Stars Reshining

Over the Hill; 1931

Comebacks in the movies are attaining amazing proportions.  The studios are apparently deciding that old screen names are the best, what with the failure of so many stage players.  Faces you will soon be seeing again are those of Dolores Del Rio, Billie Dove, Agnes Ayres, Olga Baclanova, Anna May Wong, and, most notably, Mae Marsh.  Mae, of course, plays the mother in Over the Hill, replacing Cecilia Loftus.

Mae Marsh

Miss Marsh has never done a talkie.  She was chosen because she was young and a mother.  It was felt Miss Loftus, a veteran stage actress, would perhaps not be suited to the more youthful sequences in the picture.






[Source: Picture Play; July 1931]

Cecilia Loftus

From what I can tell, these starlets tried, but Dolores Del Rio, Anna May Wong, and Mae Marsh had the most success, even though they often appeared in films un-credited.  Cecilia Loftus was a well-known Scottish actress.  She acted in 12 films, 3 in 1931.  Unbeknownst to me, I have seen her in two films: The Old Maid with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins and The Black Cat with Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi.