Applause (1929)

Directed by

Rouben Mamoulian

Genre

drama film, musical film, romance film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 22m

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 26 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An aging burlesque performer tries to give her daughter a better life away from the stage. She makes painful sacrifices to secure her daughter's future.

poignantmelancholicemotionalintimategroundedrestrainedtenderearnest

What happens

Applause is a 1929 pre-Code American backstage musical "talkie" directed by Rouben Mamoulian in his directorial debut and starring Helen Morgan, Jack Cameron, and Joan Peers. It was shot at Paramount's Astoria Studios in Astoria, New York during the early years of sound films. Applause is adapted from the 1928 novel by Beth Brown, a former chorus girl, about an aging burlesque queen who sacrifices herself for her daughter so that the latter can escape her mother's sordid fate. The film is notable as one of the earliest films of its time to break free from the restrictions of bulky sound technology equipment in order to shoot on location around Manhattan. In 2006, Applause was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and recommended for preservation. The film's copyright expired on January 1, 2025, resulting in the film entering the public domain. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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