If you feel as if you have met Stella Parish before, you're not mistaken. A self-sacrificing soul, she used to go by such monikers as Madame X and Stella Dallas, and in the hands of the arch Kay Francis, she comes across as a mix of the two. Stella Parish does a disappearing act not unlike Madame X, all for the betterment of her young child, and as in the case of the woebegone Mrs. Dallas, said child is a girl. But it does stretch the imagination a bit when it is learned that Stella Parish used to be the toast of London's West End, what with Francis' pronounced lisp and all, and her ultimate descent into degradation on the wicked burlesque circuit seems as equally farfetched. In other words, chalk up I Found Stella Parish as Madame X redux.
by Hans J. Wollstein
review
