Applause

Rouben Mamoulian, Paramount, Astoria, 1929, from Beth Brown's novel. His first film. Helen Morgan is Kitty Darling, a fading burlesque star who has sent her daughter (Joan Peers) to a convent and now wants her back, away from the wheelman (Fuller Mellish Jr.). Mamoulian had the blimped camera moved on dollies when crews still bolted it down, and he recorded two tracks at once so a lullaby and a prayer could occupy the same scene. Shot on Long Island and in New York streets. National Film Registry, 2006.