Applause (1929)

An aging showgirl (Helen Morgan) lives with a sleazy burlesque comic (Fuller Mellish Jr.) who's using her. At his insistence, she takes her daughter (Joan Peers) out of a convent school and pushes her to join the burlesque company which the daughter finds unsavory. Based on the novel by Beth Brown and directed by Rouben Mamoulian (SILK STOCKINGS). This sordid pre-code tale of burlesque backstage life was banned in some states and cuts were made by the local censor boards. I found the film overly sentimental but I admired Mamoulian's innovative techniques including taking the movie out of the studio and onto the streets of New York. I didn't care much for Morgan's boozy character and began to find her irritating after awhile but I found the romance between Peers as her daughter and a young sailor (Henry Wadsworth) rather sweet. Still, the film is much admired in certain cineaste quarters. With Jack Cameron and Dorothy Cumming.