over by producer Paul Lukas and playwright Joel McCrea. With a lack of direction in it's structure struggling plot, it's ironic that two directors (George Cukor and William Fitzmaurice) were at the helm. At her most glamorous, Bennett does get to stretch her acting muscles, but it is the boozy, glamour obsessed Howland who steals the film, vainly comparing her looks to daughter Bennett's as her frozen face barely moves around her lips. It's everything (and more) that made precode so much fun, but simply goes around in circles plotwise, leaving the viewer truly dizzy.

ksf-2 This was the third film McCrae had made with Constance Bennett, and backed by Selznick and directed by Cukor, I'm surprised it wasn't made into a bigger production (it's only 68 minutes). According to a review on TCM.com, this film was a dud at first. Cukor did many reshoots and edits to fix it up. Lead Judy Carroll (Bennett) has to testify against Al Howard (Walter Pidgeon), and because of that, she is not allowed to adopt the little girl she had been raising. To get her career going again, Judy wants to do a play written by "Jakobs" ( McCrae), but she has become so "refined", that he doesn't think Judy can do the part justice. Judy takes him around to her old, rough neighborhood to prove she started off at the bottom, and can do the part justice. Bennett even sings a song in a pub during a night on the town. Of COURSE they fall in love, and if Jakobs' jealousy doesn't get in the way, it could work out. Then more complications arise, and they must decide if you CAN have it all. Jobyna Howland plays Judy's mother, and she's so over the top, and drunk half the time that she really steals the scenes in which she appears. Also a couple lines for Sterling Holloway (Winnie the Pooh !) in the pub. This seems to have started as a play by Lucia Bronder, her only film project. There are a couple of abrupt, rough edits, but after reading the history of the film, I guess that's to be expected. It's pretty good... I'm actually surprised at the low rating that this has... of course, it IS only 200 votes so far.

MartinHafer This is obviously a Pre-Code film for Constance Bennett, as she plays a likable but rather amoral character that certainly would not have been portrayed this way just a couple years later. That's because in 1934, Hollywood adopted a strengthened Production Code that forbade lots of behaviors that Bennett indulged in throughout this film! It is very strongly implied that she has slept around and you see her as a hard-drinking good time girl! This is certainly not the sort of virginal heroine who would be required in the era of the new Code! The film begins with Bennett involved in a scandal with a crooked politician. The notoriety of this doesn't bother her at all...until the agency that is arranging an adoption for this single actress changes its mind and removes the child. This scene is actually pretty heart-wrenching and the child did a great job--so much so that you wonder how they got such a young kid to do such a scene.Because Bennett is so traumatized by this, she decides to go to Europe for eight months. When she returns, she announces that she's going to do a new play entitled "Rockabye" and is going to meet with its author (Joel McCrea). McCrea is apparently married (and, according to him, getting a divorce) and the pair soon begin having an affair. Once again, a married man, steamy action on the kitchen floor and the like is definitely NOT Code types of behavior! What comes next, frankly, hurt the movie--as it brought the schmaltz level to amazing heights. You find out that McCrea's soon-to-be ex-wife was pregnant and didn't tell him. Now that she's had a son, Joel is torn between his love for Constance and promise to marry her and his new son. In an attempt to do the right thing (despite the pain to her), Constance spurns his love to try to drive him back to the arms of his wife and new child. It's all VERY weepy, but didn't work well for me because it was hard to like the leading lady--and a lot harder to like her dipsomaniac mother. You knew Joel would do the right thing by not staying with her and caring about Constance's subsequent pain was just not a factor. Had they made her nicer and less trashy, I think the whole thing would have worked. As it is, elements are nice but that is all.By the way, you may or may not like the part of Bennett's mom, Snooks (Jobyna Howland). She is supposed to be a funny alcoholic and plays it for laughs. Unfortunately, the character comes on very strong--subtle she ain't! I found her quite annoying--as comic relief seemed ill-advised for such a film.

drednm Gorgeous Constance Bennett was a major star of the early 30s and gave several excellent performances (What Price Hollywood? and others) yet she never won an Oscar nomination. She specialized in playing suffering women (as did Kay Francis) in women's pictures—never the kinds of roles that won big awards. In Rockabye, Bennett plays a stage actress who is implicated in a sleazy affair (with Walter Pigeon) where money was involved. In a terrific court- room scene, Bennett blurts out that the baby she is adopting is not Pigeon's child, which is what the prosecutor was trying to establish. Although she tells the truth the newspapers splash nasty headlines about her and the adopted baby is taken away. She flees to Europe where she finds a new play to do on Broadway. She gets involved with the playwright (Joel McCrea) and returns to Broadway in triumph. But that's not the ending. This briskly paced film is a terrific little pre-Code drama that boasts a wonderful performance by Bennett. McCrea is also very good. Paul Lukas is OK as the love-struck manager. Walter Pigeon has a small role in the opening scenes. Jobyna Howland is a hoot as Bennett's mother. Clara Blandick is the housekeeper, Charles Middleton is the prosecutor, Virginia Hammond is McCrea's mother, Walter Catlett is a barfly, and Sterling Holloway is the night clubber who keeps asking for "Poor Butterfly." And little June Filmer is wonderful as the baby.Bennett has a few excellent dramatic scenes, gets to sing a jazz number, and then there are all those balloons!