Stage Door (1937)

IMDb plot summary: A chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.

Directed by Gregory La Cava. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, and Gail Patrick.

The dialogue here is the most delightful kind of witty banter, with nearly every exchange functioning as either playful teasing or a pointed jab, and the two can alternate frequently within a scene as dynamics between characters shift. Some more serious drama arises near the end as one woman has to contend with the unexpected results of elbowing her way to the top, but the film isn't trying to make much of a statement about it other than perhaps "Art is hard," and is content to let it sit there. This feels like a film that would live up to multiple rewatches and deep dives into individual characters, and I feel like I barely scratched the surface in a single viewing. There's a lot to appreciate here, and I definitely recommend it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Stage Door > The Dinner Guest

Stage Door > Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Stage Door < Revengers Tragedy

Stage Door < The Muppets

Stage Door < A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

Stage Door < Blackbeard's Ghost

Stage Door > Hot Millions

Stage Door < Shallow Grave

Stage Door > Robin Hood (1973)

Stage Door > Fever Pitch (1997)

Stage Door > The Other Boleyn Girl

Final spot: #769 out of 3224, or 76%.