kidboots Elsie Ferguson was one of the first major stage stars to come to the movies who realised a different style of acting was needed. She was fortunate to have as a director sensitive Maurice Tourneur - he understood her personality and they really hit it off. More importantly she was a success with the public who had just made "The Sheik" a rousing hit and she slotted into "aristocratic women in exotic locales" type of roles. Even though she retired in 1925 she was at the top so that when talkies came in all the studios were clamouring for her services and she finally accepted First Nationals offer to recreate her stage role in "Scarlet Pages". She inherited the stage role from Pauline Frederick and went on to make it into a sound Broadway hit! It was a storyline that was worn out by 1930 - the hoary "Madame X" one but anything that talked in 1930 was a hit and Elsie Ferguson made her talkie debut in it.I thought she was a bit "stagey" in it, John Halliday was the person who came off best with a quite natural performance but I think everyone was finding their talkie feet. Marian Nixon doubly so, considering she was seen as a successor to Janet Gaynor, then was given the role of Nora, a tough chorus girl who has been kicked around in life. I thought she was admirable in it.From her position as Attorney at Law, Mary Bancroft (Ferguson) can't forget her shabby beginnings and is free with her time and her friend D.A John Remington's (Halliday) money to help benevolent societies dealing with young girls in straightened circumstances. She and John go to a nightclub where they are both struck by the "fineness" of the specialty dancer who looks as though she doesn't really belong in those surroundings. There are things going on - Nora (Nixon) wants to marry Bob but her stepfather has other ideas which involves a deal with an unscrupulous business partner - he can feature Nora in the partner's new show if he turns a blind eye to some sordid goings on.Next scene is blazing headlines "Chorus Girl Kills Father" and eager Bob comes to Mary to see if she will defend the girl. Very plain to the audience that Nora is Mary's daughter who she placed in an orphanage almost 20 years before. I actually thought Mary knew and was bringing things to a head on the witness box so she could have the sensational denouement. In the trial sequence, which takes up the last part of the movie Elsie Ferguson was in her element and gave a real grandstanding performance. When the kindly nurse is put on the stand the real surprise was Mary's reaction - she just didn't know!! Nora is still feeling embittered but the way is left open for relationships to be healed.Grant Withers probably had his best year - he was seen by First National as a bright and breezy player (he definitely was in this one). Unfortunately his break out role in "Sinner's Holiday" also featured James Cagney in the role he had made his own on Broadway and who could compete with Jimmy!!

LeonLouisRicci Some Heavy Going Weigh this one Down as an Early Courtroom Talkie. There is a Pre-Code Subject (out of wedlock babies) and some Cabaret Skin at the Opening, but the Film Struggles to Maintain Interest and much of it is Stiff and Sulan.Most of the Intrigue takes place Off Screen, like the Murder and the Fatherly Figure's Sexual Advances and Things are Restrained to Cross Examinations. There is a Late Revelation that Dominates the Third-Act that is not much of a Surprise Considering.Could be an OK Time-Waster for those Interested in Early Sound Hollywood. The Jazzy Sequined Dance Numbers at the Beginning are Unfortunately the Movie's Only Highlight.

calvinnme This film is Elsie Ferguson's only surviving film, and it is the only talking picture she ever made. Ms. Ferguson plays Mary Bancroft, a successful attorney and candidate for office in the upcoming elections. The first scene, however, is in an orphanage with a nun clutching a baby girl that has just been given up for adoption by the mother because she is starving. The mother is not shown, and the nun indicates that the mother did not divulge the name of the father, the insinuation being that the child was born out of wedlock.The next scene is in the law offices of Mary Bancroft. She apparently has been spurning the advances of the district attorney (John Halliday as John Remington), although she considers him a close friend. However, that doesn't mean that any holds are barred when they spar in court. Mary agrees to take the case of a 19 year old cabaret performer (Marion Nixon as Nora Mason) who admits to shooting her father but refuses to say why she did it. After playing twenty questions with her as to why, Mary can tell - and the audience can too - that it is probably because her father approached her sexually in some way, although this is never actually said.Now I'm going to spoil this movie completely, mainly because the plot is not at all unique. The interesting parts are the players and their performances. What results is that, in court during Nora's murder trial, a nun from a local orphanage appears to reveal that Nora's "father" is in fact not her biological father at all - that Nora is adopted. So here Mary Bancroft is with a girl that is the same age as her daughter, adopted from the same institution as her daughter, brought to the institution on the same day as she brought in her daughter, and when the judge and DA see the card from the orphanage that has Nora's birth mother's name they beg of her not to reveal the birthmother's name in court. Like my title says, what was she thinking???? Did she not get that there was a high probability that Nora was her daughter? The fact that Mary Bancroft could be insightful and clever enough to be a successful attorney in what was very much a man's world in 1930 and not see this coming from a mile away is just ridiculous.What makes this even crazier is at the end Mary tells Nora that she's paced the floors every night of her life wondering about what happened to her, although you could have fooled me given her top of the world carefree demeanor up to the point she realizes she is defending her own daughter against a murder charge.Now for the performances - Elsie Ferguson reminded me very much of Glenda Jackson in her prime. She looked to be in her mid 30's although she was 47 when she made this film. John Halliday was excellent as always, and these two dominated the film and gave very good natural performances making me forget that this is an early talkie. I hardly recognized Marian Nixon as she had a very hardened, sullen, used-up look about her, but given her part this may have been a combination of good make-up and a good performance. Grant Withers, as Nora's fiancé, has had his time in the sun at Warner Brothers by now and in just a year of being built up as a leading man he is on his way down.The art design in this one is good too - much better than I'm used to seeing in surviving WB early talkies. Just one thing had me scratching my head. When Nora is doing the second of two dance numbers at the cabaret, for some reason the background scenery is changed from just curtains to a dead tree. I could never figure that one out.Watch this one mainly as the only filmed record we have of Elsie Ferguson.

Dr. Ed-2 is a stagy and unconvincing melodrama about an unwed mother, a sleazy murder, and (of course) redemption. Elsie Ferguson isn't bad though as the lawyer who learns a terrible secret while defending a showgirl of murder. The rest of the cast, however IS pretty bad: Marian Nixon, Grant Withers, John Halliday, etc. go through their paces without much to offer. Ferguson had been a big silent star playing upper-crust ladies in "weepies." This film was an attempt to revive her career (after 5 years), but it was just too late. Her speaking voice is fine, but the new medium of "talkies" and the new Depression-era sensibility made it clear it was time for Elsie Ferguson to retire from the screen.