Comet Over Broadway is a 1938 drama directed by Busby Berkeley. Although the film somewhat subdues Berkeley’s trademark visual panache, it more than makes up for this shortcoming with a story that manages to be sudsy and thrilling all at once.
Kay Francis stars as small-town housewife Eve Appleton, who long had theatrical ambitions…and she’d suffer for them after a dust-up between her jealous husband Bill (John Litel) and an appraising actor (Ian Keith) ended in homicide. Vowing to pay for Bill’s defense, she sets out to conquer the stage–but will the appreciative patronage of footlights star Bert Ballin (Ian Hunter) take her focus off her mission? Donald Crisp, Minna Gombell, Melville Cooper, Sybil Jason co-star.
Comet Over Broadway is now available from the Warner Archive Collection.