Mischa Auer Movies
The screen's foremost "Mad Russian" (though he was more dour than demented in most of his movie appearances), Mischa Auer was the son of a Russian navy officer who died in the Russo-Japanese war. Auer's family scattered during the Bolshevik revolution, forcing the 12-year-old Mischa to beg, borrow, and steal to survive. Orphaned during a typhus epidemic, Auer moved to New York where he lived with his maternal grandfather, violinist Leopold Auer. Inspired by the elder Auer to become a musician, Mischa entered the Ethical Culture School in New York, where he developed an interest in acting. Playing small parts on Broadway and with Eva LeGalleine's company, Auer persisted until his roles increased in size and importance. While appearing with the Bertha Kalich Company in Los Angeles, Auer was hired by Hollywood director Frank Tuttle for a minor role in the Esther Ralston comedy Something Always Happens (1927). During his first nine years in films, the tall, foreboding Auer was typecast as sinister foreigners, often playing villainous Hindu priests, Arab chieftains, and feverish anarchists. His comic gifts were finally tapped by improvisational director Gregory La Cava, who cast Auer as society matron Alice Brady's free-loading "protege" in My Man Godfrey (1936). Thereafter, the actor flourished in eccentric comedy roles in such films as 100 Men and a Girl (1937), You Can't Take It With You (1938) (in which he popularized the catchphrase "Confidentially, it stinks!"), Destry Rides Again (1939), and Hellzapoppin' (1941). During the 1940s, Auer starred in the radio series Mischa the Magnificent and headlined several Broadway flops. The following decade, he spent most of his time in Europe, playing aging oddballs in films like Orson Welles' Mister Arkadin (1955). Among Mischa Auer's last professional engagements was a 1964-1965 revival of The Merry Widow -- one of his few successful stage ventures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1931
Delicious represents the first time that George and Ira Gershwin ever wrote a musical score exclusively for the screen. Unfortunately, the film fails to come up to the standards set by the music, though it's not from lack of trying. Janet Gaynor stars as Heather Gordon, a poor Scotch immigrant who dreams of relocating to the United States. Her aspirations are confounded by the intractability of the customs inspectors, who are bound and determined to send Heather back whence she came. In the meantime, she takes up residence in a rooming house catering to immigrants, where the other tenants -- especially comic-relief Swede Jansen (El Brendel) -- work overtime to cheer her up. All ends happily when American millionaire Jerry Beaumont (Charles Farrell) proposes marriage, despite his family's objections. The musical numbers include the overly coy title tune, a bizarre "Welcome to America" setpiece in which Heather dreams that she's being greeted by a singing Statue of Liberty, and a virtually complete performance of Gershwin's Second Rhapsody (aka The New York Rhapsody). The film's highlight, however, is El Brendel's rendition of the Blah Blah Blah song, in which he itemizes every love-song cliché known to man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, (more)
- 1930
Considered the best of the all-star "studio" musicals of 1929 and 1930, Paramount on Parade utilized the talents of practically everyone on the Paramount Pictures payroll. Under the supervision of British musical-comedy favorite Elsie Janis, 11 top directors contributed to the project: Dorothy Arzner, Otto Brower, Edmund Goulding, Victor Heerman, Edwin H. Knopf, Rowland V. Lee, Ernst Lubitsch, Lothar Mendes, Victor Schertzinger, Edward Sutherland and Frank Tuttle. Introduced by masters of ceremonies Jack Oakie, Skeets Gallegher and Leon Errol, the film is a vaudeville-like maelstrom of musical duets, comedy sketches, occasional dramatic interludes, and spectacular production numbers. To mention all the highlights would take a book in itself but among them are Nancy Carroll's rendition of "Dancing to Save Your Sole" (performed inside a giant shoe!); Maurice Chevalier (and chorus) soaring heavenward in "Sweeping the Clouds Away" ; child actress Mitzi Green's dead-on impersonations of Chevalier, George Arliss, Moran & Mack and Helen "Boop-a-doop" Kane; Ernst Lubitsch's witty staging of an Apache dance in the style of a polite boudoir farce, with Chevalier (again) and Evelyn Brent; Clara Bow's saucy "I'm True to the Navy Now" ; the wish-fulfillment sketch "Impulses," in which George Bancroft and Kay Francis delightedly upset a dinner party by saying what's really on their minds; and best of all, "Murder Will Out," a murder-mystery parody wherein Fu Manchu (Warner Oland) bumps off Sherlock Holmes (Clive Brook) and Philo Vance (William Powell) when they refuse to give him proper credit for his killing of Jack Oakie. Only the dramatic sketch with Frederic March and Ruth Chatterton truly creaks when seen today. Originally released at 102 minutes, Paramount on Parade is presently available only in an 80-minute version, with all its Technicolor sequences missing: casualties include the elaborate "Drink to the Girl of My Dreams" number, directed by Edmund Goulding and featuring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur and Fay Wray, and Harry Green's dialect song "Isadore the Toreodor". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Chevalier, Richard Arlen, (more)
- 1930
After briefly relinquishing the role to Basil Rathbone, William Powell was back as S. S. Van Dine's amateur detective Philo Vance in The Benson Murder Case. Keeping abreast of the times, the film uses the 1929 Stock Market Crash as a plot motivator. Crooked stockbroker Anthony Benson (Richard Tucker) betrays several of his clients for his own gain then retreats to the safety of his palatial hunting lodge. It isn't long before Benson turns up dead, obliging his house guest Philo Vance to wade through the myriad of suspects. Among the likely culprits is gigolo Adolph Mohler, played by Paul Lukas, who would himself essay the role of Philo Vance in 1935's Casino Murder Case. The Benson Murder Case brought the Philo Vance series to a temporary close; it would be three years before Vance, again impersonated by William Powell, appeared on-screen in The Kennel Murder Case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Natalie Moorhead, (more)
- 1930
Made in 1930, this well-known sci-fi musical chronicles the adventures of a lightning-struck man who awakens to find himself in futuristic New York City, circa 1980. He finds it a strange new world where fantastically attired people are ascribed numbers rather than names and all marriages must be government-approved. He also finds a bewildering array of technical gizmos and innovations that include babies grown in test tubes, videophones, and automatic doors (could the filmmakers see into the future or are our innovations the result of self-fulfilling prophecy?). The story centers on his attempts to get the government to sanction his marriage to his modern girl love. Before the feds will approve, the fellow must prove his worth. He does so by boarding a Mars-bound rocket. Upon the red planet he discovers that it is populated by replicas of the people living on Earth. The film's songs are dismal, but of course that is part of the campy fun. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- El Brendel, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
Earl Derr Biggers, the creator of Charlie Chan, was responsible for the international-espionage yarn Inside the Lines. The time is WWI, and the place is Gibraltar, where English girl Jane (Betty Compson) is accidentally reunited with her pre-war sweetheart, German-born Wodehouse (Ralph Forbes). Each suspects the other of being an agent for the Kaiser and the mastermind behind a plan to destroy the British fleet. Imagine their relief when they discover that they're both British intelligence agents (this is the sort of dramatic device that would later be played for laughs in such TV spoofs as Get Smart). The only true villain of the piece is a steely-eyed Hindu fanatic Amahdi, played by future character comedian Mischa Auer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Compson, Ralph Forbes, (more)
- 1929
The newly constructed Paramount sound stages were used as a backdrop for the Pirandellian thriller The Studio Murder Mystery. Fredric March stars as Richard Hardell, a silent-screen idol whose transition to talkies is threatened by his inability to remember his lines. Driven to distraction, Hardell's director Richard Borka (Warner Oland) wonders if his star will be able to get through the all-important "murder scene" in his current picture. The thin line between fantasy and reality is blurred when several actual attempts are made on Hardell's life. The suspects include Hardell's far-from-loyal wife Blanche (played by March's real-life wife Florence Eldredge) and sour-pussed studio "gag writer" Tony White (Neil Hamilton). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Hamilton, Chester Conklin, (more)
- 1929
Adolphe Menjou's final silent film was the imitation-Lubitsch Marquis Preferred. Characteristically dressed up like a million dollars (before taxes), Menjou is cast as the Marquis D'Argenville, a dapper but impoverished nobleman. Hoping for a quick financial turnover, the Marquis agrees to wed Gwendolyn Gruger (Lucille Powers), the daughter of a pair of title-chasing Americans. But the Marquis' heart will forever belong to Peggy Winton (Nora Lane), who does her best to hide her disappointment. Much to the delight of Peggy (and the moviegoers), our hero decides at the last minute that you can't put a price tag on true love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Nora Lane, (more)
- 1929
In this melodrama set during WW I, a gangster joins the army and is promoted to major. He then returns from war torn Europe to tell a family that their beloved son had died in his arms during a battle. The major then falls in love with the late soldier's sister and decides to accept a position in town as the new police commissioner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Bancroft, Esther Ralston, (more)
- 1928
Esther Ralston stars as Diana, the American houseguest of the stuffy Earl of Rochester (Lawrence Grant). Finding her host and her surroundings deadly dull, Diana isn't exactly looking forward to her impending marriage to the Earl's son Roderick (Neil Hamilton). When master criminal Chang-Tzo (Sojin) announces his intention to steal a valuable jewel owned by the Earl, Roderick heads to the family vault to lock up the gem. Hours pass. When Roderick doesn't return, Diana sets out to look for him. Thus is the nonplused girl plunged into an exciting adventure, replete with kidnappings, clutching hands, hidden rooms, trap doors and seemingly dozens of hulking henchmen. It turns out that this whole episode was concocted by Roderick and his pals, just to give Diana the "thrills" she's been yearning for. But with the sudden appearance of Chang-Tzo, things take a serious turn, obliging both Roderick and Diana to take turns rescuing each other from the villain's clutches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Ralston, Neil Hamilton, (more)
