Duffy's Tavern | |
---|---|
Directed by | Hal Walker |
Screenplay by | Melvin Frank Norman Panama |
Produced by | Danny Dare |
Starring | Ed Gardner Bing Crosby Betty Hutton Paulette Goddard Alan Ladd Dorothy Lamour Eddie Bracken Brian Donlevy |
Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
Edited by | Arthur P. Schmidt |
Music by | Robert Emmett Dolan |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
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. [1]
Duffy’s Tavern was one of Paramount’s ‘all-star cast’ films, a large scale musical based upon characters created by Ed Gardner for his popular radio show, Duffy's Tavern . Archie [played by Ed Gardner] (with regulars Eddie (Eddie Green) and Finnegan (Charles Cantor)), was surrounded by many of Paramount Pictures stars playing themselves, including Robert Benchley, William Bendix, Eddie Bracken, Bing Crosby, Cass Daley, Brian Donlevy, Paulette Goddard, Betty Hutton, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and Dorothy Lamour. The film's plot involves a war-displaced record manufacturer whose staff—those not sent off to war—drown their sorrows at Duffy's on credit, while the company owner tries to find ways around the price controls and war attrition that threaten to put him out of business. Bing Crosby makes two appearances in the film, once to sing with a group, which includes Betty Hutton, Sonny Tufts, Diana Lynn, Billy De Wolfe, Cass Daley, Dorothy Lamour and Howard da Silva, a parody of "Swinging on a Star", and again in a sketch where Robert Benchley tells a bed-time story about Bing to the four Crosby boys. He is also heard, but not seen, singing "Learn to Croon", "Please", and "Love in Bloom" when recordings are presented on an on-screen phonograph. It was the film debut of the four Crosby boys other than Gary Crosby’s walk-on part in Star Spangled Rhythm .
The film was placed 15th in the list of highest-grossing movies in the US in 1945.
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times summarized it as "Take it for what it is, a hodge-podge of spare-time clowning by the gang, including a large hunk of Archie, and you’ll find Duffy’s Tavern fair enough." [2] Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide gave the film a BOMB rating.
Film Daily commented: "There isn’t much to the story itself, which merely offers an excuse for bringing in such topflighters as Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton, Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake, to name but a handful, so that they may do their bit in the manner of guest stars. Most of the big names are introduced at the end in a benefit show staged to raise money to permit Victor Moore to reopen his record factory and put a lot of nice guys back to work." [3]
Dorothy Lamour was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
Bowen Charlton "Sonny" Tufts III was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for the films he made as a contract star at Paramount in the 1940s, including So Proudly We Hail!. He also starred in the cult classic Cat-Women of the Moon.
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, appearing primarily in musicals and became one of the studio's most valuable stars. She was noted for her energetic performance style.
Duffy's Tavern is an American radio situation comedy that ran for a decade on several networks, concluding with the December 28, 1951, broadcast.
Alan Walbridge Ladd was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in films noir, such as This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), and The Blue Dahlia (1946). Whispering Smith (1948) was his first Western and color film, and Shane (1953) was noted for its contributions to the genre. Ladd also appeared in ten films with William Bendix.
Frank Wright Tuttle was a Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 to 1959.
Ed Gardner was an American comic actor, writer and director, best remembered as the creator and star of the radio's popular Duffy's Tavern comedy series.
"Tangerine" is a popular song. The music was written by Victor Schertzinger, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was published in 1941 and soon became a jazz standard.
Here Comes the Groom is a 1951 American musical romantic comedy film produced and directed by Frank Capra and starring Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman. Based on a story by Robert Riskin and Liam O'Brien, the film is about a foreign correspondent who has five days to win back his former fiancée, or he'll lose the orphans he adopted. Filmed from late November 1950 to January 29, 1951, the film was released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on September 20, 1951.
Cass Daley was an American actress, comedian and singer.
Variety Girl is a 1947 American musical comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Mary Hatcher, Olga San Juan, DeForest Kelley, Frank Ferguson, Glenn Tryon, Nella Walker, Torben Meyer, Jack Norton, and William Demarest. It was produced by Paramount Pictures. Numerous Paramount contract players and directors make cameos or perform songs, with particularly large amounts of screen time featuring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Among many others, the studio contract players include Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd, Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, William Holden, Burt Lancaster, Robert Preston, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Barbara Stanwyck and Paula Raymond.
The Fleet's In is a 1942 movie musical produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by Victor Schertzinger, and starring Dorothy Lamour and William Holden. Although sharing the title of the 1928 Paramount film starring Clara Bow and Jack Oakie, it was not a remake. It was actually the second film version of the 1933 Kenyon Nicholson–Charles Robinson stage play Sailor, Beware!, enlivened with songs by Schertzinger and lyricist Johnny Mercer. The score, under the musical direction of Victor Young, includes the popular hits "Tangerine", and "I Remember You".
Star Spangled Rhythm is a 1942 American all-star cast musical film made by Paramount Pictures during World War II as a morale booster. Many of the Hollywood studios produced such films during the war, with the intent of entertaining the troops overseas and civilians back home and to encourage fundraising – as well as to show the studios' patriotism. This film was also the first released by Paramount to be shown for 8 weeks.
The Glass Key is a 1942 American film noir based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The picture was directed by Stuart Heisler starring Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd. A successful earlier film version starring George Raft in Ladd's role had been released in 1935. The 1942 version's supporting cast features William Bendix, Bonita Granville, Richard Denning and Joseph Calleia.
This is a selection of films and television appearances by British-American comedian and actor Bob Hope (1903-2003). Hope, a former boxer, began his acting career in 1925 in various vaudeville acts and stage performances
The Road to Hollywood is a 1947 American film released by Astor Pictures that is a combination of several of Bing Crosby's Educational Pictures short subjects. The title was designed to draft off Paramount Pictures' "Road to..." film series starring Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour; Hope and Lamour do not appear in the film.
Hold That Blonde is a 1945 American comedy crime film directed by George Marshall and starring Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake and Albert Dekker.
Out of This World is a 1945 American romantic comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake and Diana Lynn. The picture was a satire on the Frank Sinatra "bobby soxer" cult.
Bring on the Girls is a 1945 American musical comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Eddie Bracken, Sonny Tufts and Veronica Lake. It is loosely based on the 1940 French comedy The Man Who Seeks the Truth.
Road to Utopia is a 1946 American semi-musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, Road to Utopia is the fourth film of the "Road to ..." series. Written by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is about two vaudeville performers at the turn of the twentieth century who go to Alaska to make their fortune. Along the way they find a map to a secret gold mine. In 1947, Road to Utopia received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
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