Howard Lindsay Movies

One of the most popular movie musicals of all time, The Sound of Music is based on the true story of the Trapp Family Singers. Julie Andrews stars as Maria, a young nun in an Austrian convent who regularly misses her morning prayers because she enjoys going to the hills to sing the title song. Deciding that Maria needs to learn something about the real world before she can take her vows, the Mother Superior (Peggy Wood) sends her off to be governess for the children of the widowed Captain Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). Arriving at the Trapp home, Maria discovers that her new boss is cold and aloof, and his seven children virtual automatons-at least, whenever the Captain is around. Otherwise, the kids are holy terrors, as evidenced by the fact that Maria is the latest in a long line of governesses. But Maria soon ingratiates herself with the children, especially oldest daughter Liesl (Charmian Carr), who is in love with teenaged messenger boy Rolf. As Maria herself begins to fall in love with the Captain, she rushes back to the Abbey so as not to complicate his impending marriage to a glamorous baroness (Eleanor Parker). But the children insist that Maria return, the Baroness steps out of the picture, and Maria and the Captain confirm their love in the song "Something Good." Unhappily, they return home from their honeymoon shortly after the Nazis march into Austria. Already, swastikas have been hung on the Von Trapp ancestral home, and Liesl's boyfriend Rolf has been indoctrinated in the "glories" of the Third Reich. The biggest blow occurs when Von Trapp is called back to active duty in the service of the Fuhrer. The Captain wants nothing to do with Nazism, and he begins making plans to take himself and his family out of Austria. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a young basketball star proposes to a tall and intelligent coed while attending Custer College. She accepts, and he begins to worry about how they will get the money they need to survive. He then finds himself tempted to take a gambler's bribe and throw the game during an upcoming match with a Russian team. The weight of his decision affects his studies, causing him to fail a major test. As a result, he nearly misses the big game. Jane Fonda made her debut in this film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

June Allyson plays a band singer working in New York City; Van Johnson is the manager of a fancy apartment house where a murder is committed. The victim is Allyson's wealthy uncle, and since she can't account for her actions at the time of the crime, Our Heroine is the principal suspect. The real murderer is an expert in hypnosis, who uses this skill to manipulate Allyson's actions--and to lure the girl to her potential doom. Johnson doesn't figure things out until it's almost too late. Remains to Be Seen was based on the Broadway comedy/mystery by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, which originally starred Jackie Cooper and his then-wife Janis Paige. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1938 with Edward G. Robinson in the lead, the Damon Runyon-Howard Lindsay stage farce A Slight Case of Murder was musicalized in 1952 as Stop, You're Killing Me. Broderick Crawford stars as Remy Marko, a soft-hearted Prohibition beer baron who turns honest when the 18th amendment is repealed in 1933. Trouble is, Marko's beer tastes awful and his business plummets. Compounding this headache, Marko's daughter Mary (Virginia Gibson) intends to wed Chance Whitelaw (Billy Hayes), a police officer from a wealthy family. Hoping to put up a respectable front for their prospective in-laws, Marko and his wife Nora (Claire Trevor) rent a fancy mansion-spa in Saratoga -- where, unbeknownst to the ex-bootlegger, four gangster types have been shot to death by a desperado named Innocent (Harry Morgan). The rest of the film finds Remy trying to dispose of the cumbersome corpses while avoiding the baleful stares of both his future in-laws and the police. Not quite as good as its 1938 predecessor, Stop You're Killing Me at least affords viewers the rare opportunity of hearing Broderick Crawford sing! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Capra's only MGM film, State of the Union was adapted by Anthony Veiller and Myles Connolly from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. Spencer Tracy plays an aircraft tycoon who is coerced into seeking the Republican Presidential nomination by predatory newspaper mogul Angela Lansbury. Campaign manager Van Johnson suggests that, for appearance's sake, Tracy be reunited with his estranged wife Katharine Hepburn (replacing Claudette Colbert, who'd ankled the project after a pre-production donnybrook with director Capra). Realizing that Tracy and Lansbury are having an affair, Hepburn nonetheless agrees to grow through the devoted-wife charade because she believes that Tracy just might make a good President. Her faith is shattered when Tracy, corrupted by the Washington power brokers, publicly compromises his values in order to get votes. Only in the film's last moments does Tracy prove himself worthy of Hepburn's love and his own self-respect by admitting his dishonesty during a nationwide radio-TV broadcast. Much of the biting wit in the original Broadway production of State of the Union is sacrificed in favor of the director's patented "Capracorn," but the film is no less entertaining because of this. As usual, the supporting cast is impeccable, from featured players Adolphe Menjou (whose off-camera political arguments with Hepburn threatened to shut down production at times) and Margaret Hamilton, to bit actors like Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Tor (Plan 9 From Outer Space) Johnson. Because the television rights to State of the Union belonged to Capra's Liberty Films, the picture was released to TV by MCA rather than MGM's syndication division. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy set during WW II, a circus aerialist desires to be closer to her lover, a soldier. When she finds herself chased by gangsters, the woman dresses up as a man and joins the military. Mayhem ensues as she tries to undergo training and keep her sex a secret. The secret is revealed at the end, when the camp puts on a show and the gangsters suddenly appear. Luckily the police arrive at the same time and justice prevails. Songs include: "In the Army," "Need I Speak," "Jitterbug's Lullaby," "Spangles on My Tights," "Wacky for Khaki" (Frank Loesser, Harold Spina), "Swing in Line" (Loesser, Joseph J. Lilley), "Love in Bloom" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin), and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Slight Case of Murder is a breakneck-paced comedy starring Edward G. Robinson as a tough but good-hearted bootlegger. When Prohibition is repealed, Robinson faces a financial crisis: His beer tastes so awful that no one wants to drink it legally. As an additional headache, Robinson is under scrutiny from the Law, which is waiting to slip the cuffs on him for the slightest infraction. He arrives at his rented Saratoga mansion with his wife (Ruth Donnelly), daughter (Jane Bryan) and adopted son (Bobby Jordan), only to discover that a killer has left four corpses in his bedroom. Robinson and his stooges are forced to hide the bodies before his future son-in-law (Willard Parker), who happens to be a cop, tumbles to the dilemma. Based on a stage play by Howard Lindsay and Damon Runyon, A Slight Case of Murder a just as entertaining in the 1990s as it was fifty years ago (please ignore a tepid 1953 musical remake titled Stop, You're Killing Me). Surprisingly, this film was not a favorite of star Edward G. Robinson, who felt that director Lloyd Bacon rushed through the material without taking full advantage of its comic potential. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount's final "Big Broadcast" musical had perhaps the least exciting musical lineup of the series (Tito Guizar, The Shep Fields Orchestra, and opera singer Kirsten Flagstad are hardly household names today), but a slightly stronger storyline than the others, as well as a top-notch comic cast. This time out, most of the action takes place as sea, as S.B. Bellows (W.C. Fields) shows off his new invention: an ocean liner that can turn radio signals into electricity and part the waves at 100 miles per hour. He challenges another ship to a race while a number of music and comedy acts appear in the ship's showroom. Along with Fields, who performs several classic pool and golf routines, Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour, and Ben Blue add to the laughs; Bob Hope made his feature debut here, and he even sings his future theme song, "Thanks for the Memories". ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The sixth of RKO's Fred Astaire -Ginger Rogers pairings of the 1930s, Swing Time starts off with bandleader Astaire getting cold feet on his wedding day. Astaire's bride-to-be Betty Furness will give him a second chance, providing he proves himself responsible enough to earn $25,000. Astaire naturally tries to avoid earning that amount once he falls in love with dance instructor Ginger Rogers. Numerous complications ensue, leading to the "second time's the charm" climax, with Ginger escaping her own wedding to wealthy Georges Metaxa in order to be reunited with Astaire. The film's most indelible image is that of Fred Astaire, immaculately attired in top hat and tails, hopping a freight car--a perfect encapsulation of the film's Depression-era cheekiness. The Jerome Kern-Dorothy Fields score includes such standards-to-be as "Pick Yourself Up," "A Fine Romance," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Never Gonna Dance" and "Bojangles of Harlem." The peerless supporting cast of Swing Time includes Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Eric Blore, and Landers Stevens, the actor-father of the film's director, George Stevens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Miriam Hopkins plays a showgirl who witnesses a gangland slaying. Bing Crosby and Elliot Nugent are somewhat over-aged Princeton University students who agree to hide Miriam. They disguise her as a boy (a remarkable achievement) and manage to pull the wool over the eyes of the dean (Henry Stephenson) and even the dean's daughter (Kitty Carlisle). Before the killers are vanquished and Hopkins' life is out of danger, Crosby gets to introduce the hit song "Love in Bloom," which ever after would be associated not with Crosby but with Jack Benny. Based on the Broadway hit by Howard Lindsay, She Loves Me Not was remade in 1942 as True to the Army with Judy Canova, and again in 1955 as How to Be Very, Very Popular with Betty Grable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two former Fox contractees star in RKO Radio's She's My Weakness, a flat adaptation of Howard Lindsay and Bertrand Robinson's play Tommy. Hero Tommy Mills (Arthur Lake) would like to marry his sweetie Marie Thurber (Sue Carol), but first he's got to get on his feet financially. Attempting to sell a valuable piece of land at a profit, Tommy is constantly thwarted by his crooked uncle, who has no qualms about profiting from Tommy's loss. The ad campaign for this film was peppered with misleading blurbs like "Youth Whoops It Up in the Rumble Seat": in truth, the film is a stiff, with no one whooping about anything. It was films like She's My Weakness which convinced Sue Carol to give up acting and go into the talent-agent business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide