Fox Movietone Follies of 1929

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Fox Movietone Follies of 1929
Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 Window Card.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by David Butler and Marcel Silver
Written byDavid Butler
William K. Wells
Produced by William Fox
Starring Sue Carol
Sharon Lynn
Dixie Lee
Lola Lane
Cinematography Charles Van Enger
Edited byRalph Dietrich
Music by Arthur Kay
Production
company
Distributed by Fox Film Corporation
Release date
  • May 26, 1929 (1929-05-26)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
William Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 ad in The Film Daily, 1929 "William Fox Movietone Follies of 1929" ad in The Film Daily, Jan-Jun 1929 (page 1276 crop).jpg
William Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 ad in The Film Daily, 1929

Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, also known as Movietone Follies of 1929 and The William Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, is an American sound (All-Talking) Pre-Code musical film released by Fox Film Corporation. This lavishly produced film featured color sequences in the Multicolor process in some of the revue scenes.

Contents

Plot

George Shelby, a boy from the Southern United States, comes to the city to dissuade Lila, his sweetheart, from embarking on a stage career and finally buys out the controlling interest in the revue so that he can fire her. On the opening night, however, she goes onstage when the prima donna of the show becomes temperamental, and she proves to be a big hit. At this development, George is able to sell the show back to the producer, who had previously lacked confidence in his investment and planned to take advantage of the youth's inexperience.

Cast

Soundtrack

All songs were written by Con Conrad, Archie Gottler and Sidney D. Mitchell.

Production

Filming locations for Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 included Havana, New York City, and Palm Beach, Florida.

Preservation status

External media
Audio
Nuvola apps arts.svg Surviving Vitaphone soundtrack disk at SoundCloud
Video
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Surviving fragments of the film on YouTube

The film had Multicolor sequences in its original release, as well as being filmed in the experimental Grandeur wide-screen process. It is now considered a lost film, [5] as all film prints known to exist were destroyed in fires at the Fox storage facility in New Jersey in 1937. The sequel, New Movietone Follies of 1930 , also has Multicolor sequences and exists in the UCLA Film and Television Archive. [5]

Some fragments of the film have turned up lately online and audio elements of the 1929 film still survive, however. Specifically, "Movietone Sound-on-Disc" audio for reels 6 and 7 still survive, offering the only record of dialogue and music taken directly from the movie. [6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Film Reviews: Fox Movietone Follies (of 1929)". Variety. May 29, 1929. Page 14. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Fox Movietone Gives Nation First Audible Screen Follies". The Dothan Eagle. May 23, 1929. Page 2. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  3. "The Most Intimate Follies Ever Seen Or Heard". The Akron Beacon-Journal. June 6, 1929. Page 33. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  4. "Fox Coronado: On the Stage". Las Vegas Daily Optic. July 12, 1933. Page 7. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Bradley, Edwin M. (2004). The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932. McFarland. pp. 42–43. ISBN   0-7864-2029-4.
  6. "The Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 (partially found Pre-Code musical film; 1929)". The Lost Media Wiki.