High, Wide, and Handsome
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | High, Wide, and Handsome |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1937 |
| length | 110 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rouben Mamoulian |
| script |
Oscar Hammerstein George O'Neil |
| production | Arthur Hornblow Jr. |
| music | Jerome Kern |
| camera |
Victor Milne Theodor Sparkuhl |
| cut | Archie Marshek |
| occupation | |
| |
High, Wide, and Handsome is a 1937 film musical starring Irene Dunne and directed by Rouben Mamoulian . The film blends a number of genre types from historical drama to westerns, comedy and classic revue films.
action
In 1859, the traveling wonder doctor Doc Watterson's tent burns down in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He and his daughter Sally find shelter with the friendly widow Grandmother Cortland, who runs a small farm with her grandson Peter. Peter and Sally fall in love. During the engagement time, like the other farmers in the area, Peter begins to look for oil and comes across a fertile store on the wedding day of all places. The find triggers a real boom in the region. At the same time, a dispute breaks out with the railway magnate Walter Brennan, who wants to gain control of all oil fields in the area with excessive freight rates. In the meantime Sally has made friends with the salon singer Molly, who suffers greatly from the bigoted ladies from the church council. Annoyed by Peter, who only has the oil business on his mind, Sally runs off with Molly and they both join the traveling circus Bowers Carnival. Sally is making a quick career as a singer and even receives an offer from Barnum and Bailey's. But then the news reaches her that Peter is in great need. Together with the entire circus, she comes to Peter’s aid and thanks to a herd of elephants, everyone manages to drive Walter Brennan and his journeymen out of town.
background
Although Irene Dunne came to Hollywood as a trained singer in 1930, she did not make her debut in a vocal film in Stingaree until 1934 . After the great financial successes in Sweet Adeline , Roberta and especially Show Boat from 1936, the actress was mentioned in the same breath as Jeanette MacDonald , Alice Faye and Grace Moore . She was regarded as the leading interpreter of Jerome Kern songs and when Paramount Pictures decided in late 1936 to produce a musical with original music by Kern and a libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II , Irene Dunne was the natural choice for the female , High, Wide and Handsome Main role. After the originally intended Gary Cooper declined to participate in the film, his part went to Randolph Scott , who was already Dunne's partner in Roberta . Kern and Hammerstein wrote the solo numbers for Dunne: “ High, Wide, and Handsome ”, “ The Simple Maiden ”, “ Can I Forget You? "And above all the very popular ballad" The Folks Who Live on the Hill ", which years later would become Peggy Lee's signature tune. The number “ The Things I Want ” was specially composed for Dorothy Lamour . Lamour sang the polka " Allegheny Al " with Irene Dunne . Overall, however, the critics complained that the score remained below the usual Kern-Hammerstein level and that it didn't offer enough catchy melodies. The direction was given to Rouben Mamoulian , who was the most influential director of the studio alongside Ernst Lubitsch at the beginning of the 1930s, but had to leave the studio after the financial failure of Song of Songs with Marlene Dietrich in 1933. His subsequent work did not reach the artistic level of his earlier works, but he had already proven his talent for musicals with Love Me Tonight and The Gay Desperado .
Filming finally began in January 1937 on a budget of $ 750,000. The shooting time was estimated at 56 days. However, numerous problems soon plagued production. A flu wave raged among the almost 5,000 extras, then storms and rain showers struck the crew. Finally, several members of the technical staff had a fatal accident in an accident. After more than five months of shooting, the cost had escalated to $ 1,900,000, making High, Wide, and Handsome the most expensive production in Paramount history to date. The studio tried to make a virtue out of necessity and marketed the film as a major event with increased ticket prices of $ 2.20, which is significantly more than double the normal ticket price. However, the first previews were unfavorable and Mamoulian had to cut the film again. In the end, High, Wide, and Handsome failed to recoup the huge investment. Irene Dunne was to turn no more pure musicals and then concentrate successfully on comedies and melodramas.
Reviews
The critics were reluctant to praise them.
The New York Times said:
"[T] he is not a gingerbread house covered with romance, but a stew made of meat and strength [...]"
The leading industry journal Variety came to the same conclusion, albeit with a different reason:
"[A] assortment of Americana tinkered with too much Hollywood trinket."
Web links
- High, Wide, and Handsome in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Background information, movie posters and podcasts of some of the songs - English