Don't let the title deter you. We're fed up on morbid backstage melodrama of the clown who hides a breaking heart with a cheery smile and finally goes mad and bites himself. We break down and confess all — this is backstage, and it's melodrama, but it's also different and real. Hal Skelly is a restrained "Pagliacci," while Fay Wray gives a versatile emotional performance, and Kay Francis slithers seductively through the siren scenes. All Talkie.