This is something you rarely get to see - a silent film in terrific shape by perpetual poverty row Columbia. Betty Compson plays Adele, a great star of the Paris theatre whose specialty is playing Madame du Barry. Men flock to her performance every night, not just because of her acting, but because they adore her, always sending her presents. Her husband gets jealous, takes their son Paul, and runs away with him, and she never hears from them again or knows where they went.
The decades pass, and a sixty year old Adele (Edith Yorke) is tramping through the theatrical booking offices trying to get a job, but no go. The manager of one of the houses says that if she looked like she did when she was younger he would make her famous again as Du Barry. Back at the theatrical boarding house where she lives, Adele befriends a young woman (Compson in a dual role as Marie). Marie has youth and talent but no reputation. Adele has talent and reputation but no youth. Maybe they can help each other out? So Marie agrees to claim she is the rejuvenated (through plastic surgery) Adele, and instantly becomes a star, not only to help herself but to get money for the now penniless Adele to live on.
The men who flocked to Adele before have not lost their ardor, in spite of their now old geezer status. But the years have been kind to Adele's most aggressive suitor, Count Raoul de Parma. And he is suspicious of this new improved Adele.
Further complications? Adele's actual son has returned to Paris and finds Marie/Adele charming. Remember her son has no idea of who his mother is and she has no idea of who he is. Odd that Adele and one of her old friends go to great lengths to teach Marie Adele's acting style, but don't bother to tell her the details of Adele's past so she will be ready for questions from the people who knew her back in the day.
Oedipal complications ensue.
This film had a very good score added to it, and I don't know if the tinting was original or not, but it added a very nice touch to the viewing experience. Every frame in the Sony restoration is clear, but a frame will skip here and there. I'd recommend this one, since, although Betty Compson was the hardest working film actress in the transitional year of 1929, there aren't many of her silent films that survive.
By the way this film has nothing to do with Broadway. The entire story plays out in Paris and it is absolutely charming.
If you wonder why anybody would believe that a sixty year old woman could basically be made young again, the idea of rejuvenation was quite the rage during the 1920s, including the discredited "goat gland" treatments that allegedly could restore youthful energy. But it's mainly just a plot device to send the viewer into a world of whimsy.
