It occurred to me that if Paramount had really wanted to make Gladys Swarthout a film star they might have bought some proved operetta and musical comedy properties. Such things as Victor Herbert's Red Mill, Sigmund Romberg's Maryland My Maryland, and Rudolf Friml's Three Musketeers never got a film version. In fact her leading man in this film John Boles had done early versions of The Desert Song and Rio Rita. This is what MGM did for Jeanette MacDonald.
So instead Paramount took inferior properties for Gladys Swarthout and it showed. I'm convinced this is why her career in films never took off.
Romance In The Dark is a piece of fluff about a singer and an impresario who just form a natural rivalry over every woman they come across. John Boles and John Barrymore play these roles and currently they're both in heat over Claire Dodd who with Helen Vinson always seemed to be getting those other woman roles. Dodd's a countess of sorts.
Boles and Barrymore hear young Gladys Swarthout sing and they say she has great promise. But that's what they tell all the girls. So when Swarthout shows up in Budapest looking to audition, both have forgotten here, but then she becomes a pawn in their little romantic games.
Watching Romance In The Dark I thought the pair of them, Boles and Barrymore a pair of egotistical fools. I guess only a girl first looking for a big break and then in love would have put up with either of these jerks.
The musical interludes were nice but with stories like these Paramount showed they were not handling Swarthout right.
Paramount's main musical films were those of Bing Crosby which relied on Bing's unique personality to put them over. Apparently they had trouble musically with anything else.
So instead Paramount took inferior properties for Gladys Swarthout and it showed. I'm convinced this is why her career in films never took off.
Romance In The Dark is a piece of fluff about a singer and an impresario who just form a natural rivalry over every woman they come across. John Boles and John Barrymore play these roles and currently they're both in heat over Claire Dodd who with Helen Vinson always seemed to be getting those other woman roles. Dodd's a countess of sorts.
Boles and Barrymore hear young Gladys Swarthout sing and they say she has great promise. But that's what they tell all the girls. So when Swarthout shows up in Budapest looking to audition, both have forgotten here, but then she becomes a pawn in their little romantic games.
Watching Romance In The Dark I thought the pair of them, Boles and Barrymore a pair of egotistical fools. I guess only a girl first looking for a big break and then in love would have put up with either of these jerks.
The musical interludes were nice but with stories like these Paramount showed they were not handling Swarthout right.
Paramount's main musical films were those of Bing Crosby which relied on Bing's unique personality to put them over. Apparently they had trouble musically with anything else.