Follow Thru. 1930. USA. Directed by Laurence Schwab, Lloyd Corrigan. Screenplay by Laurence Schwab, Lloyd Corrigan, based on the musical by Lew Brown, B. G. DeSylva, Ray Henderson, Laurence Schwab. With Nancy Carroll, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Jack Haley, Eugene Pallette. 35mm preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. 92 min.
One of the first stars to emerge from the talkies, Nancy Carroll was also one of the first such players to find herself out of fashion—with studios, if not audiences. Follow Thru, which Photoplay accurately described as a “singie-talkie-dancie-golfie,” was the follow-up to her Oscar-nominated turn in The Devil’s Holiday (1930). Carroll stars as champion golfer Lora, who hires Jerry (Charles “Buddy” Rogers) to polish her game after an unexpected loss to a rival (Thelma Todd). The songs include “Button Up Your Overcoat” and Rodgers and Hart’s “I’m Hard to Please,” and ads played up the two-strip Technicolor that enabled audiences to appreciate Carroll’s big blue eyes and red hair. Her career was going strong, but hints of trouble were already in the fan magazines, with Carroll described as “uncooperative.” Her contract with Paramount would end just three years later.