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5.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. A Regular Trouper remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a soft spot for dusty, black-and-white musical dramas where the stakes feel both incredibly high and weirdly small at the same time. If you’re looking for high-octane drama or something that breaks the mold, you’ll probably find this a bit of a slog. But, if you like watching people try to navigate jealousy while stuck on a bus or a train with their coworkers, you might find it tolerable.
The whole premise is just a classic recipe for disaster. You’ve got a singer, her boss/fiancé, and the kid sister who shows up and ruins everything by just existing. It feels a bit like watching a slow-motion train wreck, but with more singing.
The movie is surprisingly tight on budget, which shows. You get the feeling that the set was just whatever they could find in the corner of the studio that day. There’s a specific scene where the tension is supposed to be thick, but I found myself just staring at the wallpaper behind them. It was distracting in the best way possible.
Ruth Etting is the one holding this whole thing together, honestly. Without her, the movie would have probably just dissolved into thin air halfway through. When she sings, you actually believe she’s bummed out, which is more than I can say for the guys in this flick.
Speaking of the guys, the fiancé character? Absolute nightmare. He’s the kind of guy who thinks he’s the main character in everyone else’s life. It’s hard to watch him interact with the sisters without wanting to yell at the screen. That’s probably the point, but it still makes my skin crawl.
Comparing this to something like The Girl of the Golden West feels like a stretch, mostly because the scope here is so much smaller. It’s intimate, I guess? Or maybe it’s just under-resourced. It’s hard to tell sometimes.
It’s an imperfect little thing. You can tell the actors were trying, but sometimes the script just gives them nothing to work with. It reminds me a bit of the chaotic energy in Night Court, though obviously in a completely different genre. Just people bumping into each other’s problems and making them worse.
If you watch it, don't expect a revelation. Just sit back and let the melodrama wash over you. It’s not great, but it’s real enough for an afternoon. 🎞️
IMDb —
1919
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