Carl Brisson Movies
Danish leading man Carl Brisson began singing and dancing in Copenhagen night clubs in 1916, a year after he won Central Europe's amateur middle-weight boxing championship. He moved to the London stage in 1923. After breaking into the film industry, Brisson's full, rich tenor voice went unheard in his first British films-mainly because they were silents. Brisson starred in a brace of Hitchcock films, The Ring (1928) and The Manxman (1929), before movies learned to talk. In Hollywood from 1934, Brisson introduced the standard "Cocktails for Two" in Murder at the Vanities (1934). Brisson's subsequent film career was not so remarkable, and by the end of the 1930s he was devoting his time to radio and nightclub appearances. Carl Brisson was the father of Frederick Brisson, the theatrical-producer husband of Rosalind Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1935
Paramount Pictures decided in 1935 to create a new romantic team, thus cast singing stars Carl Brisson and Mary Ellis in the frothy operetta All the King's Horses. Brisson does the "Prisoner of Zenda" bit as a movie star who is forced by circumstances to impersonate a look-alike king. Ms. Ellis is the highborn lady who seems to be fooled by the ruse. The plots roll merrily onward while various and sundry musical-comedy character actors (including Edward Everett Horton and Eugene Pallette) fuss and fume in the background. Danish singer Carl Brisson had created a minor sensation by introducing "Cocktails for Two" in Paramount's Murder at the Vanities (34), but the studio's attempts to turn him into a Scandinavian Maurice Chevalier were unsuccessful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Brisson, Mary Ellis, (more)
- 1935
In this musical, a coal stoker for a ship finds himself turned into a singing sensation when someone hears him lustily singing in the bins one day. He ends up being convinced to go to work as a singer in a floating cafe. Soon he finds himself romantically involved with two women, a socialite and another singer. Songs include: "Fatal Fascination," "I Won't Take No For An Answer," "It's A Great Life," "I Lost My Heart," "Lazybones Gotta Job Now" (Harlan Thompson, Lewis E.Gensler), "Change Your Mind" (Ray Noble), and "My Home Town" (Eddie Davis). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Brisson, Arline Judge, (more)
- 1934
The Earl Carroll Vanities, a popular Broadway revue of the 1930s and '40s, is the setting for this murder mystery interspersed with an assortment of variety acts, including Duke Ellington performing "Ebony Rhapsody" and a novelty number called "Marijuana." Victor McLaglen stars as Bill Murdock, a detective investigating a series of murders during the opening night of a new edition of the Vanities. When private detective Sadie Evans (Gail Patrick) is found murdered, Murdock must investigate between musical numbers to find the killer. When Rita Rose (Gertrude Michael) next turns up dead, Murdock concludes young ingenue Ann Ware (Kitty Carlisle) is the next person marked for death. Murdock has to find the murderer before the ending of the show or else he or she could disappear in the departing crowd of theatergoers. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, (more)
- 1934
In this musical romance, a Viennese composer is assigned to create an operetta. While composing, he ends up falling in love with a young woman. Unbeknownst to him, she is the star of the opera company that commissioned him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1933
In this romantic operetta, a prince heads for the Riviera after he is forcibly dethroned and exiled. There he falls in love with an actress whom he decides to marry, much to the consternation of his regal aunt. But while his auntie is not amused, the former regent's betrothed, a princess who never loved him, is delighted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Romance novelist and self-styled moral arbiter Elinor Glyn was credited for both the screenplay and direction of the bodice-ripping Knowing Men. A graduate of convent school, wealthy Korah (Elissa Landi) has been promised in marriage to wealthier George Vere (Carl Brisson), whom she's never met. Exercising his male-chauvinist prerogative, George has already had an affair with Delphine (Jean de Casalis). To learn the truth about the man she's supposed to marry, Korah sneaks away from her Aunt (Helen Hay) to visit George. She learns more than she bargained for when George anxiously tries to retrieve several incriminating love letters from Delphine. Though critics never took Elinor Glyn seriously, her over-heated novels were devoured by her public; one might call her the Barbara Cartland of her day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elissa Landi, Jeanne de Casalis, (more)
- 1929
This costume drama is set in the midst of a European war during the early 1800s and follows the exploits of a young woman who is forced to marry the wicked man who is threatening to make her father pay a major debt. One day, she meets a wounded fugitive, an American prisoner who was injured while escaping from his French captors. She helps him recover, and by the war's end he is well, they have fallen in love with each other and flee together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Brisson, Madeleine Carroll, (more)
Although he was established as a master of suspense by 1929, Alfred Hitchcock was still under contract to British International Pictures, and thus still obliged to direct everything his studio chose for him. Hitch's last silent film was The Manxman, a "romantic triangle" imbroglio based on a novel by Hall Caine. Filmed on location in the Isle of Man, the story concerns a local fisherman named Pete (Carl Brisson), a law student named Philip (Malcolm Keen), and a beautiful village girl named Kate (played by German actress Anny Ondra). When Pete is reported drowned, Kate turns to Philip for solace and sexual gratification. By and by, Pete returns none the worse for wear. Never suspecting that Kate has been unfaithful to him, Pete marries the girl. Eventually she bears Philip's child, which of course Pete assumes is his. Unable to lie to her husband anymore, Kate attempts suicide, which according to the laws of the Island is a crime. Kate is brought before the judge, who happens to be her ex-lover Philip. Confronted with the truth by Kate's father (who has suspected all along that she and Philip have had an affair), Philip gives up his legal career to make an "honest woman" out of Kate. An unrelentingly dour film, The Manxman is nonetheless beautifully photographed by Jack Cox. Sensing that the film would not appeal to a mass audience, BIP withheld release of The Manxman until after the distribution of Hitchcock's first talkie, Blackmail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Brisson, Malcolm Keen, (more)
- 1927
Alfred Hitchcock's silent The Ring is a traditional prizefighting melodrama, elevated by the richness of the characterizations and the stylish, Germanic use of the camera. Carl Brisson plays "Round One," a cocky young boxer who matriculates from sideshow bouts to the big time. Round One's marriage to Lilian Hall-Davis goes sour when she throws him over for the champ. During the climactic big fight, Hall-Davis realizes that she's still in love with Round One when she witnesses the brutal beating he's getting. As in Hitchcock's later suspense films, sparks ignite between hero and heroine only when there's an element of danger involved. Alfred Hitchcock collaborated on the script of The Ring with his wife Alma Reville. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Brisson, Lilian Hall Davis, (more)
