Chances | |
---|---|
![]() Newspaper advertisement | |
Directed by | Allan Dwan |
Written by | Waldemar Young (adaptation) |
Screenplay by | A. Hamilton Gibbs |
Based on | Chances 1930 novel by A. Hamilton Gibbs |
Produced by | First National |
Starring | Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Rose Hobart |
Cinematography | Ernest Haller |
Edited by | Ray Curtiss |
Music by | David Mendoza Oscar Potoker |
Distributed by | First National and Warner Brothers |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Chances is a 1931 American pre-Code war drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It is based on the 1930 novel by A. Hamilton Gibbs. [1]
According to Fairbanks, the film was a hit, although in his autobiography he says it was "good, but not good enough." [2]
In 1914, brother officers Jack and Tom Ingleside are in London, headed home on furlough. In the dense fog, Jack bumps into a young woman and tries to pick her up. She laughs at him, promises they will meet again, and rides off in a cab. When the brothers arrive at the family home, their mother is having tea with Molly Prescott, a childhood neighbor who has grown to be a lovely young woman—the woman in the fog. Tom tells his mother that he has always loved Molly. Jack, who is known as a ladies' man, is smitten.
Mrs. Ingleside is holding a benefit ball for the Red Cross, and Archie, Ruth and Sylvia, friends of the boys, spend the weekend. Sylvia is Jack's old flame. Jack and Molly step away from the dance. He tries to tell her how he feels and she laughingly replies, "How many girls have you said that to?" but they kiss. She returns to the dance where Tom is waiting.
When their mother tells Jack of her joy at the love between Tom and Molly, he is shocked as he had thought that Tom was not interested in girls. Heartbroken, he makes love to Sylvia in Molly's presence. Wounded, Molly turns away. Meanwhile, they have been called to France and their artillery unit. Tom asks Molly to wait for him. Ecstatic, he tells Jack of the engagement, and Jack congratulates him.
At the front, bodies and debris fill a gun emplacement and the communicating trench. Lieutenant Taylor brings the news and dies. Jack is assigned to take a crew of volunteers to put the gun back in order, returning over the same terrain that killed Taylor. The mission is a success, but four men die.
The major sends Jack on leave. Tom gives him a letter for Molly, who does not write to him. In a French town, Jack sees Molly, who is driving for the army. She confesses she agreed to marry Tom out of anger, and she cannot write to him because she doesn't love him. She asks for one day of Jack's leave. He agrees to come back early. She promises to write to Tom and tell him the truth.
They meet as planned and visit the shore. She did not write to Tom. Jack says "Saying goodbye is to die a little." He puts a ring on her left hand. She gives him a picture. They have an hour left, perhaps their last, and she cannot bear to let him go. She curls up on the grass, weeping. They embrace passionately.
Back at the front, Jack tells Tom it was impossible to talk to their mother as there was a stone wall between them. Tom observes that the letters they send home are lies, because they can't talk to her about what is really happening at the front.
Tom takes Jack's coat by mistake and finds Molly's picture. He assumes Jack forgot to give it to him, but when he teases Jack about it, the truth emerges. Tom, furious and betrayed, refuses to listen.
Major Bradford is ordered to withdraw his artillery group. Men, teams of horses and wagons race to a new position under a constant barrage. They fire on the advancing German infantry, then remove the breech blocks and fall back to their trenches, still under constant fire. Tom lingers by the guns, apparently in despair and seemingly waiting and wanting to be killed. Calling Tom, Jack returns through barbed wire and across shattered ground to reach his brother, now wounded. He drags Tom back.
In the final scene, Jack has lost his left arm and walks with a cane. Molly steps out to meet him and they kiss. Tom has died, but Jack finds consolation in the fact that his brother said they were pals at the end. Jack and Moly walk together into the fog, after a neat little scene with the bobby telling them to put out the match Molly lit for Jack's cigarette, mirroring the opening scene where the bobby says the same thing to a newspaper seller.
Uncredited:
In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Mordaunt Hall wrote: "It is a thoroughly human story of war and love, taken from A. Hamilton Gibbs's novel. It rings true in every episode, nothing being overdone, for which Alan Dwan, the director, deserves much credit. The fighting scenes are vividly produced and the romance is etched splendidly. ... This picture is a glowing example of the value of adhering to an author's story. The fact that it has not been tampered with unduly is the reason for its compelling quality, for no silly scenario tricks are permitted to interrupt the flow of events. Mr. Dwan unfurls his tale with commendable restraint, giving through the turning of railroad coach wheels, those of an automobile or those of a motorcycle, a definite conception of the passage of time." [3]
The film has been preserved at the Library of Congress. [4]
One Magic Christmas is a 1985 Christmas fantasy film directed by Phillip Borsos. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures and stars Mary Steenburgen and Harry Dean Stanton. It was shot in Meaford, Ontario with some scenes in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada.
Three Men and a Little Lady is a 1990 American comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino. It is the sequel to the 1987 film Three Men and a Baby. Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson reprise the leading roles.
A Summer Place is a 1959 American romantic drama film based on Sloan Wilson's 1958 novel of the same name, about teenage lovers from different classes who get back together 20 years later, and then must deal with the passionate love affair of their own teenage children by previous marriages. Delmer Daves directed the movie, which stars Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire as a couple, and Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as their respective children. The film contains a memorable instrumental theme composed by Max Steiner, which spent nine weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1960.
Don Q, Son of Zorro is a 1925 American silent swashbuckler romance film and a sequel to the 1920 silent film The Mark of Zorro. It was loosely based upon the 1909 novel Don Q.'s Love Story, written by the mother-and-son duo Kate and Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard. The story was reworked in 1925 into a vehicle for the Johnston McCulley character Zorro. The film adaptation was made by screenwriters Jack Cunningham and Lotta Woods for United Artists studios. Douglas Fairbanks both produced the film and starred as its lead character. It was directed by Donald Crisp, who also played the villain Don Sebastian.
Way for a Sailor is a 1930 American pre-Code film starring John Gilbert. The supporting cast includes Wallace Beery, Jim Tully, Leila Hyams, and Polly Moran. The film was directed by Sam Wood, who insisted on no screen credit.
Possessed is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Clarence Brown, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is the story of Marian Martin, a factory worker who rises to the top as the mistress of a wealthy attorney. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee was adapted from the 1920 Broadway play The Mirage by Edgar Selwyn. Possessed was the third of eight film collaborations between Crawford and Gable.
Side Show is a 1931 American pre-Code musical comedy drama film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Winnie Lightner, Charles Butterworth, Evalyn Knapp and Donald Cook. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. The film was based on a story by William K. Wells. Although it was planned and filmed as a full-scale musical, most of the songs were cut from the film before release due to the public tiring of musicals.
Montana Moon is a 1930 pre-Code Western musical film which introduced the concept of the singing cowboy to the screen. Starring Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown, Dorothy Sebastian, and Ricardo Cortez, the film focuses on the budding relationship between a city girl and a rural cowboy.
Female is a 1933 Warner Bros. pre-Code film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Ruth Chatterton and George Brent. It is based on the 1933 novel of the same name by Donald Henderson Clarke.
Outward Bound is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film based on the 1923 hit play of the same name by Sutton Vane. It stars Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Helen Chandler, Beryl Mercer, Montagu Love, Alison Skipworth, Alec B. Francis, and Dudley Digges. The film was later remade, with some changes, as Between Two Worlds (1944).
Saturday Night is a 1922 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Leatrice Joy, Conrad Nagel, and Edith Roberts. It was Leatrice Joy's first film with DeMille.
Union Depot is a 1932 American pre-Code melodrama film directed by Alfred E. Green for Warner Bros., starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Blondell, and based on an unpublished play by Joe Laurie Jr., Gene Fowler, and Douglas Durkin. The film, an ensemble piece for the studio's contract players, also features performances by Guy Kibbee, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, David Landau, and George Rosener. In the United Kingdom it was released under the title Gentleman for a Day.
Call Her Savage is a 1932 pre-Code drama film directed by John Francis Dillon and starring Clara Bow and Gilbert Roland. The film was Bow's second-to-last film role. Its portrayal of a scene in a gay bar would become impossible in less than two years, when enforcement of the Hays Code became more stringent. The film's copyright was renewed, and the film will enter the public domain in 2028.
Captured! is a 1933 American pre-Code film about World War I prisoners of war in a German camp. The film was directed by Roy Del Ruth and stars Leslie Howard and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Captured! was based on the short story "Fellow Prisoners" (1930) by Sir Philip Gibbs.
Merrily We Go to Hell is a 1932 pre-Code film directed by Dorothy Arzner, and starring Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney. The supporting cast features a prominent early appearance by Cary Grant, billed ninth in the cast but with a larger part than this would suggest. The picture's title is an example of the sensationalistic titles that were common in the pre-Code era. Many newspapers refused to publicize the film because of its racy title. The title is a line March's character says while making a toast.
The Good Bad-Man is a 1916 American silent Western film directed by Allan Dwan. The film was written by Douglas Fairbanks, and produced by Fairbanks and the Fine Arts Film Company. It stars Fairbanks and Bessie Love.
A Modern Musketeer is a 1917 American silent adventure comedy film directed and written by Allan Dwan. Based on the short story, "D'Artagnan of Kansas" by Eugene P. Lyle, Jr., which appeared in Everybody's Magazine, September 1912, the film was produced by and stars Douglas Fairbanks. A now complete and restored print of the film still exists and is currently in the public domain.
They Call It Sin is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Thornton Freeland and starring Loretta Young as a farmer's daughter who follows a traveling salesman to New York City, only to discover he already is engaged.
Padlocked is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Rex Beach, Becky Gardiner, and James Shelley Hamilton. The film stars Lois Moran, Noah Beery Sr., Louise Dresser, Helen Jerome Eddy, Allan Simpson, Florence Turner, and Richard Arlen. The film was released on August 2, 1926, by Paramount Pictures.
Manhattan Madness is a 1916 silent film comedy directed by Allan Dwan and starring Douglas Fairbanks. It was produced by Fine Arts Film Company and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation.