Stage Struck is a 1936 musical film directed by Busby Berkeley.
George Randall (Dick Powell) is a Broadway musical director. Unfortunately the producer of George's latest show, "Words and Music", has run out of money, endangering the show. His producer hits on the desperation idea of working for Peggy Revere (Joan Blondell), a socialite who has no performing experience and no talent but does have a lot of money and would like to star in a Broadway show.
This plan goes awry when Peggy meets George, they take a violent dislike to each other, and Peggy withdraws her money. However, right after this George goes out drinking and wakes up to discover that he signed a contract with another producer, Fred Harris (Warren William). Fred has secured Peggy's money, and the show proceeds.
Auditions are held for the show. One of the would-be Broadway performers is a fresh-faced ingenue from the sticks, Ruth Williams. Ruth and George fall for each other, which makes George reluctant to cast Ruth into the gaping maw of show business, which Ruth resents. Meanwhile, there's still the matter of no-talent Peggy headlining the show, despite the fact that other people—like Ruth, say—would be far better in the part.
Despite being a musical directed by Busby Berkeley this film does not feature a Busby Berkeley Number. One story holds that producer Jack Warner didn't like what he was seeing and withdrew funding for a big number.
No connection with silent film Stage Struck. A pre-stardom Jane Wyman is onscreen for about a minute as a chorus girl who glories in the name of Bessie Funfnick.
Tropes:
- Aside Glance: In the opening scene George is giving the once-over to a line of chorus girls. One chorus girl looks awkwardly straight into the camera.
- The Big Damn Kiss: A big kiss between George and Ruth at the end of the movie, after he's asked her to marry him.
- Chorus Girls: It's a Busby Berkeley movie, and even though there's no big number, there are still a lot of leggy, half-naked chorus girls running around.
- Comically Missing the Point: Peggy's maid comes running out in a panic and tells Sid that Peggy shot Gilmore. Sid asks "Where?", and the maid answers "Between the chaise lounge and the wastebasket!" (Gilmore is only superficially wounded.)
- Hangover Sensitivity: George wakes up groaning and saying "I feel like a different man" (in a bad way) after a night of drinking.
- The Ingenue: Ruth, "The Spirit of East Weehaukeegan" (per her clipping in the local paper), the wide-eyed innocent who has come to New York to become a star. Since this is a 1936 Warner Brothers film and not reality, she does become a star!
- Instantly Proven Wrong:
- Fred, who is trying to string a show together, tells Peggy "Now I'm the calmest man in show business!" This is immediately followed by Fred's hand shaking badly as he attempts to light Peggy's cigarette.
- Peggy is closeted in her dressing room with Gilmore, the male lead in the show. Right after one cop says to the other that they'll "be cooing like a couple of lovebirds," shots ring out. Peggy has shot Gilmore, non-fatally.
- Leg Focus: Berkeley shows off the legs of the gorgeous Chorus Girls with a shot from the orchestra pit of all of them in a line, kicking.
- Lingerie Scene: It's not as revealing as what Blondell used to wear in Berkeley movies before The Hays Code, but Peggy is still in lingerie for the scene where she tries to seduce George.
- Magical Realism: Most of the film is based in reality, or "reality" as seen through a 1930s Hollywood musical, but one of the two numbers by The Yacht Club Boys has them talking to the radio in a The Television Talks Back gag, and the other ends with their necks growing several feet long as their heads dangle horribly in front of the camera.
- The Malaproper: Peggy does this a lot, usually when she's trying to sound smart despite being quite stupid.Peggy: As Shakespeare said, when two's company, he who hesitates is lost.
George: Who said that?
Peggy: Shakespeare, the bird of Avon. - Match Cut: From the extraordinarily long train to Ruth's dress in her number, to the stage curtain as it comes down.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: In a reference that would have been instantly recognizable in 1936 but might be lost to latter-day viewers, "H.V. Dunbar," the commentator heard on the radio, is a dead-on impersonation of Real Life radio commentator H.V. Kaltenborn and his distinctive voice.
- Non-Actor Vehicle: In-Universe, what Peggy the rich no-talent would like the show to be.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Jeanne Madden plays Ruth Williams. Ruth Williams is The Ingenue in the part that always went to Ruby Keeler in Busby Berkeley films, namely, the wide-eyed innocent who wound up the star of the show and fell in love with the Dick Powell character. Williams even looks like Keeler, being a petite brunette. She is however not Ruby Keeler, as shown by her Dull Surprise mode of acting.
- The Television Talks Back: Used as a gag a couple of times in the numbers performed by The Yacht Club Boys. In one, the radio commentator mentions "the floor of the Senate," which prompts the Yacht Club Boys to ask "the door of the Senate?", only for the radio guy to answer back "No, the floor of the Senate!"
- What Did I Do Last Night?: George is shocked to wake up with a hangover and learn that he has signed a contract with Fred Harris.
