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Written by Anthony Asquith, Shooting Stars
is motivated by the sexual misconduct of unprincipled movie star Mae
Feather, played by Annette Benson. Though married to her leading
man Julian Gordon (Brian
Aherne), Mae develops a craving for charismatic slapstick comedian
Andy Wilks (Donald Calthrop). The heroine gives the comic the key
to her apartment, informing him that her husband will be away for the
weekend. But when Andy comes calling, Julian is still on the
premises, and it doesn't take Julian long to size up the situation.
He announces his intention to divorce his
wife, an action which, thanks to a morals clause in Mae's contract, will
ruin the actress' career. At Mae's urging, Andy schemes to kill
Julian before papers can be filed, loading a prop gun on the set of
Julian's latest picture with a "live" cartridge. Through a series
of devilishly clever plot twists, Julian survives the murder attempt,
but Andy himself is killed by the booby-trapped gun. Five years
pass. Free of his deceitful wife, Julian has become a top
director, while poor Mae has been demoted to an extra.
Greeted with mixed reviews in 1928,
Shooting Stars seems somewhat better today than it did then,
primarily because of the detailed authenticity of the movie studio
scenes. |
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