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Morning Glory Movie Review

Morning Glory is a 1933 drama film directed by Lowell Sherman and starring Katharine Hepburn. It’s a weak, slight flick which benefits from strong acting all around.

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“Youth has its hour of glory…

but too often it’s only a morning glory,

the flower that fades before the sun is very high“

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It follows a very eager, optimistic, even arrogant young aspiring actress and her first steps at a big career and what she loses as a result. This is one of those 30s flicks which warn how love is more important than work and in that regard the message is very clichéd as is that forced finale. The entire plot is honestly nothing but an acting showcase for Hepburn. It’s a slim, forgettable and overall standard Hollywood inner workings affair that fails to differentiate itself from other much better films about the business of filmmaking.

Katharine Hepburn won her first Oscar for this performance and although I wouldn’t really call it earned as she struggled a bit at times and was overly theatrical, she was still excellent for the most part and particularly great at such an early time in her career. It’s interesting how she basically played herself as she was full of energy and ambitious to become a big actress at the time. And she definitely showed that huge charisma and charm here.

But other players are also worth mentioning as they all make a rather solid impression. Adolphe Menjou and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are pretty good themselves whereas Mary Duncan is quite funny in her typical, but still effective role.

Morning Glory features pretty good dialogue for sure, but it relies so heavily on it that the storytelling and characterization suffered as a result. I also found the main character rather unappealing and overly manipulative at times, though I do guess she’s a good representation of this period’s aspiring actresses.

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The movie is simply way too slim, short and particularly theatrical in its approach and never cinematic at all. The direction, pacing, cinematography and especially the script are all quite substandard and never deserving of all these strong actors and actresses in it. I wasn’t bored by this flick per say, but I wasn’t really engaged either. It’s just okay and nothing more than that.

Morning Glory is just a big showcase for Katharine Hepburn who won her first Oscar for basically playing herself here – a very charismatic, confident, aspiring young actress. She sometimes struggled, but for the most part she stole the show. Other players are also pretty good, but the movie is, apart from the strong acting performances, a rather slim, tired and forgettable Hollywood tale lacking in cinematic qualities and concluded with a particularly forced message finale.

My Rating – 3