Battle of Broadway | |
---|---|
Directed by | George Marshall |
Screenplay by | Lou Breslow John Patrick |
Story by | Norman Houston |
Produced by | Sol M. Wurtzel |
Starring | Victor McLaglen Brian Donlevy Gypsy Rose Lee Raymond Walburn Lynn Bari Jane Darwell |
Cinematography | Barney McGill |
Edited by | Jack Murray |
Production company | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Battle of Broadway is a 1938 American comedy film directed by George Marshall and written by Lou Breslow and John Patrick. [1] The film stars Victor McLaglen, Brian Donlevy, Gypsy Rose Lee, Raymond Walburn, Lynn Bari and Jane Darwell. [2] The film was released on April 22, 1938, by 20th Century Fox. [3]
Homer C. Bundy (Raymond Walburn), the president of the Bundy Steel Company of Bundy, Pennsylvania, sends troublesome employees "Big" Ben Wheeler (Victor McLaglen) and "Chesty" Webb (Brian Donlevy) to New York City to break up Bundy's son Jack's (Robert Kellard) engagement to suspected gold digger Marjorie Clark (Lynn Bari). Jack discovers his father's plot, and turns the tables on the brawling steelworkers: he asks gorgeous Linda Lee (Gypsy Rose Lee)--the object of the competitive Big Ben's and Chesty's amorous pursuits—to pretend she's his fiancé, to put the boys off the trail. Trouble ensues when Homer arrives in NYC...and falls for Linda.
Critical reception for Battle of Broadway upon its initial release was largely positive. [4] In a 1938 review for the film The New York Times stated "Though it will not be hailed as one of the year's finer historical films and might even be said, despite the riot scenes, to suffer from a ind of timid civilian understatement, the extent of which can only be measured by those who have lived through "the terror" – as we of the Times Square area tend to think of it – "Battle of Broadway" seems to provoke enough of those tolerant, unanalytical audience guffaws to justify its modestly budgeted existence." [5]
DVD Talk gave a favorable review for Battle of Broadway, writing that it was a "Knockabout farce, energetically handled" and that "By the time the movie wraps up with its third or fourth unapologetic big brawl, Battle of Broadway's hard-won rough-and-tumble pose becomes positively endearing." [6]
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was a British boxer-turned-Hollywood actor. He was known as a character actor, particularly in Westerns, and made seven films with John Ford and John Wayne. McLaglen won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1935 for his role in The Informer.
Brigham Young is a 1940 American biographical western film starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell and Dean Jagger that describes Young's succession to the presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after founder Joseph Smith was assassinated in 1844. The supporting cast features Brian Donlevy, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Mary Astor, Vincent Price and Tully Marshall.
Waldo Brian Donlevy was an American actor. Noted for playing dangerous and tough characters, he usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best-known films are Beau Geste (1939), The Great McGinty (1940) and Wake Island (1942). For his role as the sadistic Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Ali Baba Goes to Town is a 1937 American musical comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Eddie Cantor, Tony Martin, and Roland Young. Cantor plays a hobo named Aloysius "Al" Babson, who walks into the camp of a movie company that is making the Arabian Nights. He falls asleep and dreams he is in Baghdad as an advisor to the Sultan (Young). He organizes work programs, taxes the rich, and abolishes the army, in a spoof of Roosevelt's New Deal. This film was the second of three in which Shirley Temple and Cesar Romero appeared together, second was Wee Willie Winkie (1937) and The Little Princess (1939).
Broadway Melody of 1938 is a 1937 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical tradition. The film stars Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor and features Buddy Ebsen, George Murphy, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Raymond Walburn, Robert Benchley and Binnie Barnes.
AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is the American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history and is the second list of the AFI 100 Years... series.
Lynn Bari was a film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s.
Stage Door Canteen is a 1943 American World War II film with musical numbers and other entertainment interspersed with dramatic scenes by a largely unknown cast. The film was produced by Sol Lesser's Principal Artists Productions and directed by Frank Borzage. The film features many celebrity cameo appearances but primarily relates a simple drama set in the famed New York City restaurant and nightclub for American and Allied servicemen. Six bands are featured. The score and the original song, "We Mustn't Say Goodbye", were nominated for Academy Awards.
Raymond Walburn was an American character actor of stage and screen who appeared in dozens of Hollywood movie comedies and an occasional dramatic role during the 1930s and 1940s.
China Girl is a 1942 drama film which follows the exploits of an American newsreel photographer in China and Burma against the backdrop of World War II. The film stars Gene Tierney, George Montgomery, Lynn Bari and Victor McLaglen, and was directed by Henry Hathaway. It is also known as A Yank In China, Burma Road and Over The Burma Road.
Robert Kellard, aka Robert Stevens, was an American actor who appeared in over 60 films between 1937 and 1951.
The Magnificent Brute is a 1936 American drama film directed by John G. Blystone and starring Victor McLaglen, Binnie Barnes and Jean Dixon. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction by Albert S. D'Agostino and Jack Otterson.
This Is My Affair is a 1937 American period crime film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Victor McLaglen and Brian Donlevy. It was produced and released by 20th Century Fox.
We're Going to Be Rich is a 1938 British historical musical comedy film directed by Monty Banks and starring Gracie Fields, Victor McLaglen and Brian Donlevy.
Excuse My Dust is a 1951 musical comedy film starring Red Skelton. It was directed by Roy Rowland and an uncredited Edward Sedgwick. It is based on the 1943 book of the same name by Bellamy Partridge.
Kit Carson is a 1940 Western film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Jon Hall as Kit Carson, Lynn Bari as Delores Murphy, and Dana Andrews as Captain John C. Frémont. This picture was filmed on location at Cayente (Kayenta), Arizona and was one of the early films to use Monument Valley as a backdrop. The supporting cast features Ward Bond as a character named "Ape", future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore without his mask, and Raymond Hatton as Jim Bridger.
Millionaires in Prison is a 1940 American crime drama film directed by Ray McCarey and written by Lynn Root and Frank Fenton. The film stars Lee Tracy, Linda Hayes, Raymond Walburn, Morgan Conway and Truman Bradley. The film was released on July 12, 1940, by RKO Pictures.
The Laughing Lady is a 1929 sound film melodrama directed by Victor Schertzinger, starring Ruth Chatterton and produced and released by Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. It is based on a 1922 British play, The Laughing Lady, by Alfred Sutro. The play was brought to New York in 1923 and put on Broadway starring Ethel Barrymore.
Duffy's Tavern is a 1945 American comedy film directed by Hal Walker and written by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. The film stars Ed Gardner, Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton, Paulette Goddard, Alan Ladd, Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken and Brian Donlevy. The film was released on September 28, 1945, by Paramount Pictures.
Sally, Irene and Mary is a 1938 American comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and written by Harry Tugend and Jack Yellen. It is based on the 1922 play Sally, Irene and Mary by Eddie Dowling and Cyrus Wood. The film stars Alice Faye, Tony Martin, Fred Allen, Jimmy Durante, Joan Davis, Marjorie Weaver and Gregory Ratoff. The film was released on March 4, 1938, by 20th Century Fox.