Dorothy Parker Movies
Satirical writer, essayist, and critic, Dorothy Rothschild Parker is well-known for her unmatched wit and conversational skills. As a book reviewer, she can be quoted with such gems as "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." At the age of 24, she became a staff writer for Vanity Fair as a drama critic, then made regular contributions to Ainslees, Life, and The New Yorker. While her husband, Edwin Parker, was stationed overseas, she met with other writers for drinking and socializing at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City, a group which came to be known as the Algonquin Round Table. During this time she worked as a freelance writer, drank heavily, and made several suicide attempts. In 1933 she moved to California and wrote screenplays with her second husband, Alan Campbell. Mostly standard Hollywood formula scripts for Paramount and MGM, Parker found the work unrewarding but the compensation plentiful. She helped organize the Screenwriter's Guild and was nominated for an Academy award in 1937 for A Star Is Born, which was remade in 1954 with Judy Garland. She also penned the adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes, filmed in 1941 with Bette Davis. She received another Oscar nomination in 1948 for Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman, starring Susan Hayward. In 1949, she and many of her fellow writers were blacklisted in Hollywood and made to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Unable to work in California, she moved back to the East Coast and wrote for Esquire until her death in 1967. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Originally aired on HBO, Women and Men: Stories of Seduction is a short-film anthology that brings to life three famous short stories. Mary McCarthy's "The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt" stars Elizabeth McGovern and Beau Bridges. The second, Dorothy Parker's "Dusk Before Fireworks," features Peter Weller and Molly Ringwald. The third, "Hills Like White Elephants," stars Melanie Griffith and James Woods as a couple trying to convince themselves that her abortion will not affect their relationship. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Sally Kellerman stars in this made-for-television adaptation of the short story by Dorothy Parker. A free-spirited model (Kellerman) decides it's time to settle down, and gets married to a salesman (John Lithgow). Her new husband, however, soon turns out to be an ill-tempered alcoholic who is often off on the road, and she soon finds herself turning to liquor and other men for solace as her spirit slowly collapses. Also starring Anita Morris and George Coe, The Big Blonde was produced and first aired as part of the PBS series Great Performances. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1964
There's something positively monolithic about the title Massacre at Marble City. The film's status as a western is, however, given away by its alternate title, Conquerors of Arkansas. And its country of origin is revealed by its original title, Die Golsucher von Arkansas. Brad Harris and Horst Frank star in this German actioner, wherein all heroes and villains converge upon Marble City for a cathartic shoot-out. Until we saw production stills of Massacre at Marble City, we didn't know that the Alps were in Arkansas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1951
The genesis for Queen for a Day was the Dorothy Parker short story Horsie, all about a homely woman who takes a job as a nanny in the household of a selfish, insensitive couple. Months later, the husband receives a gift of an electric razor from "Horsie," out of gratitude for his kindnesses -- kindnesses which, of course, he never consciously extended. "Horsie" ended up as one of three short stories adapted to film by producer Robert Stillman in 1951. The unifying theme of the film was that each of the three female protagonists were contestants on the TV series Queen for a Day. You may remember that this long-running program was hosted by Jack Bailey, who on a daily basis selected one of three deserving women to be the recipient of fabulous prizes, the decision, which was made by the audience (there was an "applause meter" on the set), was predicated upon which of the three ladies had the saddest or most fascinating life story to tell. In addition to "Horsie," aka Miss Wilmarth (Edith Meiser), the other contestants in the film are Phyllis Avery and Kasia Orzazewski. Avery stars in the vignette titled "The Gossamer World," based on a John Answorth story, this episode concerns Avery's son Rudy Lee, a victim of polio. Orzazewski figures into the Faith Baldwyn story "High Diver," wherein she plays the immigrant mother of a college-bound boy (Adam Williams) who takes a job at a carnival to make ends meet. Queen for a Day was originally released as Horsie, until it was decided that the TV series' title was more saleable. (It wasn't, despite an aggressive ad campaign conducted on the Queen for a Day television program.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Avery, Darren McGavin, (more)
- 1949
In this revised adaptation of Oscar Wilde's famous comedy of manners, Lady Windermere's Fan, the middle-aged but still beautiful Mrs. Erlynne (Madeleine Carroll), well-known for her romantic adventures, has cast her eye upon Lord Windermere (Richard Greene), who is married to Lady Windermere (Jeanne Crain), a woman young and beautiful but socially conservative and harsh in her judgements of others. Lord Windermere is just as interested in Mrs. Erlynne as she is in him, and soon he's giving her money to live in the lavish manner to which she's accustomed. When Lady Windermere discovers this, she takes up with handsome rogue Lord Darlington (George Sanders), who makes no secret of his interest in her. When Mrs. Erlynne hears of Lady Windermere's indiscretion, she urges the younger woman not to make the tragic mistakes she has made and reveals a long-hidden secret: she is actually Lady Windermere's mother. The legendary Dorothy Parker co-wrote the screenplay for The Fan, which proved to be the last film for co-star Madeleine Carroll. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Crain, Madeleine Carroll, (more)
A woman struggles to reassemble her broken life in this drama that features Susan Hayward in her first starring role. The woman started out as a night-club singer, but abandoned her career after marrying a budding radio star. At first she does everything she can to insure his success, but when he finally hits the big-time, the woman finds herself deeply depressed and turning toward the bottle for solace because he is increasingly absent from her life. She becomes a full-fledged alcoholic and her husband, unable to take it anymore begins divorce and custody procedures. It takes such extreme measures to wake her up to her problem. Fortunately, with hard work, and renewed support from her husband, she overcomes her addiction. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Hayward, Lee Bowman, (more)
Aircraft plant worker Robert Cummings is accused of sabotaging his factory and causing the death of a co-worker. Actually, Cummings is the fall guy for a clever ring of Nazi spies, headed by above-suspicion American philanthropist Otto Kruger. Our hero goes on a cross-country chase after genuine saboteur Norman Lloyd, all the while pursued himself by the police. Along the way, he acquires a reluctant "travelling companion" in the form of Priscilla Lane, who at first despises Cummings and intends to turn him over to the authorities at the first opportunity, but who gradually comes to realize that the boy is innocent. Alfred Hitchcock intended Saboteur to be the American equivalent to his British The 39 Steps, employing such details as the solid-citizen villain, the handcuffed hero, the unwilling blonde heroine, and any number of stopovers with a variety of offbeat characters (a travelling "freak" show, a compassionate blind man, a grizzled old prospector who turns out to be one of the spies, etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, (more)
Playwright Lillian Hellman first wrote of the horrible Hubbard family in her 1939 play The Little Foxes. In this lavish 1941 film version, Bette Davis takes over for Broadway's Tallulah Bankhead in the role of conniving turn-of-the-century Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Giddens. Regina's equally odious brothers (Charles Dingle and Carl Benton Reid) want her to lend them 75,000 dollars to help build a cotton mill. To do this, she must make peace with her long-estranged husband, Horace (Herbert Marshall) -- and failing that, she tries to arrange a wealthy marriage between her daughter, Alexandra (Teresa Wright), and her slimy nephew Leo (Dan Duryea). Horace refuses to give Regina the money, whereupon Leo is pressured by his father (Reid) to steal bonds from the family business. Regina uses this information as a means of blackmailing her brothers for a share in the new mill. In retaliation, Horace claims that he gave Leo the bonds as a loan, thereby cutting Regina out of the deal. When Horace suffers a heart attack, Regina makes no effort to give him his medicine, and he dies without revealing his willingness to loan the money to Leo. Regina is thus still able to strongarm her brothers into giving her a piece of the mill -- but the price for her evil machinations is the loss of her daughter's love and respect. The Little Foxes caused a censorship stir in 1941; by refusing to give Horace his medicine, Regina technically gets away with murder. However, the censors decided that Regina was punished enough when her daughter left her to marry an honest newspaperman (Richard Carlson). Given the usual Tiffany treatment by producer Sam Goldwyn, The Little Foxes was a success; several years later, Lillian Hellman wrote a "prequel" to The Little Foxes, titled Another Part of the Forest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1941
Boasting a script cowritten by Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell from a story by Budd Schulberg, Weekend for Three should have been a comedy classic-but alas, it isn't. Over the protests of her husband Jim (Dennis O'Keefe), Ellen Craig (Jane Wyatt) invites her old friend Randy (Dennis O'Keefe) to dinner. Jim endures Randy's phony effusiveness and loud, braying laughter only because he's certain that the jerk will go home soon. Instead, Randy invites himself to the Craig household for the weekend-and shows no signs of ever wanting to leave! More of an anecdote than a story, Weekend for Three is just too thin to be stretched over 61 minutes: it might have worked better as an Edgar Kennedy or Leon Errol 2-reeler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis O'Keefe, Jane Wyatt, (more)
- 1938
Contrary to popular belief, the Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald Technicolor confection Sweethearts is not based on the 1913 Victor Herbert operetta of the same name (though most of Herbert's songs remain intact), but a Dorothy Parker-Alan Campbell brainstorm about a popular Broadway singing duo, starring in a long-running production of Sweethearts. The early portions of the film take place during a purported presentation of the Herbert piece, with Eddy and MacDonald singing their hearts out and Ray Bolger providing comic relief. We then segue into a long sequence wherein producer Frank Morgan, celebrating Sweethearts's six-year run, insists that Eddy and MacDonald attend a lavish party, where the weary performers are called upon to continue singing throughout the evening. Hoping for a few moments alone after escaping the party, Eddy and MacDonald are besieged at their apartment by friends, co-workers, hangers-on and sponging relatives. Seeking peace and quiet, the couple agrees to leave Sweethearts for the comparative calm of Hollywood. But their entourage, fearing that they'll lose their meal ticket if Eddy and MacDonald leave New York, arrange to inaugurate two profitable road companies of Sweethearts by contriving to split up the loving couple. Cleverly sidestepping the sugary sweet sentimentality that one might expect from an MGM musical of the era, the delightful Sweethearts is hampered only by its overlength. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, (more)
- 1938
Joan Bennett plays a young woman who believes she's killed bigtime crook Sidney Blackmer. She changes her hair color from blonde to brunette and escapes from San Francisco to parts unknown. Police detective Fredric March is hired to track down Bennett, which he does in the company of two assistants, wisecracking Ann Sothern and dimwitted Ralph Bellamy. March's chase takes him all over the world (courtesy of back-projected shots of Tay Garnett's recent worldwide vacation); when he catches up with Bennett, he falls in love with her. Still, when they reach Frisco again, March turns Bennett in to the authorities, convincing Bellamy and Sothern that their boss is a no-good rat. But it's actually a clever ploy by March to bring the real murderer out in the open. Trade Winds was produced by Joan Bennett's future husband Walter Wanger, who noted the popularity of Bennett's new brunette status and advised her to stay that way...which she did. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1937
This early feminist tale was a box-office flop that was released after years of script doctoring. Producer Samuel Goldwyn insisted that the story be made into film, because he wanted to pair his romantic stars Joel McCrea and Miriam Hopkins for a fifth time. Hopkins plays Virginia Travis, an architect who is chafing at the gender bias keeping her career in check. She approaches an aging, inept real estate developer, B.J. Nolan (Charles Winninger), promising to turn his latest suburban housing project into a winner. But Nolan is in debt, and his millionaire son Kenneth (McCrea) won't loan him any money. Virginia recruits two movie theater ushers to pose as the elder Nolan's servants in order to convince Kenneth that his dad is on the road to success. Virginia must also defeat Nina Tennyson (Leona Maricle), an attractive woman who is after Kenneth's money. Virginia gets Kenneth drunk and then has him sign a contract that will rescue the housing development. As they transact business, they fall in love. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, (more)
A Star is Born came into being when producer David O. Selznick decided to tell a "true behind-the-scenes" story of Hollywood. The truth, of course, was filtered a bit for box-office purposes, although Selznick and an army of screenwriters based much of their script on actual people and events. Janet Gaynor stars as Esther Blodgett, the small-town girl who dreams of Hollywood stardom, a role later played by both Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in the 1954 and 1976 remakes. Jeered at by most of her family, Esther finds an ally in her crusty old grandma (May Robson), who admires the girl's "pioneer spirit" and bankrolls Esther's trip to Tinseltown. On arrival, Esther heads straight to Central Casting, where a world-weary receptionist (Peggy Wood), trying to let the girl down gently, tells her that her chances for stardom are about one in a thousand. "Maybe I'll be that one!" replies Esther defiantly. Months pass: through the intervention of her best friend, assistant director Danny McGuire (Andy Devine), Esther gets a waitressing job at an upscale Hollywood party. Her efforts to "audition" for the guests are met with quizzical stares, but she manages to impress Norman Maine (Fredric March), the alcoholic matinee idol later played by James Mason and Kris Kristofferson. Esther gets her first big break in Norman's next picture and a marriage proposal from the smitten Mr. Maine. It's a hit, but as Esther (now named Vicki)'s star ascends, Norman's popularity plummets due to a string of lousy pictures and an ongoing alcohol problem. The film won Academy Awards for director William Wellman and Robert Carson in the "original story" category and for W. Howard Greene's glistening Technicolor cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, (more)
- 1936
Suzy is the film in which Cary Grant, overcome by the beauty and vivacity of Jean Harlow, sings her a love ballad! This lighthearted moment aside, Suzy, adapted from a novel by Herbert Gorman is a standard-issue love triangle, set against the tapestry of World War I. Harlow plays a London showgirl, married to Irish engineer Franchot Tone. When foreign spy Benita Hume shoots Tone, mistaking him as a threat against her mission, the terrified Harlow flees into the night, certain that she will be accused of her husband's murder. After the war breaks out, Harlow, believing herself a widow, falls in love with handsome aviator Cary Grant. She marries the well-bred but irresponsible young ace, only to discover that Tone has not been killed after all! This being an idealized World War I film, somebody is going to end up sacrificing his/her life on behalf of somebody else, but we're not about to reveal any more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, (more)
- 1936
The Three Married Men are Peter Cary (Roscoe Karns), Bill Mullens (William Frawley) and Bill's brother Jeff (Lynne Overman). Actually, at the beginning of the story, Peter is about to wed Jeff and Bill's sister Jennie (Mary Brian). Not wishing to invite Peter into their family, the Mullens boys try to scare him out of marrying Jennie by telling him horror stories of their own unhappy marriages. They do their job well, and soon the engagement is rent asunder -- whereupon Jeff and Bill realize they've made a mistake and try to bring the couple back together. Three Married Men was co-scripted by celebrated Broadway wit Dorothy Parker and her then-husband Alan Campbell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynne Overman, William Frawley, (more)
- 1936
Previously filmed in 1930 as True to the Navy, Kenyon Nicholson's old stage farce Sailor Beware returned to the screen in 1936 as Lady Be Careful. The plot remains substantially the same, as an amorous sailor named Dynamite (Lew Ayres) bets his pals that he can "thaw" icy beauty-contest winner Billie (Mary Carlisle). What follows is a series of misunderstandings, arguments and reconciliations, all wrapped up in a happy-ever-after conclusion. Part of the problem with this version of the Nicholson play is that neither Lew Ayres nor Mary Carlisle truly enliven their characters: far better within the framework are such supporting actors as Buster Crabbe and Benny Baker. Lady Be Careful was remade in 1944 as the Bing Crosby musical The Fleet's In, then again in 1951 as Martin and Lewis' Sailor Beware. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Mary Carlisle, (more)
- 1936
A New York novelist (Henry Fonda) meets up with an actress (Margaret Sullavan), and the two date and later marry, though neither knows of the other's fame. The real adventure begins on the honeymoon, when this screwball comedy really heats up with insults and arguments. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Sullavan, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1935
After a false start in 1932, Paramount's Big Broadcast series was jump-started in late 1935 with The Big Broadcast of 1936. The wisp of a storyline involves two-bit radio station owner Spud (Jack Oakie), who doubles as the station's sole announcer while his comic partner Smiley (Henry Wadsworth) serves as the house crooner. On the verge of bankruptcy, Spud is receptive to the wacky notions of George Burns and Gracie Allen, who've just invented a television device which can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere. Among the variety artists captured on cathode by George and Gracie's invention are Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Amos 'N' Andy (Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in blackface), Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, the Vienna Boys Choir, bandleaders Ray Noble and Ina Ray Hutton, and a knockabout vaudeville act called Willie, West and McGinty, who spend most of the film's running time trying to simultaneously build and demolish a house. The plot evolves into a dry run for the later Hope-Crosby "Road" pictures, with Spud and Smiley ending up on the intrigue-ridden island governed by zany countess Ysobel de Nargila (Lyda Roberti). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Oakie, George Burns, (more)
- 1930
Filmed in 1929 and released early in 1930, Dynamite was Cecil B. DeMille's first all-talking feature. As one observer has noted, this 128-minute opus has enough plots for seven pictures. The basic storyline here involves spoiled heiress Cynthia Crothers (Kay Johnson) who will lose her fortune if she isn't married right away. Her love Roger Towne (Conrad Nagel) isn't interested in marriage, so Crothers decides to wed convicted murderer Hagon Derk (Charles Bickford). Her plan: Derk will die, then she'll be a millionaire, free to chase after Towne without benefit of clergy. Unfortunately for Crothers, Derk is pardoned at the last minute when the real killer (Leslie Fenton) confesses. Crothers tries to drive Derk out of her life by humiliating him at a fancy party, only to discover that the conditions of her inheritance require that she live with her husband for a set period of time. She swallows her pride and heads for Derk's home town, a grimy mining village. Touched by Crother's inept efforts to keep house and cook dinner, Derk eventually falls in love with her--though he makes it clear that he wants no part of her money. Crothers, in turn, falls genuinely in love with her brutish but basically decent husband. It must needs be that fortune-hunting Towne arrives in the mining village, leading to a powerful climax wherein Derk, Crothers and Towne are trapped in a mine cave-in. Though the dialogue is occasionally quite silly (after the killer commits suicide in a crowded restaurant, one of the patrons is heard to complain "It's ruined my dinner!") and the performances overripe at times, Dynamite actually holds up better than you'd expect. DeMilles' utilization of sound is both innovative and imaginative, especially during the noisy climactic sequences. The film was a success, paving the way for DeMilles' camp classic Madame Satan (1930). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, (more)
