"Broadway Limited" earns a good rating (7 of 10) mostly for its screwball plot. The last two-thirds of the film are cleverly funny as the cast play 'pass the baby.' I don't think this could have been staged any other way than on a train. So, the railroad setting adds some to the fun. I imagine younger people watching today in most of the U.S. would find scenes of rail travel quite foreign. I remember it well.
The cast of supporting comics is quite good, but Dennis O'Keefe was just fair and Marjorie Woodworth was flat and far too serious. Had the romantic leads been able to get into the comedy, the film would have rated and fared much better.
This was Woodworth's first lead role since Hal Roach discovered her three years earlier. He had been building her up with publicity to become the next Jean Harlow. But, as some news accounts of the time, and later articles noted, Roach pushed her too soon. Unfortunately, she wasn't ready to debut with a talented cast of accomplished comedians and comediennes. With this and a few more co-starring roles that didn't fare well, Woodworth's promising young career soon faded from view.
Woodworth's story is interesting. She did have talent and the usual attributes that went with early Hollywood stars. And, she got a chance to make it big. But, as with many another would-be star, Woodworth's career in films soon died. To show how abruptly and completely she fell from the scene, the DVD issued today of "Broadway Limited" doesn't include her name on the front cover. She's in the cover photo, but the names across the top billboard are O'Keefe, Pitts, McLaglen, Kinskey and Kelly. Even IMDb didn't have a bio or trivia section on Woodworth as of the time of this review. But, I was curious and found an interesting article about Woodworth's Hollywood "career" and later life online at obscureactresses.wordpress.com.
