Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Ploydsge just watch it!

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

bbrebozo I'm old enough to remember Joan Blondell as a funny and sassy old lady when she was a guest on television talk shows in the 1960's and 1970s, and I've enjoyed Stuart Erwin's other films, so I really wanted to love this movie. Sadly, I didn't, for two reasons.First, because Stuart...Erwin gave almost...all of his lines a...halting reading that I think was...supposed to make...him seem like...a humble and ignorant country boy...but got...really annoying...after a while. It was like two hours of a really bad Christopher Walken imitation.Second, I found Stuart Erwin's character very unlikeable. Basically, he plays an ignorant and untalented narcissist who shows up in Hollywood expecting to be given big dramatic roles with one specific studio. When Joan Blondell takes an inexplicable liking to him, and gets him a job as a movie extra (which he initially thinks is beneath him), he blows his line and gets fired. So instead of trying to get work at another studio, or getting a regular job, he stays behind the studio walls and lives on scraps from the trash.Again, Blondell comes to the rescue, and gives him another shot at movies. But since he despises what he calls "cross-eyed comedies" (a shot at legendary cross-eyed movie comedian Ben Turpin, who co-stars with him), they cast him in a movie without telling him it's a comedy. He becomes a big star, largely because he is so untalented that it's funny. But because he is the star of his despised cross-eyed comedies, he's hurt, has a hissy fit, and makes plan to return to his hometown.He ends up staying, apparently because of the mutual love between him and Joan Blondell. However, there is absolutely no chemistry between Blondell and Erwin at all. So the ending makes no sense and is pretty unsatisfying.I did like the twist, unusual for the 1930's, of a successful woman using her position of power to rescue a weak and vulnerable man. Unfortunately, because the movie was ineptly done, this twist was underplayed and buried.To those who rated this film highly: Believe me, I wish I could have agreed with you.

MJBRLD Once again TCM comes to the rescue of a forgotten gem. I agree with the posters here who comment on the interesting mix of pathos and comedy in this film. The film is truly touching in a way that could not come across today. Why is that? I think that nowadays it is an either-or : either you are a comedy or you are going for pathos. The trick of balancing both seems to be lost.There is additional pleasure in seeing Paramount stars of the times in walk-ons in the scenes on the lot or at the disastrous/successful preview. Look quickly and you can see Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, Tallulah Bankhead among others. Joan Blondell is excellent in her specialty, playing the tough cookie with a huge sentimental streak. I found the sweetness of the comedy in the scenes back home in Simsbury absolutely refreshing. Not a touch of cynicism even though these characters are so clearly the objects of humor.Catch this when you can. I just checked the Turner schedule for the next three months and it doesn't seem to be on.

Kalaman Slight Spoiler.I was profoundly touched and moved by this small Paramount picture, a fervent and well-made satire on Hollywood. As it unfolds, "Make Me a Star" turns out to be more dramatic than humorous, with amazing performances by the two leads, Stuart Erwin and Joan Blondell. Erwin's Mertin Gill, a grocery clerk that dreams of becoming a cowboy actor in Hollywood, is fabulous without overdoing his part. Blondell who understands him better than anyone in Hollywood, gives one of her most honest and touching performances ever. My favorite scene is when Gill is in the movie theatre watching the preview of his unedited film `Wide Open Spaces'; the audience is laughing hysterically while Gill sits there looking stunned and speechless. It is a sincere blend of comedy and pathos, like the picture itself. This is a very special, heartwarming film and you will fall in love with it. The star cameos include Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Clive Brook, Jack Oakie, Charles Ruggles, Frederic March, and Sylvia Sidney.

dcaprita Having done the 'starving actor thing" in LA for several years, I fell in love with this movie late one night on Turner Classics. It has some great scenes of the naive midwestern dude learning how to act and get in the business. And it doesn't necessarily have a happy ending, which I loved. Does he stay and starve, does he go back home, does he make it? The casting scenes are great and Joan Blondell does a great job as the sympathetic inside woman. Accurate, tongue in cheek portrait of the business that still stands.