Swing high, swing low
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| original title | Swing high, swing low |
| production country | USA |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1937 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Rod | |
| directing | Mitchell Leisen |
| script |
Virginia Van Upp Oscar Hammerstein II |
| production | Arthur Hornblow Jr for Paramount Pictures |
| music |
Phil Boutelje Victor Young |
| camera | Ted Tetzlaff |
| cut | Ed Warren |
| occupation | |
| |
Swing High, Swing Low is a 1937 American musical drama film starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray . Mitchell Leisen directed it .
plot
As a barber aboard a ship traveling through the Panama Canal Zone, Maggie King repels a brash young soldier, "Skid" Johnson, on his last day in the Army. However, he is persistent, and the next day she and her friend Ella reluctantly go on a double date with him and his friend Harry, a piano player, in Balboa. At a nightclub, she expresses her dislike for trumpet music, whereupon he impresses her with his amazing ability on the instrument. When a man tries to pick her up at the bar, a fight ensues between him and Skid, ending up with Skid and Maggie in jail. As a result, Maggie misses her ship back to the States.
Running out of money after helping pay the fine, she is forced to move in with Skid and Harry. She persuades a skeptical Murphy to hire the unambitious Skid and her as trumpeter and showgirl respectively in "Murphy's Cafe y Bar" by telling Murphy they are married. She clashes with fellow showgirl Anita Alvarez, Skid's former girlfriend, but Anita soon leaves for a better job. Maggie and Skid eventually fall in love and get married.
Maggie convinces the reluctant Skid to go to New York City to play at a big nightclub and leaves her behind. Later she finds out that Anita works there. It's a big hit, along with singer Anita. Fame and fortune go to his head. He fails to send Maggie the fare to accompany him and does not answer her letters. Eventually, Maggie borrows Murphy's money. Anita intercepts her telegram to Skid telling him where to meet her boat. After a long wait at the pier, Maggie calls Anita's hotel room with a suspicion and a drunk Skid answers (Anita invited him over for a nightcap after a night out on the town). Maggie divorces him. Ella finds out and tells her old friend, wealthy rancher Harvey Howell. Mary plans to sail to France to obtain a divorce and marry Harvey.
Skid is so devastated that he starts drinking and missing performances, costing him his job and career. Finally he tries to report back, but fails the screening. Then he meets Harry who has been looking for him. Harry has rounded up a band for a live radio gig to audition for a major sponsor and (to help his old friend) wants Skid to play with them. Skid's old agent Georgie tries to get Maggie, who has just returned from France, to get Skid in shape. She rushes over and does her best. Skid is terrifying at first on the show, but when Maggie tells him she'll stand by him "till death do us part," he regains his former brilliance.
background
The screenplay is based on the stage play Burlesque from 1927. In 1929, Paramount filmed the material under the title Dance of Life with Nancy Carroll and Hal Skelly. 1948 saw another adaptation starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey , When My Baby Smiles at Me , one of the biggest financial hits of Grable's career.
In 1935, Paramount initially planned to bring the remake starring Sylvia Sidney and MacMurray in front of the cameras. However, the success of Love in a Snap prompted a cast reshuffle with Carole Lombard . For Lombard it was the third of four films together with Fred MacMurray and the third cooperation with Mitchell Leisen . Dorothy Lamour landed a major supporting role in one of her first on-screen appearances, having risen to national prominence a few months earlier with her performance in a sarong in The Jungle Princess .
In 1965 the film entered the public domain in the United States . It was released on DVD by Synergy Entertainment in 2007.
reception
Most contemporary reviews have been mixed.
The New York Times was no exception when it succinctly stated:
“Swing High, Swing Low, like most Ferris wheels, doesn't go anywhere—at least, nowhere you haven't been. His players really deserve to be treated better.”
web links
itemizations
- ↑ Frank S. Nugent: THE SCREEN; At the Paramount. In: New York Times . April 15, 1937, retrieved April 4, 2021 (English).