Half Shot at Sunrise | |
---|---|
Directed by | Paul Sloane |
Written by | Anne Caldwell James Ashmore Creelman Ralph Spence Fatty Arbuckle |
Produced by | William LeBaron |
Starring | Bert Wheeler Robert Woolsey Dorothy Lee |
Cinematography | Nicholas Musuraca |
Edited by | Arthur Roberts |
Music by | Max Steiner |
Production company | |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 78 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $529,000 [2] |
Box office | $929,000 [2] |
Half Shot at Sunrise is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film starring the comedy duo Wheeler & Woolsey and Dorothy Lee. Their fourth film together, it was the second starring vehicle for the two, following the success of The Cuckoos , which had been released earlier in 1930. Directed by Paul Sloane, from a screenplay by Anne Caldwell, James Ashmore Creelman, Ralph Spence, and Fatty Arbuckle, which had been tailored to highlight the comedic talents of Wheeler and Woolsey. In 1958, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. [3]
During World War I, two American Doughboys, Tommy Turner and Gilbert Simpson, are more interested in picking up girls than in military duty. In Paris, they go AWOL in order to follow their libertine pursuits. They alternate between impersonating officers in order to impress the ladies, and avoiding being found out by the military police. During their hijinks, the pair accidentally steal the car of Colonel Marshall (their commanding officer), which is how Tommy meets and falls in love with Annette, who unbeknownst to him is Colonel Marshall's younger daughter.
The Colonel has been tasked with organizing a major offensive at the front. His older daughter, Eileen, is in love with a young Lieutenant, Jim Reed. The Colonel intends to send Reed to the front with the orders. However, to get Tommy and Gilbert back in the Colonel's good graces, Annette and the Colonel's paramour, Olga, who has taken an interest in Gilbert, scheme by stealing the orders from Reed and giving them to the boys, so that they can be the ones to carry them to the front.
After a dramatic scene at the front, the two are apprehended by the MPs, and brought to Colonel Marshall, for justice. He readies the firing squad, but after the two point out that the "secret papers" they were carrying to the commanding General, was actually a love letter from Olga to the very married Colonel. The Colonel then agrees to allow Tommy to marry his youngest daughter Annette and Gilbert will marry Olga. The Colonel also gives his consent to the marriage between his oldest daughter, Eileen, and Jim Reed.
(Cast list as per AFI database) [1]
The film made a profit of $400,000. [2]
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was an uncredited writer on the screenplay. [4]
This would be the first musical director credit for the Academy Award winner, Max Steiner, who would go on to score many other films, including Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, King Kong, and over 300 more films. [5]
A precision dance routine is credited to the Tiller Sunshine Girls. [5] Mary Read is credited with choreography. [1]
The songs, "Nothing But Love" and "Whistling the Blues Away," had words by Anne Caldwell, with music by Harry Tierney. [1]
In 1958, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. [3]
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd as well as with his nephew, Al St. John. He also mentored Charlie Chaplin, Monty Banks and Bob Hope, and brought vaudeville star Buster Keaton into the movie business. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, signing a contract in 1920 with Paramount Pictures for $1,000,000 a year.
Wheeler & Woolsey were an American vaudeville comedy double act who performed together in comedy films from the late 1920s. The team comprised Bert Wheeler (1895–1968) of New Jersey and Robert Woolsey (1888–1938) of Illinois.
Albert Jerome Wheeler was an American comedian who performed in Broadway theatre, American comedy feature films, and vaudeville acts. He was teamed with Broadway comic Robert Woolsey, and they went on to fame as Wheeler & Woolsey.
Robert Rolla Woolsey was an American stage and screen comedian and half of the 1930s comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey.
George O'Brien was an American actor, popular during the silent film era and into the sound film era of the 1930s. He is best known today as the lead actor in F. W. Murnau's 1927 film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and subsequent appearances in a number of Westerns in the 1930s and 1940s.
Dixiana (1930) is a lavish American pre-Code comedy, musical film directed by Luther Reed and produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The final twenty minutes of the picture were photographed in Technicolor. The film stars Bebe Daniels, Everett Marshall, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Joseph Cawthorn, Jobyna Howland, Ralf Harolde, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Dorothy Lee. The script was adapted by Luther Reed from a story by Anne Caldwell.
The Butcher Boy is a 1917 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Al St. John, Buster Keaton and Alice Lake. This was the first in Arbuckle's series of films with the Comique Film Corporation, and Keaton's film debut.
Hook, Line and Sinker is a 1930 American pre-Code slapstick comedy directed by Edward F. Cline from a screenplay by Ralph Spence and Tim Whelan. It was the third starring vehicle for the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey, and also featured Dorothy Lee. It would be one of the largest financial successes for RKO Pictures in 1930.
Dorothy Lee was an American actress and comedian during the 1930s. She appeared in 28 films, usually appearing alongside the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey.
A Noise from the Deep is a 1913 American short silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The film was directed and produced by Mack Sennett and also features the Keystone Cops on horseback. A Noise from the Deep still exists and was screened four times in 2006 in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as part of a 56-film retrospective of all known surviving Arbuckle movies.
Those Country Kids is a 1914 American short comedy film starring Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Normand, and directed by Fatty Arbuckle.
That Little Band of Gold is a 1915 American short comedy film directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and starring Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, and Ford Sterling.
Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers is a 1915 American short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle and featuring Harold Lloyd.
The Dollar-a-Year Man is a 1921 American comedy film starring Fatty Arbuckle. It is not known whether the film currently survives, which suggests that it is a lost film.
Home Cured is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Roscoe Arbuckle. Although Arbuckle was acquitted in the third trial for the death of Virginia Rappe, he could not obtain work in Hollywood under his own name, so he adopted the pseudonym William Goodrich for directing the comedy shorts he made under his contract with Educational Film Exchanges.
Phyllis Barry was an English film actress. Born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Seth Henry and Bertha Hillyard, Barry appeared in over 40 films between 1925 and 1947.
Elgin Lessley was an American hand-crank cameraman of the silent film era—a period of filmmaking when virtually all special effects work had to be produced inside the camera during filming. Though Lessley worked earlier with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and later with Harry Langdon, he is best known for the groundbreaking effects he produced with Buster Keaton, who dubbed him "the human metronome" for his ability to crank consistently at any requested speed.
Leni Stengel was a German-born actress who appeared on Broadway, on television, and in films, through the 1920s to 1950s.
Hold 'Em Jail is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film starring Wheeler and Woolsey. They play a couple of boobs who are wrongfully convicted for firearm possession and sent to prison, where they somehow end up playing on the warden's football team.
Luke the Dog (1913–1926) was an American Staffordshire Terrier that performed as a recurring character in American silent comedy shorts between 1914 and 1920. He was also the personal pet of actress Minta Durfee and her husband, the comedian and director Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.