Hi Diddle Diddle
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hi Diddle Diddle |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1943 |
| length | 72 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Andrew L. Stone |
| script |
Edmund L. Hartmann Frederick J. Jackson Andrew L. Stone |
| production | Andrew L. Stone for Andrew Stone Productions |
| music | Phil Boutelje |
| camera | Charles Edgar Schoenbaum |
| cut | Harvey Manger |
| occupation | |
| |
Hi Diddle Diddle is a 1943 American screwball comedy directed by Andrew L. Stone .
action
Hector Phyffe shows up late for his son Sonny's wedding to Janie Prescott. He learns that the wedding has not yet taken place because Marine Sonny’s ship has not yet entered. Since Hector is as always tight on cash - he is dependent on the money of his recently married wife, the well-known Wagner interpreter Genya Smetana, who grants him $ 25 a week - he secretly accepts a gift from the management to Genya as a present from Sonny for the bride Janie with. He picks up Sonny from the harbor and together they rush to the wedding party, which is already impatiently waiting. The bride present organized by Hector contains flowers as well as a valuable diamond clip and Janie is as delighted as Hector is amazed.
Shortly before the wedding, the bride's mother, Liza, her daughter and Sonny revealed that she had risked and lost her entire fortune of 50,000 dollars at the gaming table on the advice of the casino owner Peter Warrington III. She also bought worthless shares in Atlas International Copper. Peter is in love with Janie himself and believes that Sonny just wants to marry her for the money. Sonny, however, marries Janie anyway and trusts that Hector can get the lost money back. Hector decides to get the money through a gambling trick at Peters Casino. He makes common cause with the casino singer Leslie Quayle and her boyfriend and places a strong magnet under a number at roulette, which stands out from the magnet of the croupier, which is already used. Instead, Hector goes to the casino with the unsuspecting Sonny, who actually wanted to go with Janie on the honeymoon, which is only two days long anyway, and wins $ 75,000, which makes up for Liza's loss.
Peter still wants to win Janie over and brings her to the casino with her mother. Meanwhile, Hector's wife Genya has also appeared at the casino, who doesn't know that Hector has a son. She sees the diamond on Janie, which should actually belong to her and learns from her that a certain Mr. Phyffe had given it to her for the wedding. While Janie says Sonny, Genya believes that Hector has secretly married a second time, especially since she must also think that Sonny and Leslie are a couple who dance together after the successful coup. The chaos cannot be resolved because Hector lets the band leader announce in the casino that Genya wants to sing a piece by Wagner. All guests quickly leave the casino.
Hector also tries to get David to buy back the worthless stocks in the copper factory. He had a bogus newspaper printed, which made clear an upswing for that same factory. Sonny and Peter go to the stock exchange, where Hector pretends to work, and he hands Sonny a high check for Liza's shares. A little later, the initiated Leslie appears and also offers Hector shares in the factory, but Hector pretends to have to withdraw money first. Peter secretly wants to buy Leslie's papers in his absence. Meanwhile, Janie has moved into Hector's apartment, believing that this is the apartment that Hector promised the couple for their wedding. Hector cannot clear up the misunderstanding in time and Genya appears. She is outraged because she thinks she has a rival in Janie. Only now does it become clear that Hector is Sonny's father and Janie and Genya's father-in-law, i.e. Janie's mother-in-law. Genya now gives Janie the diamond clip as a subsequent wedding present. Leslie, Liza and David appear and Liza admits that she never lost any money in the casino. It was just a ploy to test Sonny's honesty. David, on the other hand, could not buy Leslie's worthless stocks because the head of the exchange had heard of Hector's purchases and was now securing the stocks himself. Meanwhile, Sonny drove to the Prescott's house, but Janie is still in Hector's apartment. Both miss each other several times when trying to get to the other, but end up together at the Prescott's house. Although they want to go on their honeymoon for a few hours as planned, since Sonny's vacation in the country is only limited to 48 hours, the maid advises them to stay in the empty house, and they agree. At Hector's, everyone else has gathered and sings the overture to Wagner's Tannhäuser , whereupon the comic characters of Wagner and his family flee on the wallpaper.
production
Hi Diddle Diddle was filmed from April to May 1943 and was released in US theaters on August 20, 1943. It was the penultimate film by the silent movie star Pola Negri, which said goodbye to the big screen in 1964 in Der Millionenschatz . A running gag of the film is actress Lorraine Miller , who appears in numerous different scenes in the film in different roles and is noticed again and again by Hector and the other characters until Billy Burke remarks as Liza, “She's a very particular friend of the director who's making this picture. He sticks her in every scene he can "(" She is a special friend of the director of this film. He sticks her in as many scenes as possible. ").
The film structures were created by Frank Paul Sylos , the costumes by Adrian . The animation sequences at the beginning and the end of the film are by Friz Freleng (director) and Leon Schlesinger (producer).
Various songs can be heard in the film:
- I Loved You too Little, too Late - sung by June Havoc
- The Man with the Big Sombrero - sung by June Havoc
- Song of the Pilgrims and Evening Star from Wagner's Tannhäuser - sung by Pola Negri a. a.
criticism
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops described Hi Diddle Diddle as a "stupid, carefree comedy" with numerous sexual innuendos. Classic Film Guide usually called the plot for screwball comedies.
Awards
Phil Boutelje received an Oscar nomination for Best Film Music for Hi Diddle Diddle in 1944 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Dopey hit-or-miss comedy […] much sexual innuendo" Cf. Hi Diddle Diddle on old.usccb.org ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See review on classicfilmguide.com
