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FROM THE BOOK:
Irving
Thalberg took no chances with his wife's first talkie and gave her the
title role in The Trial of Mary Dugan. It was MGM's first straight
all-dialogue picture and came immediately after the talk-song-dance
Broadway Melody. This New York and London stage smash kept Norma
Shearer listening tensely to courtroom testimony most of the time, then
let her loose on a big emotional scene. Miss Shearer had never had
stage experience, but she used a well-modulated voice and excellent
diction to make the transition from silent stardom with immense
success. Raymond Hackett was her defense-lawyer brother, the role he
created on Broadway. H.B. Warner, Lewis Stone, Lilyan Tashman, Olive
Tell, Claude Allister and Mary Doran also scored in the Bayard Veiller
thriller, directed by the author from his and Becky Gardiner's screenplay.
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