By most accounts, the Great Depression wasn't the best time to strike out in search of fame and fortune. But that didn't stop Frances Farmer from trading rain-soaked West Seattle for the glamorous climes of Hollywood, transforming herself into a major film actress of the 1930's.

On Nov. 7 and 8, the Admiral Theater is bringing one of West Seattle High's most famous alumnae back home in the form of a three-film retrospective.

The Admiral is pulling out all the stops for the event. Friday's showing of "Come and Get It" is intended to be an elegant affair with a cocktail reception and fans encouraged to dress up in their most elegant 1930's style. If you find yourself rummaging through your closet without clue to what to wear, simply ask yourself this question: What would Fred and Ginger do? The evening finishes up with an after party at Shadowland Restaurant in the junction. (For more details go to http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.net/.)

Saturday boasts a matinee showing of "Rhythm on the Range," co-starring Bing Crosby. The series finishes up Saturday evening with "Frances," the Academy Award nominated biopic of Farmer starring Jessica Lange.

The qualities that drive Farmer's appeal are splashed all over the screen in "Come and Get It." Farmer has a porcelain beauty shaded by an undercurrent of toughness that seemed to find special favor in the hardscrabble days of the Depression. She lacked the frenetic intelligence of that other sometimes tomboy, Katherine Hepburn. Instead, her style is slower, sometimes combative. As an actress, she leads with her chin.

"Come and Get It" is a vintage 1930's melodrama. Farmer plays, Lotta Morgan, a down-on-her-luck saloon girl in early 1900's. She falls for an ambitious lumberjack (Edward Arnold) who abandons her for a chance to marry into wealth. Years later he returns to the woods to find that Lotta had died but falls in love with her daughter, also played by Farmer. This is a film best described by the word "fraught" but it does have its rewards. Walter Brennan comes close to stealing the movie with his spot-on performance as the kind-hearted lumberjack who marries Lotta on the rebound. Edward Arnold has to stretch a bit to play Frances Farmer's love interest in the first half of the film and the middle-age tycoon in the second. But it's fascinating to watch Arnold, who's better known for his performance as the patriarch in "You Can't Take It with You," play a romantic lead.

"Rhythm on the Range" follows a story line popular in depression era films: a poor little rich girl escapes her gilded cage to find love with a regular Joe. In this case Farmer and Bing Crosby meet cute in boxcar. Crosby is a cowboy transporting his prize bull back to his ranch in Arizona while Farmer is on the run from a loveless engagement and climbs on board looking her aunt, a tough western rancher. The trains takes off with just the two of them, launching the couple into a cross-country journey towards romance, very much in the vein of "It Happened One Night." "Rhythm on the Range" is a fairly lightweight effort. Crosby isn't a strong presence onscreen and Farmer outshines him at every turn except when he's singing. The film makes up for this weakness by having him break into song at every possible occasion. In the end, Farmer and Crosby make for a reasonably charming romantic couple and when things slow down the movie backs them up with the comedic talents of Bob "Bazooka" Burns and a young Martha Raye in her film debut.

For all the glamour of Farmer's film career, her private life had a darker, troubled arc. She suffered from alcoholism and famously spent time in a Washington State mental hospital. Jessica Lange's Oscar-nominated turn in "Frances" focuses on her life off-screen. The film plays fairly fast and loose with the facts but Lange's performance makes it all worthwhile. Lange may have been the perfect choice for capturing Farmer's spirit. The two actresses share a similar onscreen energy. Both emote a willful, vibrant intelligence, playing a little above the material they've been given.

There is a synergy the three films chosen for the series. Taken together they paste together facets of Frances Farmer's life and talent into an entertaining mosaic. If you have the time, this could be a great weekend at the movies.

Rhythm on the Range (1936)

Come and Get It (1936)

Frances (1982)

Bruce Bulloch may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com