Chasing Rainbows | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Charles Reisner |
Written by | Al Boasberg Wells Root Kenyon Nicholson Charles Reisner |
Based on | Road Show by Robert E. Hopkins Bess Meredyth |
Starring | Bessie Love Charles King |
Cinematography | Ira H. Morgan |
Edited by | George Hively |
Music by | Milton Ager Jack Yellen |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes (complete but lost) [1] 90 minutes (extant) 85 minutes (TCM print) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $700,000 [2] (equivalent to $12,300,000in 2022) |
Chasing Rainbows (also known as The Road Show) [3] is a 1930 American Pre-Code romantic musical film directed by Charles Reisner, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The film reunites The Broadway Melody stars Bessie Love and Charles King, with a supporting cast of Jack Benny, Marie Dressler, and Polly Moran. [4] This was Jack Benny's first dramatic role in a motion picture.
Filmed in July and August 1929, it was not released for months later, missing an opportunity to capitalize on the success of its song "Happy Days Are Here Again", which by then had already been a major hit. [2]
Carlie (Love) and Terry (King) are in a traveling vaudeville troupe with Eddie (Benny), the stage manager; Bonnie (Dressler), a comedian; and Polly (Moran), the wardrobe mistress. Terry constantly falls in love with his leading ladies, and marries Daphne (Martan), a two-timing songstress. When he finds her with another man, Terry threatens to kill himself, but Carlie reassures him that "Happy Days Are Here Again," and the show goes on. [1] [5]
The film was commercially successful, [2] but not as much as expected. [7]
Love, Dressler, and Benny all received positive reviews for their performances. [1] [5]
Chasing Rainbows was mostly filmed in black and white, but had two Technicolor sequences. The film survives, but those sequences are lost, having been removed for a 1931 re-release and destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire. Sound from the lost color sequences still exists on Vitaphone disks, including "Happy Days Are Here Again". [8]
The film has been issued on DVD in the Warner Archive Collection.
The Hollywood Revue of 1929, or simply The Hollywood Revue, is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was the studio's second feature-length musical, and one of their earliest sound films. Produced by Harry Rapf and Irving Thalberg and directed by Charles Reisner, it features nearly all of MGM's stars in a two-hour revue that includes three segments in Technicolor. The masters of ceremonies are Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny.
The Broadway Melody, also known as The Broadway Melody of 1929, is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the early musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929–1930. Today, the Technicolor sequence survives only in black and white. The film was the first musical released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was Hollywood's first all-talking musical.
Bessie Love was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned nearly seven decades—from silent film to sound film, including theatre, radio, and television—and her performance in The Broadway Melody (1929) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Daphne Pollard was an Australian-born vaudeville performer and dancer, active on stage and later in US films, mostly short comedies.
Pauline Theresa Moran billed as Polly Moran, was an American actress of vaudeville, stage and screen and a comedian.
The Show of Shows is a 1929 American pre-Code musical revue film directed by John G. Adolfi and distributed by Warner Bros. The all-talking Vitaphone production cost almost $800,000 and was shot almost entirely in Technicolor.
Hollywood Party, also known under its working title of The Hollywood Revue of 1933 and Star Spangled Banquet, is a 1934 American pre-Code musical film starring Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante, Lupe Vélez and Mickey Mouse. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Each sequence featured a different star with a separate scriptwriter and director assigned.
Showgirl in Hollywood is a 1930 American pre-Code all-talking musical film with Technicolor sequences, produced and distributed by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. The film stars Alice White, Jack Mulhall and Blanche Sweet. It was adapted from the 1929 novel Hollywood Girl by J.P. McEvoy.
Tiffany Pictures, which also became Tiffany-Stahl Productions for a time, was a Hollywood motion picture studio in operation from 1921 until 1932. It is considered a Poverty Row studio, whose films had lower budgets, lesser-known stars, and overall lower production values than major studios.
Hollywood on Parade (1932–1934) is a series of short subjects released by Paramount Pictures.
Lord Byron of Broadway (1930), also known as What Price Melody?, is an American Pre-Code musical drama film, directed by Harry Beaumont and William Nigh. It was based on a best selling book by Nell Martin, which "was widely praised by critics as an extremely true and amusing romance of stage life." It was filmed in black and white with two-color Technicolor sequences.
The March of Time is the title of an unreleased 1930 American Pre-Code musical film directed by Charles Reisner. The film was originally scheduled to be released in September 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer but was shelved. The March of Time would have been one of the many musicals partially filmed in two-color Technicolor.
They Learned About Women is a 1930 American Pre-Code sports drama musical film directed by Jack Conway and Sam Wood, and starring Van and Schenck in their final film appearance together.
The Girl Said No is a 1930 pre-Code American romantic comedy film starring William Haines and Leila Hyams. In the film, a young college graduate goes to extreme lengths to win the girl he loves.
The Callahans and the Murphys is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by George W. Hill. The film was based on a novel by Kathleen Norris, and was the first of several MGM films to star Marie Dressler and Polly Moran.
Vitaphone Varieties is a series title used for all of Warner Bros.', earliest short film "talkies" of the 1920s, initially made using the Vitaphone sound on disc process before a switch to the sound-on-film format early in the 1930s. These were the first major film studio-backed sound films, initially showcased with the 1926 synchronized scored features Don Juan and The Better 'Ole. Although independent producers like Lee de Forest's Phonofilm were successfully making sound film shorts as early as 1922, they were very limited in their distribution and their audio was generally not as loud and clear in theaters as Vitaphone's. The success of the early Vitaphone shorts, initially filmed only in New York, helped launch the sound revolution in Hollywood.
Politics is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and written by Wells Root and Robert E. Hopkins. The film stars Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, Roscoe Ates, Karen Morley, and William Bakewell. It was released on July 25, 1931 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Show Girl is a 1928 American comedy-drama film starring Alice White and Donald Reed. It was based on the first of J. P. McEvoy's two Dixie Dugan novels, as was the 1929 musical. It was followed by a sequel, Show Girl in Hollywood (1930). While the film has no audible dialogue, it is accompanied by a Vitaphone sound-on-disc soundtrack with a musical score and sound effects.
Naughty Baby is a 1928 American silent comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Alice White and Jack Mulhall. It was released on December 16, 1928, by First National Pictures.