Applause (1929)
Kitty Darling, a fading burlesque star, sends her young daughter April to a convent school to spare her the seedy theatrical world. Years later April returns to New York, falls for a sailor, and discovers how far her mother has sunk under a scheming lover and years of drink.
Rouben Mamoulian’s debut, Applause broke early sound cinema out of its static staging with a roving camera, location work in the streets and subways of New York, and overlapping multi-channel sound. Helen Morgan’s raw performance anchors a film long cited as proof that the talkies could still move, and it is preserved in the National Film Registry.
Background
Applause was director Rouben Mamoulian’s first feature film, and it broke early sound cinema out of the static, stage-bound camera setups that the new recording technology had initially forced on filmmakers. Mamoulian used a roving camera, location shooting in the streets and subways of New York, and early experiments with overlapping, multi-channel sound recording to give the film a sense of movement and texture that was unusual for 1929.
What to watch for
Watch for Helen Morgan’s raw, emotionally direct performance as a fading burlesque star whose young daughter returns from convent school to find her mother sinking under a scheming lover and years of drinking. The film is frequently cited by historians as proof that the arrival of synchronized sound did not have to mean the end of visual and cinematic ambition, at a time when many early talkies felt stiff and theatrical by comparison. It is preserved in the National Film Registry.
