George S. Kaufman Movies

The Man with Two Faces is based on The Dark Tower, a stage comedy-mystery by Alexander Woollcott and George S. Kaufman. Edward G. Robinson is at his hammy best as flamboyant, temperamental, but withal endearing theatrical actor-manager Dawson Wells. Mary Astor co-stars as Damon's beloved actress sister Jessica, making a stage comeback after a disastrously unhappy marriage. Alas, Jessica's caddish husband Stanley Vance (Louis Calhern) soon returns, exerting a Svengali-like hold on the poor girl and setting her back on the road to ruin. Unable to buy off Vance, Wells plots a clever revenge, and shortly afterward, Vance is visited by one Monsieur Chautard, an effusive European producer with murder on his mind. The central "gimmick" in Man With Two Faces, which was adroitly concealed in the original Dark Tower, is a bit more obvious on screen due to the dynamic personalities involved. Also, the play's ending, in which Vance's murderer is allowed to escape scot-free by a sympathetic detective, was obviously altered at the very last minute to appease the new Production Code. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Easily the best of Eddie Cantor's gargantuan musical comedies for producer Sam Goldwyn, Roman Scandals begins in the middle-America community of West Rome, where our hero Eddie (Cantor) is employed as a delivery boy. A self-styled authority of Ancient Roman history, Cantor bemoans the fact that the local shanty community is about to be wiped out by scheming politicians, certain that such an outrage could never have happened during Rome's Golden Days. After a blow on the head, Cantor wakes up in Imperial Rome, where he is sold on the slave auction block to good-natured tribune Josephus (David Manners). Cantor soon discovers that the evil emperor Valerius (Edward Arnold) is every bit a crook and grafter as the politicians in West Rome, and he intends to do something about it. He gets a job as food taster for Valerius -- a none-too-secure position, inasmuch as the emperor's wife Agrippa (Veree Teasdale) is constantly trying to poison her husband -- and does his best to smooth the path of romance for Josephus and recently captured princess Sylvia (Gloria Stuart). Cantor's well-intentioned interference earns him a session in the torture chamber, but he escapes and commandeers a chariot, setting the stage for a spectacular slapstick climax. On the verge of recapture, Cantor wakes to find himself in West Rome U.S.A. again, where he quickly foils the modern-day despots and brings about a happy ending for all his friends.

Co-written by George S. Kaufman, Robert E. Sherwood, George Oppenheimer and Arthur Sheekman (the soon-to-be husband of leading lady Gloria Stuart), Roman Scandals manages to get off a few clever satirical licks, but essentially it's a "lappy" lowbrow vehicle for Eddie Cantor, and in this it succeeds immensely. The Busby Berkeley-staged musical numbers, written by Harry Warren, Al Dubin and L. Wolfe Gilbert, must be seen to be believed: In "No More Love", Ruth Etting, playing the Emperor's cast-off mistress Olga, sings a plaintive torch song as dozens of enslaved Goldwyn Girls (including Lucille Ball and Barbara Pepper), wearing nothing but long, blonde wigs, are chained to a rotating pedestal; and in "Keep Young and Beautiful", these same maidens gleefully cavort around a Roman bathhouse in the near-altogether while Cantor, in blackface, hops about, rolls his eyes and claps his hands -- just before a jet of steam "shrinks" him, at which point he metamorphoses into midget Billy Barty! The quintessence of Depression-era escapism, Roman Scandals is must-see entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An elderly gentleman finds himself in a difficult situation when he finds himself faced with becoming a burden on his children or going into an old folks home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

George S. Kaufman's sturdy stage comedy The Butter and Egg Man was the inspiration for no fewer than four Warner Bros. talkie versions. The first of these was The Tenderfoot, starring Joe E. Brown as a wealthy but naive cowboy alone in the Big Apple. The producers of a down-and-out musical revue hope to convince Brown to put his money in their show, sending out cute chorine Ginger Rogers as the "convincer." After having his heart broken a few times and tangling with gangsters, Joe comes through and the show goes on. Warners followed The Tenderfoot with a 1937 musicalization of Butter and Egg Man, Dance Charlie Dance; this in turn was remade as An Angel From Texas in 1942. The final variation on this theme (so far!) was Three Sailors and a Girl (53). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1923, the George S. Kaufman-Marc Connelly stage comedy Dulcy was remade as a talkie in 1929 under the new title Dulcy. Marion Davies stars as Dulcinea, the illogical, cliché-spouting young housewife created by newspaper humorist Franklin P. Adams. Hoping to help her fiance George (Elliot Nugent) get ahead in business, Dulcy invites taciturn executive Forbes (played by William Holden -- no, not that William Holden) for a dinner party. The event turns into a disaster, and it is only through the intervention of Dulcy's butler (George Davis), an ex-convict, that the day is saved. Marion Davies comic expertise is matched by Franklin Pangborn as an epicene novelist and Donald Ogden Stewart (a future Oscar-winning screenwriter) as a libidinous financier. Not So Dumb was remade under the original title Dulcy as an Ann Sothern vehicle in 1940. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Animal Crackers, like The Cocoanuts before is an all-but-literal translation to film of a smash-hit Marx Brothers Broadway musical. The aristocratic Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) holds a weekend party at her Long Island Estate. Her guest of honor is famed (but likely fraudulent) African explorer Geoffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho Marx). Also showing up are renegade musician Signor Emmanuel Ravelli (Chico Marx), the mute, girl-chasing "Professor" (Harpo Marx) and Spaulding's faithful secretary Horatio Jamison (Zeppo Marx). The film, revolving around a stolen painting, finds Groucho lecturing on his most recent safari ("One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know"), Harpo and Chico unabashedly cheating at bridge, Groucho dictating a wildly nonsequitur letter to the firm of Hungerdunger, Hungerdunger, Hungerdunger and McCormick, and Groucho and Chico drawing up plans to build a house. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This satirical film was based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. Neil McRae (Edward Everett Horton) is a composer who, instead of finishing his symphony, is forced to write jazz music to live. He also has a pupil, Gladys Cady (Gertrude Short), who comes from an eccentric nouveau riche family. His friend, Dr. Rice (Frederick Sullivan), suggests that he wed Gladys so he can complete his symphony. Neil is reluctant to do so, but his sweetheart, Cynthia Mason (Esther Ralston), agrees with the doctor, so he proposes to Gladys. She accepts, but McRae is distraught by his action. Rice gives him some medicine so he can sleep, and he has a fantastic nightmare in which he goes ahead and marries Gladys. Everything in the dream is warped and exaggerated, from the jazzy minister to Gladys' freakish family. McRae goes through the dream in his pajamas and is finally driven so mad by it all that he kills Gladys and her family. He is put on trial for his crime and convicted of being too highbrow. As a result he is sentenced to write jazz forever. McRae wakes up in a panic, but luckily Gladys breaks off the engagement. He happily reunites with Cynthia. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This well-cast light comedy was based on the stage play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. Three clerks for the Kincaid Piano Company -- Leonard Beebe (Edward Everett Horton), Chester Mullin Z. Wall Covington), and Tom Baker (Arthur Hoyt) are in competition for a promotion to factory manager. The boss, John Kincaid (Theodore Roberts), relies on the judgment of his wife (Louise Dresser) when it comes to important decisions, and she favors Baker. But when the Kincaids visit the Beebes, Leonard's wife Elsie (Helen Jerome Eddy) proves to be every bit as dynamic a woman as Mrs. Kincaid. Beebe and Baker are invited to a banquet, and Beebe is expected to give a speech. After intently rehearsing one that is already prepared, Beebe arrives at the banquet only to see Baker give the exact same speech. Beebe is struck dumb, so Elsie takes over with some rousing words, claiming that her husband is feeling ill and winning Beebe the job. Their ruse is discovered, however, and Beebe is demoted. Once again Elsie comes to the rescue, and with Mrs. Kincaid's help, Beebe is reinstated. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide