Mae Clarke is right up at the top of the list of most under rated actresses. No matter how small the role or how over shadowed - her role in "Three Wise Girls" was put in the shade by Jean Harlow's bigger and flashier part, but Mae definitely gave the best, most poignant performance in the film. Did she ever give a bad performance??? Compared to the glossy, shallow 1940 remake, this 1931 version of "Waterloo Bridge" has an elegant simplicity. In the 1940 version, Vivien Leigh is a brilliant ballerina who only takes to prostitution when she thinks her Officer sweetheart has been killed, but in this earlier version Mae Clarke (except for a fleeting opening scene) is already a hardened prostitute, who tries to discourage soldier Roy from a relationship she knows will only end in disaster.
Unfortunately, chorus girl Myra decides to try out for "The Bing Boys" instead of "Chu Chin Chow" and two years later "Chu Chin Chow" is still running and Myra is working as a prostitute. Walking along Waterloo Bridge, her usual haunt, she meets Roy (Kent Douglass) an impressionable soldier who helps her pick up an old woman's vegetables. He falls instantly in love with her and wants her to meet his parents but she is not so sure. They are very welcoming - Frederick Kerr is just so right as Roy's almost deaf step father and Bette Davis, in a very small role as Janet, is charming and effective. That evening Myra confesses her past to Roy's mother (Enid Bennett) and while she is sympathetic and admiring of Myra's honesty, agrees that she cannot marry Roy. Myra flees to London and by the time she and Roy are re-united , he knows about her past but doesn't care. She sends him back to the front with a promise of marriage, happy and secure, knowing she loves him, then as the camera pans away she walks right into an exploding bomb.
James Whale more than confirmed his importance as a new major director. There are some wonderful scenes of powerful emotion and the outdoor scenes of the bridge in an air-raid with the search lights and hurrying people are pictorially beautiful. Mae Clarke has so many moments, a touching scene, where she picks up an Officer (Billy Bevan) then in a moment of conscience rejects him. Moments later, realising she has been rude to him and also that she needs the money - "I'm sorry Mister, I didn't mean it" but it is too late. Another scene - trying to discourage Roy, she laughs hysterically at him, all the while hiding her face in her arms. She was so outstanding that it makes you wonder why she wasn't given better parts. Almost matching her was Kent Douglass (soon to be Douglass Montgomery) - he was just heartbreaking as the innocent soldier who loves Myra, whatever her past. the scene where Mrs Hobley (Ethel Griffies) tells him the truth about Myra's occupation is extremely emotional but Douglass carries it off and makes you really believe in him.
A word about "The Bing Boys" - it wasn't quite the dud the film made out. "The Bing Boys Are Here" were a series of revues that opened in 1916 with George Robey and Violet Lorraine. It introduced the song "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" and the production lasted 378 performances. There were two other revues - "The Bing Boys Are There" and "The Bing Boys on Broadway" - all in all the three revues clocked up over 1,000 performances. "The Bing Boys" and "Chu Chin Chow" were the two biggest musical hits of World War 1.
Highly, Highly Recommended.
Unfortunately, chorus girl Myra decides to try out for "The Bing Boys" instead of "Chu Chin Chow" and two years later "Chu Chin Chow" is still running and Myra is working as a prostitute. Walking along Waterloo Bridge, her usual haunt, she meets Roy (Kent Douglass) an impressionable soldier who helps her pick up an old woman's vegetables. He falls instantly in love with her and wants her to meet his parents but she is not so sure. They are very welcoming - Frederick Kerr is just so right as Roy's almost deaf step father and Bette Davis, in a very small role as Janet, is charming and effective. That evening Myra confesses her past to Roy's mother (Enid Bennett) and while she is sympathetic and admiring of Myra's honesty, agrees that she cannot marry Roy. Myra flees to London and by the time she and Roy are re-united , he knows about her past but doesn't care. She sends him back to the front with a promise of marriage, happy and secure, knowing she loves him, then as the camera pans away she walks right into an exploding bomb.
James Whale more than confirmed his importance as a new major director. There are some wonderful scenes of powerful emotion and the outdoor scenes of the bridge in an air-raid with the search lights and hurrying people are pictorially beautiful. Mae Clarke has so many moments, a touching scene, where she picks up an Officer (Billy Bevan) then in a moment of conscience rejects him. Moments later, realising she has been rude to him and also that she needs the money - "I'm sorry Mister, I didn't mean it" but it is too late. Another scene - trying to discourage Roy, she laughs hysterically at him, all the while hiding her face in her arms. She was so outstanding that it makes you wonder why she wasn't given better parts. Almost matching her was Kent Douglass (soon to be Douglass Montgomery) - he was just heartbreaking as the innocent soldier who loves Myra, whatever her past. the scene where Mrs Hobley (Ethel Griffies) tells him the truth about Myra's occupation is extremely emotional but Douglass carries it off and makes you really believe in him.
A word about "The Bing Boys" - it wasn't quite the dud the film made out. "The Bing Boys Are Here" were a series of revues that opened in 1916 with George Robey and Violet Lorraine. It introduced the song "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" and the production lasted 378 performances. There were two other revues - "The Bing Boys Are There" and "The Bing Boys on Broadway" - all in all the three revues clocked up over 1,000 performances. "The Bing Boys" and "Chu Chin Chow" were the two biggest musical hits of World War 1.
Highly, Highly Recommended.