Oscar Levant Movies
Oscar Levant's mercurial personality can be summed up by two of his most oft-repeated witticisms: the self-aggrandizing "In some moments I was difficult, in odd moments impossible, in rare moments loathsome, but at my best unapproachably great;" and the self-deprecating "I am the world's oldest child prodigy." The son of a Pittsburgh repairman, Oscar Levant went to New York at 16 to study music under such masters as Stojowski, Schoenberg and Schillinger. Before reaching his 20th birthday, he had gained renown as a concert pianist, teacher, band leader and composer. He played a minor role in the stage play Burlesque, repeating this assignment in the 1929 film version The Dance of Life. During his first visit to Hollywood, Levant befriended George Gershwin; his friendship approached idolatry, and by the mid-1930s Levant was perhaps the greatest interpreter of Gershwin's works in the world. The relationship had a profound effect on Levant's own compositions, as witness his "Rhapsody in Blue"-like score for the 1937 film Nothing Sacred. Not that he was limited to any one musical style: he composed a faux Italian opera, Carnival, for the 1936 "B"-picture Charlie Chan at the Opera.A perceptive musical theorist, Levant often wrote upon the art of composing for films; it was he who coined the phrase "Mickey Mousing," in reference to movie scores that slavishly commented upon the action. The longer he stayed in Hollywood, the more he became famous as a "character" rather than a musician. The public first became aware of Levant's acidic erudition when he began popping up on the Information Please radio program. From 1940 onward, he spent more and more time on-screen as an actor. His most fondly remembered film credits include Humoresque (1945), Rhapsody in Blue (1945), The Barkeleys of Broadway (1949) and O. Henry's Full House (1952), in which he co-starred with Fred Allen in the "Ransom of Red Chief" segment. He was at his best in two classic MGM musicals: An American in Paris (1951), wherein he appears in a dream sequence, playing every member of the orchestra in a performance of Gershwin's "Concerto in F;" and The Band Wagon (1953), in which he and Nanette Fabray play characters patterned on Adolph Green and Betty Comden.
While he retained his popularity and circle of friends into the 1960s, Levant's mood swings and increasingly erratic behavior began having professional repercussions. He was nearly banned from television after making a few scatological references concerning a prominent film actress during a 1960 telecast of his LA-based talk show. As time went on, only late-night host Jack Paar would risk having Levant as a guest, and when Paar left TV in 1965, so, for all intents and purposes, did Levant. In and out of rest homes and mental institutions during his last two decades (his final film, 1955's Cobweb, was significantly set in a sanitarium), he became dependent upon pain-killers and other prescription drugs. Despite his deteriorating physical and mental condition, he was able to turn out three superb autobiographical works, A Smattering of Ignorance, The Unimportance of Being Oscar and The Memoirs of an Amnesiac. Oscar Levant died of a heart attack in 1972 at the age of 66. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
William Gibson's novel The Cobweb was brought to the screen by MGM with an impressive, hand-picked cast. Richard Widmark plays the head of a posh psychiatric clinic. Widmark's wife Gloria Grahame jockeys for the honor of selecting new drapes for the hospital's library. One wouldn't think that such a trivial decision would spark so much melodrama; but thanks to those drapes, we are allowed to probe the disturbed psyches of martinet business affairs director Lillian Gish, philandering doctor Charles Boyer, lonely activities director Lauren Bacall, and suicidal patient John Kerr. Oscar Levant, who spent most of his life in and out of "little white rooms", is ideally cast as a neurotic musician, while Fay Wray has a superb cameo as Boyer's long-suffering wife. Cobweb served as the screen debuts for both John Kerr and Susan Strasberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, (more)
- 1955
The 1955 NBC TV special Remember...1938 would be worth seeing again (if indeed a kinescope exists) if only for its once-in-a-lifetime cast. Put together by Herbert Bayard Swope Jr. as a nostalgic tribute to the last year before WWII, the Sunday-afternoon special was hosted by comedian Groucho Marx. Recalling and recreating the big events of 1938 were Ethel Barrymore, performing a scene from her stage hit Whiteoaks; pianist Oscar Levant, offering a medley of the year's top tunes; newscaster H.V. Kaltenborn, recapping the world events of the year; and sportscaster Ted Husing, articulating a rundown of 1938's athletic events. Also on hand were comic Jonathan Winters in a sketch, and singer Sue Carson, who imitated the year's popular singers. Rounded off with a clip from a vintage Deanna Durbin musical film, Remember...1938 was the sort of remarkable entertainment fare that was par for the course in the golden age of live television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Groucho Marx, Ethel Barrymore, (more)
One of the most subtle and sophisticated of the musical comedies that came out of MGM's Arthur Freed Unit in the '40s and '50s, The Band Wagon stars Fred Astaire as Tony Hunter, a movie star whose career is in a downturn. Looking for a boost, Tony decides to try starring in a Broadway musical. His friends Lester and Lily Marton (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray) have written a show they feel would be just right for Tony, and the three team up with Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), a self-styled "genius" director, who gets the idea to turn the play into a revised version of Faust. Cordova's more pretentious ideas don't always sit well with the Martons, and Tony isn't too happy with his leggy co-star, Gaby Gerard (Cyd Charisse), whom he's convinced is too tall (then again, she thinks he's too old). But when the show proves a disaster in out-of-town tryouts, everyone realizes they have to put aside their differences if they want a show that will be on Broadway for longer than four hours. The Band Wagon featured a rare American appearance for British musical star Jack Buchanan, who does a fine soft-shoe with Fred Astaire on "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan." Astaire also shines in the numbers "Shine on Your Shoes" and "The Girl Hunt," a witty Mickey Spillane parody. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, (more)
This anthology film assembles five respected directors and a top-notch cast to bring a handful of stories by the great American author O. Henry to the screen. In The Cop and the Anthem, a tramp named Soapy (Charles Laughton) tries to get arrested so that he can spend the winter in jail, only to find that is not as easy as it used to be. Marilyn Monroe appears in this episode as a streetwalker. The Clarion Call features Dale Robertson as Barney, a cop forced to arrest an old friend, Johnny (Richard Widmark). Anne Baxter stars in The Last Leaf as Joanna, an elderly woman who sees her own illness reflected in the fall of the autumn leaves; she's convinced that when the last leaf drops from the tree outside her window, her life will go with it. The Ransom of Red Chief concerns Sam (Fred Allen) and Bill (Oscar Levant), two novice kidnappers who kidnap a child, only to discover that his parents don't want him back -- and after a few hours with the brat, they find out why. And The Gift of the Magi tells the story of a pair of cash-strapped newlyweds, Della (Jeanne Craine) and Jim (Farley Granger), who struggle to get each other the perfect Christmas gift, with unexpected results. John Steinbeck narrates. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Laughton, Marilyn Monroe, (more)
- 1952
Mitzi Gaynor plays legendary vaudeville headliner Eva Tanguay, whose signature tune was the bouncy "I Don't Care". The film's actual producer George Jessel costars as "himself;" the gimmick is that Jessel wants to produce a biopic based on Tanguay, but can't get a handle on the story until he interviews all those who remember the lady. This throughline allows Gaynor to impersonate Tanguay without the added encumbrance of a plot. Well, there is a love story involving Tanguay and her vaudeville partner (David Wayne), and some welcome comic relief from "professional neurotic" Oscar Levant, but otherwise The I Don't Care Girl is more a revue than a movie. At the end, inveterate scene-stealer George Jessel shows up backstage during one of the flashback sequences, "Just to see how the story will turn out." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mitzi Gaynor, David Wayne, (more)
Gene Kelly does his patented Pal Joey bit as Jerry Mulligan, an opportunistic American painter living in Paris' "starving artists" colony. He is discovered by wealthy Milo Roberts (Nina Foch), who becomes Jerry's patroness in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Jerry plays hookey on this setup by romancing waif-like Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron) -- who, unbeknownst to him, is the object of the affections of his close friend Henri (Georges Guetary), a popular nightclub performer. (The film was supposed to make Guetary into "the New Chevalier." It didn't.) The thinnish plot is held together by the superlative production numbers and by the recycling of several vintage George Gershwin tunes, including "I Got Rhythm," "'S Wonderful," and "Our Love Is Here to Stay." Highlights include Guetary's rendition of "Stairway to Paradise"; Oscar Levant's fantasy of conducting and performing Gershwin's "Concerto in F" (Levant also appears as every member of the orchestra); and the closing 17-minute "American in Paris" ballet, in which Kelly and Caron dance before lavish backgrounds based on the works of famed French artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, (more)
The Barkleys of Broadway became Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' "reunion" picture purely by accident. Originally conceived as a follow-up to the successful Astaire-Judy Garland vehicle Easter Parade, Barkleys was to have starred Fred and Judy as a successful musical comedy team that breaks up when the female half decides to become a "serious" artist. Just before shooting started, Garland fell ill, Rogers replaced her, and the rest, as they say, is history. The script is as thin as a spider's web, a mere coat-rack upon which to hang several topnotch musical numbers. Fred and Ginger aren't quite as footloose and fancy-free as they were in their RKO heyday, but they still work together seamlessly. The film's highlights include "My One and Only Highland Fling," "You'd Be Hard to Replace," a reprise of "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (originally performed by Astaire and Rogers in Shall We Dance?), and Oscar Levant's keyboard rendition of "The Sabre Dance." The film's least memorable moment is the play-within-a-play wherein Rogers, cast as the young Sarah Bernhardt, passionately recites "The Marseillaise" as an audition piece! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1948
This musical romance is set during the Great Depression and centers upon the rocky marriage between a flapper script girl and her band-leader spouse. Prior to the big stock market crash, they spend much of their time touring. She tires of it and returns to her country home. Unable to find new bookings, he soon joins her and brings with him his acerbic, cynical manager. The bandleader finds the pastoral life a crashing bore and so heads for the big city to find fortune. Fortunately, by the story's end, he succeeds and happiness is the result. Songs include: "Crazy Rhythm," "You Were Meant for Me," "Goodnight Sweetheart" "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "What Can I Say After I Say I'm Sorry." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Crain, Dan Dailey, (more)
This cute film is Doris Day's film debut and in it she plays Georgia Garrett, a substitute traveller on an ocean cruise. Her friend Elvira Kent (Janis Paige) had scheduled the cruise but at the last minute cancels when she suspects that her husband is cheating on her and she decides to stay at home to check up on him. So she gets her friend Georgia to go on the cruise in her stead. Meanwhile the husband hires a detective to watch Elvira while on the cruise, because, he too, suspects cheating. Of course, the detective falls for the substitute Elvira (Doris Day), making a somewhat complicated scenario with many possibilities. This is a fun-filled spoof with lots of good tunes by Doris Day. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Day, Jack Carson, (more)
Fannie Hurst's novel Humoresque is the lachrymose tale of a famed Jewish-American violinist who forgets all about his friends and family in his rise to fame. Screenwriters Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold refashioned this timeworn material into a first-class, big-budget soap opera, completely dominated by the high-octane talents of Joan Crawford and John Garfield. A gifted musician, Garfield rises from the slums to the upper echelons of society, thanks to the patronage of wealthy, alcoholic Crawford. Virtually ignored by her husband Paul Cavanaugh, Crawford adopts Garfield as her lover as well as her protégé. He is only mildly offended by the setup; she, on the other hand, becomes jealous and possessive. It is not a woman who comes between Crawford and Garfield: it the intensity of his talent, not to mention the spectre of the great composers whose works he interprets so brilliantly. Garfield's virago of a mother (Ruth Nelson) feeds upon Crawford's jealousy, planting the seeds of guilt for (allegedly) holding her son back. The ultrastylish suffering of Joan Crawford and the street-punk insouciance of John Garfield (who looks like a "Dead End Kid" even while wearing a tux) is counterpointed by the phlegmatic comedy relief of Oscar Levant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, John Abbott, (more)
- 1945
There's slightly more fancy than fact in this lavish film biography of legendary American composer George Gershwin, but oh! That music! Director Irving Rapper had wanted Tyrone Power to play Gershwin, but Power was still serving in the Marines, so Rapper had to settle for Robert Alda--who isn't bad at all, just a trifle over-enthusiastic. The film traces Gershwin's rise from a "song plugger" for a Manhattan music publishing company to the heights of international fame and fortune. Gershwin's first big hit is "Swanee," introduced on Broadway by Al Jolson (who plays himself, making his first film appearance in six years). In collaboration with his lyricist brother Ira (well played by Herbert Rudley), George pens hit after hit in show after show. Impresario Charles Coburn is happy with this, but George's kindly old music teacher Albert Basserman wants his prize pupil to aspire to something more artistic. Gershwin responds with "Rhapsody in Blue", which debuts at Aeolian Hall in 1924 under the baton of bandleader Paul Whiteman (also playing himself). As his fame and workload grows, George finds he has no time at all for romance; the two (fictional) ladies in his life, both of whom eventually realize that they'll always have to play second fiddle to Gershwin's muse, are musical comedy star Joan Leslie and socialite Alexis Smith. Gershwin continues to compose such masterpieces as "An American in Paris", "Cuban Overture", "Concerto in F" and the 1935 folk opera Porgy and Bess. He will not allow himself to rest on his laurels, ruthlessly pushing himself to top all his previous accomplishments. Finally, the strain proves too great: George Gershwin dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1937, at the age of 39. Featured in the cast as themselves (in addition to those already mentioned) are Gershwin's lifelong friend Oscar Levant, producer George White, and Broadway performers Tom Patricola and Hazel Scott. Morris Carnovsky and Rosemary DeCamp play George's parents, while Julie Bishop is cast as Ira's wife Lee, who is saddled with the film's silliest line: "Ira, promise me that you'll never become a genius." Alternately hokey and inspired, Rhapsody in Blue has weathered the years as one of Hollywood's most solid biopics. And, as a bonus, we are treated to a virtually complete performance (running a full reel) of the title composition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Alda, Joan Leslie, (more)
- 1941
The nationwide search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind formed the basis of Claire Booth Luce's satirical Broadway comedy Kiss the Boys Goodbye. By the time the film version came out in 1941, Gone with the Wind was yesterday's news, but the picture still manage to elicit loud laughter from moviegoers bombarded by bad news from Europe. When Broadway producer Bert Fusher (Jerome Cowan) decides to produce a lavish musical version of a best-selling civil war novel, he dispatches director Lloyd Lloyd (Don Ameche) and composer Dick Rayburn (Oscar Levant) to the Deep South, in search of a genuine Southern-belle leading lady. Lloyd and Rayburn end up on the Georgia plantation of Tom Rumson (Raymond Walburn), where they are forced to sit through an impromptu audition by Rumson's niece Cindy Lou Bethany (Mary Martin). Lloyd can't stand the girl, but Rayburn is enchanted by her-never suspecting that Cindy Lou is a phony, who prior to this meeting had never stepped below the Mason-Dixon line. Eventually, Lloyd and Cindy Lou fall in love and the show goes on. Many of playwright Luce's more pointed barbs have been blunted by the Hollywood censors, with the more pungent gags replaced by lavish musical numbers. Still, Kiss the Boys Goodbye is a lot of fun, especially whenever the magnificent Elizabeth Patterson (cast as Mary Martin's unreconstructed-southerner aunt) takes center stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Martin, Don Ameche, (more)
- 1940
Billy Wilder was among the screenwriters of this easy-to-take Bing Crosby musical. Basil Rathbone dominates the proceedings as Oliver Courtney, a popular composer whose most successful tunes were actually ghost-written by musician Bob Summers (Crosby) and lyricist Cherry Lane (Mary Martin). Unaware of each other's existence at first, Bob and Cherry eventually discover that they've been duped by the pompous Courtney. They decide to break away from their employer and team up on their own, but the powerful Courtney manages to block their professional efforts. Ultimately, hero and heroine emerge triumphant, and Courtney is forced to help them get started on the road to success lest he be exposed as a charlatan. Piano prodigy Oscar Levant essays his first full-out comedy role as Courtney's sarcastic assistant, taking time out to poke fun at his own real-life phobias (in his memoirs, Levant recalled that he spent many a pleasant afternoon listening to the middle-aged Basil Rathbone discuss his digestive problems in vivid and eloquent detail!) None of the seven original songs in Rhythm on the River grew up to be hits, but the title tune did manage to get generous airplay thanks to Bing Crosby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, (more)
"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)
- 1936
"Warner Oland vs. Boris Karloff" read the billing on the opening credits of Charlie Chan at the Opera. Karloff plays a once-famous opera star who has long been confined to an insane asylum. He escapes, ostensibly to seek revenge on the diva wife (Nedda Harrigan) who'd betrayed him years earlier. Karloff shows up during the performance of a new opera, and within minutes the murders start. Detective William Demarest figures the case is open and shut, but oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Oland) is not thoroughly convinced of Karloff's guilt--nor is he certain that Boris is genuinely insane. To give away the ending would be churlish, but we can note that Charlotte Henry plays Karloff's daughter, who has been raised to believe that her father was dead. Considered by some Charlie Chan fans to be the best of the Warner Oland efforts, Charlie Chan at the Opera is distinguished by excellent production values, and by an original opera composed by Oscar Levant--who allegedly agreed to this assignment provided he could include the word "Silencio!" in his lyrics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, (more)
- 1935
The Black Sheep is professional gambler John Dugan (Edmund Lowe), who gets his kicks out of fleecing wealthy suckers during a Transatlantic ocean voyage. But when Dugan sees innocent young Fred Curtis (Tom Brown) being made the fall guy for a jewel robbery, he decides to help the poor boy out. What Fred doesn't know is that Dugan is his own father, desperate to make amends for his past indiscretions. Never revealing his true identity, Dugan rescues Fred from the clutches of beautiful predator Millicent Bath (Adrienne Ames). The musical score is by Oscar Levant, whose legendary dislike for thick-eared Hollywood executives never prohibited him from picking up his paycheck. Black Sheep represented director Allan Dwan's first effort for the newly former 20th Century-Fox Corporation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Claire Trevor, (more)
- 1934
The 1934 Fox melodrama Orient Express was based on a Graham Greene novel. In true "Grand Hotel" fashion, an awful lot happens during the Constantinople-to-Ostend run of the titular express. The dramatis personae includes covetous dancer Coral Musker (Heather Angel), naïve date merchant Carlton Myatt (Norman Foster), erudite anarchist Dr. Czinner (Ralph Morgan), a homicidal sneak thief (Roy D'Arcy), and an abrasive blue-collar couple (Herbert Mundin and Una O'Connor, who previously co-starred in Cavalcade and were later reteamed in The Adventures of Robin Hood). When the intrigues become too thick for comprehension, the solution is provided by girl reporter Mabel Warren (Dorothy Burgess), justifying her heretofore unexplained presence in the picture. The plot goes off on too many directions at once, suggesting a plethora of rewrites. Despite its confusing storyline, critics admired the "continental" look of Orient Express, remarking that one would never imagine that it was a mere Hollywood programmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heather Angel, Norman Foster, (more)
- 1930
In this musical, adapted from the earlier Musical Present Arms, a Marine private falls in love with a socialite and is willing to do anything to win her affections--even if it means stealing his captain's uniform and posing as an officer. When that doesn't work, he tries faking a shipwreck that goes awry and turns into the real shipwreck of the woman's yacht. Eventually the sailor's determination pays off and the girl is his. Songs include: "You Took Advantage of Me", "A Kiss for Cinderella", "All My Life", "Careless Kisses", "Evening Star", "Brightly Nice And So Peculiar", and "Shake It Off and Smile". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Ken Murray, (more)
- 1929
This crime drama chronicles the exploits of three Irish brothers who have taken dramatically different life paths. Tom is an amiable policeman while Matt is a surgeon. The third brother, Owen, is the family black sheep who makes his living running illegal booze. He operates under the alias Barney Muller. His more honest brothers have no idea what Owen does for his money. Things go well for the Muller gang until they commit a murder and the newly promoted Tom is assigned to investigate the case. Meanwhile, Tom's beloved goes to a party at Muller's house in Manhattan. There she overhears some damning information about Muller. She goes back to Tom and Matt with the info and together the three learn the truth about Muller's identity. When Muller learns that a cop is dogging his gang, he orders him killed. He has no idea that it is his own brother. The killers prepare a trap for the unwitting cop, but suddenly Owen shows up and tries to stop it; as a result he is shot and dies in the arms of Tom. Later Tom lies to their parents to save them from unbearable shame. He tells them that Owen has gone away on a very long trip. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1929
This loosely-constructed romantic melodrama stars Olive Borden as society girl Judy Paige, who defies her parents by eloping with Dick (Morgan Farley), a handsome young architect. To the rest of the world, it appears as though Judy and Dick are living together without benefit of clergy, and soon the two young lovers find themselves ostracized by their friends and loved ones. Only after the suicide of Judy's jilted suitor (Anderson Lawler) does the truth come out: Judy and Dick have been secretly married all along. A hodgepodge of illogical scripting and poorly developed characterizations, Half-Marriage holds some interest to modern-day viewers by virtue of two of its supporting players: vaudeville monologist and "home-movie" buff Ken Murray, and future gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. Also worth noting are the film's two songs, both co-written by Oscar Levant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olive Borden, Morgan Farley, (more)
- 1929
In this drama, an impoverished songwriter from the South travels to Tin Pan Alley with his trusty piano. He stays at a boarding house where he falls in love with a pretty young woman. When the two are discovered trysting in the same room, the landlady tosses them out on their ears. To help pay for his back rent, the vindictive landlady keeps his piano. Her husband attempts to steal it away, but accidentally drops it down the stairs and smashes it into a jillion pieces. Fortunately, his new love works for two zany music publishers who begin selling the writer's songs which become hits. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Clyde Cook, (more)
- 1929
A vaudevillian working in a third-rate burlesque show suffers marital turmoil when success swells his head in this silent back-stage melodrama. He celebrates his stardom with a few drinks. Unfortunately, this leads to alcoholism and carousing with other women causing his wife to eventually leave him and find happiness with another. Meanwhile, the vaudevillian teeters on the brink of alcoholic ruin. Fortunately, just before he tumbles into an eternal bottomless pit of hopelessness, she returns to save him and marital bliss resumes. One of the dance scenes was filmed in early two-tone Technicolor. The film was later remade as Swing High, Swing Low (1937) and as When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948). ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, Hal Skelly, (more)
- 1929
In this drama, a notorious pirate meets a Yankee dance-hall girl in the port of Tapit. He also meets her jealous lover whom he kidnaps. He tells the girl that he will only release her lover if she spends a night in his cabin with him. She reluctantly agrees to his terms. After one night, she finds herself in love. She sets sail with the pirate without a backward glance at her lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod La Rocque
- 1929
The first official release from RKO Productions (previous films from this company had been produced by RKO antecedent FBO Pictures), Street Girl afforded Betty Compson to exhibit her considerable skills as a violinist. Compson is cast as Frederika "Freddy" Joyzelle, manager and principal attraction of The Four Seasons, a Jazz Quartet. In love with Mike Fall (John Harron), the group's pianist, Freddy briefly and foolishly falls in love with Prince Nicholaus (Ivan Lebedeff), who hails from the girl's home country of Aragon. But by film's end, Freddy and Mike have patched things up and tied the knot. A box-office hit, Street Girl was remade by RKO Radio as That Girl From Paris (1937) and Four Jacks and a Jill (1944). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Harron, Ned Sparks, (more)
- 1929
The aforementioned appendages appear aplenty in this musical comedy that centers on a husband and wife seeking to recapture their youth by wooing younger partners. More mayhem ensues when their eldest daughter falls in love with the con artist who is involved with her father's new girl friend. The younger daughter is in love and wants to marry, but before she does, she wants to help her family get back together. Amidst the merriment and music, many bathing-suit clad beauties appear. Songs include: "You're Responsible," "How Lovely Everything Could Be," "With You, With Me" (Oscar Levant, Sidney Clare). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Pennington, Arthur Lake, (more)
