Frank Fay Movies
Love Nest is a thoroughly likeable formula comedy with a most engaging cast. William Lundigan plays Jim Scott, an aspiring writer who, together with his wife Connie (June Haver), moves into the basement of an apartment building that they've bought. Scott's hopes to keep financially solvent are thwarted by the everyday travails of maintaining the building and ministering to the needs of the tenants. The episodic plotline settles on the activities of charming con artist Charley Patterson (Frank Fay), who targets tenant Eadie Gaynor (Leatrice Joy) as his latest victim. When Patterson is finally arrested, he generously offers to tell his life story to Scott, thereby launching the latter's writing career in earnest. Love Nest was frequently revived throughout the 1950s and 1960s because of the supporting-cast presence of future sex symbol Marilyn Monroe and TV talk host Jack Paar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Haver, William Lundigan, (more)
- 1943
In this musical comedy, a vaudevillian teams up with a barber and becomes a smash hit. The barber also finds himself falling in love with his talented partner. When he learns that she has a shot at becoming a famous radio singer, he decides to go solo. Eventually, the woman gets herself into a real fix. Fortunately, the barber comes to save her. The lovers are reunited and happiness ensues. Songs include "The Restless Age" (Ed Rose, Abe Olman), "Goodnight Now," "The Lilac Tree," "Tempo of the Trail," "Oh Johnny." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Gilbert, Frank Fay, (more)
- 1940
Ironically, the marriage between Dick Powell and Joan Blondell was beginning to fall apart at the time they co-starred in Paramount's I Want a Divorce. The film manages to sustain two plotlines, with newlyweds Alan and Geraldine MacNally (Powell and Blondell) beginning to have second thoughts about their union, while David and Wanda Holland (Conrad Nagel and Gloria Dickson) are in the last stages of their divorce proceedings. It so happens that Alan is the struggling attorney handling the Holland case, much to his wife's chagrin. As the hearings proceed, Alan and Geraldine drift further and further apart, only to abruptly reunite when Wanda Holland's suicide after losing custody of her son forces Alan to rethink his own priorities. Often written off as a mere comedy, I Want a Divorce has a surprising amount of meat on its bones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, (more)
- 1940
Like its predecessors, this third cinema version of Sidney Hoiward's Pulitzer Prize-winning play They Knew What They Wanted suffers from Hollywood censorship. Still, this story of the grim consequence of a misbegotten mail-order marriage has much to offer. Carole Lombard is superb as the waitress who lies about herself while carrying on a romance by correspondence with the Italian-born owner of a Napa Valley vineyard. Equally fine (if a shade too effusively hammy) is Charles Laughton as the grape grower, who also misrepresents himself in his letters, going so far as to pass off a photograph of handsome hired hand William Gargan as a picture of himself. Vowing to be loyal to her new husband Laughton, despite her distaste for him, Lombard nonetheless enters into an affair with Gargan. For the most part, the film moves along harmoniously. It falters only in the censor-dictated alterations (why is Lombard crying at the end?) and the horrendous performance by Frank Fay as a sanctimonious priest. Keep an eye peeled during the engagement party for a young, unbilled Karl Malden and Tom Ewell. Previous versions of They Knew What They Wanted included The Secret Hour (1928) and A Lady in Love (1930). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, (more)
- 1938
Obviously filmed several years before its 1938 release, Meet the Mayor serves as a vehicle for popular Broadway comedian Frank Fay. Unfortunately, Fay's smug, self-satisfied line deliveries had never played well on screen, and didn't here. The star is cast as Spencer Brown, elevator operator in a backwoods hotel. As the community's resident philosopher, Brown's support is highly coveted in the upcoming mayoral race. The outcome of the plot is decided by a hidden recording device developed by Brown's friend and confidante Harry Bayliss (George Meeker in a rare sympathetic role). Fulfilling the film's leading-lady obligations is Ruth Hall, who by the time Meet the Mayor hit the screens had retired to become the wife of cinematographer Lee Garmes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
"This is New York, Skyscraper Champion of the World...Where the Slickers and Know-It-Alls peddle gold bricks to each other...And where Truth, crushed to earth, rises again more phony than a glass eye..." With this jaundiced opening title, scripter Ben Hecht introduces his classic comedy Nothing Sacred. Fredric March plays Wally Cook, a hotshot reporter condemned to writing obituaries because of his unwitting complicity in a fraud. Anxious to get back in the good graces of his editor Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly), Cook pounces on the story of New England girl Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), who is reportedly dying from radiation poisoning. Actually, Hazel isn't dying at all; she's been misdiagnosed by Moscow's eternally drunk doctor (Charles Winninger). But when Cook offers to take her on an all-expenses-paid trip to New York in exchange for her exclusive story, it's too good an offer to pass up. Once in the Big Apple, Hazel is feted as a heroine by the novelty-seeking populac; she enjoys the adulation at first, but soon (and with the help of gallons of alcoholic beverages) suffers the pangs of conscience. She confesses her deception to Cook, who by now has fallen in love with her. Cook and Stone conspire to keep the public from discovering the truth, eventually dreaming up a phony suicide. Travelling incognito to avoid arrest, Wally and Hazel marry and go on a honeymoon, secure in the knowledge that New York City has forgotten all about her and moved on to their next fad. Brimming with witty, acerbic dialogue and hilarious bits of physical business, Nothing Sacred is among the best "screwball" comedies of the 1930s. The musical score by Oscar Levant both mocks and celebrates the George Gershwinesque musical style then in vogue. As an added bonus, the film is lensed in Technicolor (avoid those two-color reissue prints), allowing modern viewers to see what New York City looked liked back in 1937. Nothing Sacred was later adapted into a Broadway musical, Hazel Flagg, which in turn was filmed by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as Living It Up (1954), with Lewis in the Carole Lombard role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Fredric March, (more)
- 1935
This musical chronicles the rise to stardom of a humble bellhop after he is discovered by a talent agent. Though he becomes a very popular singer of contemporary songs, the young man really aspires to a career in opera. At first his manager is appalled and refuses to let him, but when his disconsolate star begins hitting the sauce, he relents and success ensues. Songs and production numbers include "Broadway Cinderella," "Where Am I?," "At Your Service Madam," "You Let Me Down," "Over Yonder Moon," "September in the Rain" (Al Dubin, Harry Warren), "Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie" (Carson J. Robison), and selections from "Aida" (Giuseppe Verdi), and "Martha" (Friedrich von Flotow). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, James Melton, (more)
- 1931
In this light-hearted musical, an early color film, a successful actress tires of the bustle and hustle of her tawdry life and settles down to what she thinks is the blissful mundaneness of married life. Unfortunately, the actual drudgery of wifedom takes her by surprise and domestic turmoil ensues. Songs include: "Nobody Cares If I'm Blue", "I'm Crazy for Cannibal Love", "Song of the Congo", ""You're an Eyeful of Heaven"". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1931
God's Gift to Women demonstrated conclusively that Warner Bros. would never make a movie star out of Broadway comedian Frank Fay. Portraying a most unlikely Frenchman, Fay pitches woo at every beautiful woman in sight, but falls in love with none of them. When Cupid genuinely strikes him for the first time, Fay is compelled by the girl's father to prove that he's honestly in love with her and not just with her millions. Fay does just that, but it takes ever so long. God's Gift to Women is injured beyond repair by the obnoxious, mannered performance of Frank Fay, and by the fact that Fay and director Michael Curtiz detested each other at first sight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Fay, Laura La Plante, (more)
- 1930
Whatever rapport comedian Frank Fay enjoyed with Broadway audiences invariably evaporated when he appeared on film. In The Matrimonial Bed, Fay is his usual overbearing self as Adolphe, a small-town husband who is rendered an amnesiac in a train crash. Five years pass, during which time Adolphe marries Southern belle Sylvaine (Lilyan Tashman). In the meantime, Wife Number One Juliette (Florence Eldridge), believing her husband dead, has also remarried, to Gustave (James Gleason). One afternoon, she walks by a neighborhood barbershop, where Adolphe is now working -- and it isn't hard to guess what happens next. The fact that Frank Fay and director Michael Curtiz were constitutionally incapable of getting along undoubtedly hurt the overall effectiveness of this otherwise passable farce. Matrimonial Bed was remade in 1941 as Kisses for Breakfast, where it was frankly much funnier; on the other hand, the earlier film does contain a surprising amount of "gay" humor which still elicits chuckles when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Fay, Lilyan Tashman, (more)
- 1930
Comedian Frank Fay and director Michael Curtiz reportedly despised one another at sight, and their mutual animosity tends to seep through every frame of Under a Texas Moon. The vainglorious Fay is cast as Don Carlos, a gay caballero ("gay" meaning "carefree") whose serenades every senorita he meets. When a group of ranchers post a $7000 dollar reward for the capture of the Bad Man of the Pool (Fred Kohler), a notorious bandit, Don Carlos passes himself off as a daring cattle rustler and promises to bring the Bad Man to heel within 10 days. Characteristically, he spends nine of those ten days romancing such lovelies as Raquella (Raquel Torres), Lolita (Myrna Loy) and Dolores (Armida). All of this was played for laughs, but Frank Fay's special brand of quiet put-down humor didn't play quite as well on screen as it did on stage. Under a Texas Moon was originally released in Technicolor, but try finding a color print today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Fay, Raquel Torres, (more)
- 1929
Basically a filmed vaudeville presentation, The Show of Shows was Warner Bros.' entry in the "all star, all talking, all singing and all dancing" sweepstakes of 1929. Though slightly better than MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, the Warners entry pales in comparison to Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 and Paramount on Parade, due mainly to the film's master of ceremonies, the insufferable Frank Fay. Some of the individual acts seen in Show of Shows were pretty good, notably Winnie Lightner's delightful Singing in the Bathtub (a spoof of Hollywood Revue of 1929's Singin' in the Rain) and John Barrymore's brilliant rendition of Richard III's soliloquy from Shakespeare's Henry VI. Also easy to take was "Floradora Sextette," featuring such luminaries as Myrna Loy, Patsy Ruth Miller and cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin, and "Eight Sister Acts," including such Hollywood siblings as Dolores and Helene Costello, Sally Blane and Loretta Young and Shirley Mason and Viola Dana (also teamed in this number are Ann Sothern and Marion Byron, who were not sisters). But for the most part, the acts are on a par with "Skull and Crossbones," a boring production number showcasing entertainer Ted Lewis, and "Recitations," a one-joke affair in which three different anecdotes (related by Frank Fay, Louis Fazenda, Lloyd Hamilton and Bea Lillie) are melded into one. Show of Shows was originally released in two-color Technicolor but now exists only in black in white, save for the "Chinese Fantasy" number featuring crooner Nick Lucas and Warner Bros. contractee Myrna Loy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
