It's no offense against the Dionne Quintuplets even though I didn't see their appeal. They are on for only a few segments (filmed separately from the rest of the film as the five little rugrats were living in Canada and too young to be "Going Hollywood") and I truly felt sorry for them for being exploited, the worse case of such an incident since the otherwise artistically outstanding "Freaks". Put a child in front of a camera, and they are going to take over. They don't know any better. Their voices are grating from the very first scene where Jean Hersholt (of the Oscar "Humanitarian" award) comes out to play with them, and when he presents each of them with a puppy, the cuteness button is pushed onto "overload".
The basic plot line has reporters Claire Trevor and Cesar Romero determined to outscoop each other, and after Romero gets the better of Trevor on the scoop of a run-away heiress, the race is on for Trevor to get the rights to the Dionne girl's story. She utilizes them to help a fundraiser for an orphanage, and Romero scams her with a story of the birth of sextuplets where it's all a big plot to humiliate her. It's sort of prophetic considering recent events concerning the publicity surrounding an annoying mother who tossed her 8 children into the world's face before becoming one of the most hated people on the planet.
Practically every character performer on the 20th Century Fox lot appears in small roles here, including Slim Summerville, John Qualen, Jane Darwell and Spencer Charters, and that aspect alone makes it appear that the studio rushed this together to get mileage out of the publicity concerning the five little girls. I can understand the curiosity over the first successful birth of quintuplets, but as history has shown, sticking your nose into the lives of innocent children can do more harm than good. It's also obvious to me that in Stephen Sondheim's song, "I'm Still Here", from "Follies", that the mention of "Five Dionne Babies" was written in an element of disgust. Overall, this is a curiosity piece of bad taste that shows society at its worst and the press at its most intrusive. I think I'll leave the children's parents alone. Their participation in this fiasco is obvious.
The basic plot line has reporters Claire Trevor and Cesar Romero determined to outscoop each other, and after Romero gets the better of Trevor on the scoop of a run-away heiress, the race is on for Trevor to get the rights to the Dionne girl's story. She utilizes them to help a fundraiser for an orphanage, and Romero scams her with a story of the birth of sextuplets where it's all a big plot to humiliate her. It's sort of prophetic considering recent events concerning the publicity surrounding an annoying mother who tossed her 8 children into the world's face before becoming one of the most hated people on the planet.
Practically every character performer on the 20th Century Fox lot appears in small roles here, including Slim Summerville, John Qualen, Jane Darwell and Spencer Charters, and that aspect alone makes it appear that the studio rushed this together to get mileage out of the publicity concerning the five little girls. I can understand the curiosity over the first successful birth of quintuplets, but as history has shown, sticking your nose into the lives of innocent children can do more harm than good. It's also obvious to me that in Stephen Sondheim's song, "I'm Still Here", from "Follies", that the mention of "Five Dionne Babies" was written in an element of disgust. Overall, this is a curiosity piece of bad taste that shows society at its worst and the press at its most intrusive. I think I'll leave the children's parents alone. Their participation in this fiasco is obvious.