So This Is Washington

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Movie
Original title So This Is Washington
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1943
length 64 minutes
Rod
Director Ray McCarey
script Leonard Praskins
Roswell Rogers
production Ben Hersch
Jack William Votion
music Lud Gluskin
camera Harry J. Wild
cut W. Duncan Mansfield
occupation

as well as without mentioning: Brooks Benedict , Chester Conklin , Heinie Conklin , Jack Gargan , Lloyd Ingraham , Boyd Irwin , Eddie Kane , Wilbur Mack , Barbara Pepper , Jack Rice , Cyril Ring and Ben Taggart

So This Is Washington is a 1943 American film in black and white. It is the fourth film by the comedian duo Lum and Abner . Directed by Ray McCarey based on a script by Leonard Praskins and Roswell Rogers .

action

Because of a radio announcement calling on Chester W. Marshall to make inventions available to the War Department, shopkeepers Lum Abner and Abner Peabody of Pine Ridge, Arkansas realize that while Abner's invented liquorice is inedible, it looks like Synthetic rubber behaves. They ask Grandpappy Spears to run the shop and travel to Washington to show Marshall their invention. There, however, all hotel rooms and everything else that could even remotely serve as such are occupied. When they are even evicted from the park bench on which they wanted to spend the night, they rent a bed for the night in the window of a furniture store from a crook. The next morning they wake up in front of a crowd. In this crowd is the Pine Ridge journalist Robert Blevins, who knew them from his youth. He tries to arrange an appointment with Marshall for the two of them. He mocked Marshall in his column, but loves his secretary Jane Nestor. The three of them don't get any further than the secretary, because Marshall's office is overflowing with inventors.

After seeing some sights in Washington, Lum and Abner come back to the park. There they can give valuable advice to a senator and a congressman on solving their problems. A successful counseling center for politicians and judges who stand in line at a park bench to get advice from Lum and Abner develops from this. One day Marshall also comes to them with a question. But since they do not recognize him and have planned another attempt to meet him in his office at this point in time, they try to get rid of him and go on their way. He follows them. Only in his office do they realize who he is and that he is looking for synthetic rubber. Marshall is excited about Abner's invention. He has the sample examined in a laboratory and sets up a presentation to the press and the military, where Abner is supposed to demonstrate how easy this substance is to manufacture. During this presentation, however, a statue falls on Abner's head, which is why he loses his memory.

Because of the unsuccessful presentation, Marshall comes under professional pressure. He urges the restoration of Abner's memories. Hoping that he would recover better at home, Marshall drives Lum and Abner to Pine Ridge, but Abner doesn't recognize anyone there either. Eventually, Marshall manages to persuade Lum to try another punch on Abner's head. However, this also runs into difficulties, since Abner considers himself a soldier. When Lum is finally ready, he meets the impatient Marshall, who then goes to the ground, unconscious. Abner wants to help him, but hits a rule with his head and regains his memory. At this point Robert and Jane come up with the news that the invention is not suitable for use as synthetic rubber, but is of great help in building aircraft runways. Lum receives the honorable post of Dollar a Year Man and Abner becomes his assistant - with an annual salary of $ 10,000.

production

Lum & Abner

Chester Lauck and Norris Goff were successful on the radio with the characters Lum Edwards and Abner Peabody from 1931 to 1954. Seven films appeared with them between 1940 and 1946 and 1956. So This Is Washington was the fourth of these films. Lauck and Goff are not mentioned individually in the opening credits of the film, but only as Lum and Abner.

Filming

So This Is Washington was filmed under the working title Dollar a Year Man from June 16 to the end of June 1943. The director of the film was Hans O. Peters . The production company was Jack Wm. Votion Productions.

censorship

The War Department Office of Censorship banned RKO Pictures from showing the film outside the United States because it ridiculed rationing, belittled congressmen and senators, and made fun of a senior military doctor.

Premiere

The premiere of So This Is Washington was on August 17, 1943 in Pine Ridge , Arkansas instead. This town got its name on April 26, 1936 in response to Lum and Abner radio broadcasts . However, since there was no sufficiently large building in Pine Ridge, the performance took place in a tent of the Chautauqua movement. RKO Pictures was responsible for sales . There was no German-language performance.

So This Is Washington was released on DVD on September 28, 2004 .

reception

Reviews

Contemporary reviews found So This Is Washington mostly funny and compared the film to the first three Lum and Abner films. He is less annoying than this and also more successful. In addition, the script and direction are better. The Boxoffice Magazine complained that the figures that appeared so real on the radio, in the movie "cartoons" are like, whereas Photoplay said Lum and Abner had found "this satirical comedy about life in Washington," her film style.

Hal Erickson also thinks the film is one of the better of the Lum and Abner films. The script at least succeeds in combining the individual sections of the film better than was the case with its predecessors. Ray McCarey's direction is also better. The film is very much a product of its time and therefore out of date in the 21st century, more nostalgic than funny. Leonard Maltin sees it similarly.

Awards

At the 1944 Academy Awards , James L. Fields was nominated for Best Sound , but lost out to Stephen Dunn for This Is My Country .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Hal Erickson : From Radio to the Big Screen: Hollywood Films Featuring Broadcast Personalities and Programs . McFarland, Jefferson 2014, ISBN 978-1-4766-1558-5 , “Lum & Abner” (1940–1946; 1956), pp.  176 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 9, 2018]).
  2. a b c d e f Michael R. Pitts: RKO Radio Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1929–1956 . McFarland, Jefferson 2015, ISBN 978-1-4766-1683-4 , So This Is Washington (1943; 64 minutes), pp. 296–298 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 9, 2018]).
  3. Roger Fristoe: So This Is Washington (1943). In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved January 9, 2018 .
  4. a b Leonard Maltin : LEONARD MALTIN ​​MOVIE REVIEW. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved January 9, 2018 .
  5. a b Kathryn Moore Stucker: Lum and Abner (Radio Show and Movies). In: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved January 9, 2018 .
  6. a b c d So This Is Washington (1943). In: American Film Institute. Retrieved January 9, 2018 .
  7. ^ A b c d Hal Erickson : So This Is Washington (1943). In: All Movie. Retrieved January 9, 2018 .
  8. ^ Pine Ridge. In: Arkansas The Natural State. Retrieved January 9, 2018 .
  9. a b So This Is Washington . In: Motion Picture Herald . August 21, 1943, p.  1495 ( online at Archive.org [accessed January 9, 2018]).
  10. a b So This Is Washington . In: The Film Daily . August 20, 1943, p.  5 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed January 9, 2018]).