Before getting into any complications it is necessary to make it clear that this reviewer is tremendously prejudiced toward Janet Gaynor: which amounts to the fact that he overlooks her faults unblushingly and emphasises her virtues. With that as a premise it is possible to go on and say that "High Society Blues" is a thoroughly enjoyable picture.

In the first place, it is an obvious and unpretentious attempt to please. Characters are dripping in over doses of local color this time its the corn tassels of Iowa with a fair share of effete Eastern gawdiness. The singing by Miss Gaynor and Mr. Farrell is every way similar to their efforts in "Sunny Side Up" while the plot is just another version of Cinderella reversed or the Perfume Counter dream. But the point is that this is not Ibsen but Janet Gaynor assisted by Charles Farrell.

The Director has, moreover, had the good sense to refrain from dragging in an attractively nude but meaningless chorus. And in addition to this he has taken care to emphasize the most atractive points of his stars so that at the end one is given a most tremendous impression of their capabilities. But out of it all one fact remains, the plot was only fair, the characterization was caricature, the music not startling but it was Janet Gaynor and consequently an excellent movie.

As for the shorter subjects, the shorter the better.