"},"parts":[{"template":{"target":{"wt":"efn","href":"./Template:Efn"},"params":{"1":{"wt":"While a ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article mentioned [[Alan Crosland]] as another director on the project, the [[American Film Institute]] did not find any material to corroborate this."}},"i":0}}]}"> [a] Wurtzel assumed responsibility for the re-shooting, which extended from February to March 1933 and cost $62,000. [1] [6] The film was renamed Hello, Sister! and released without a directorial credit. [3] Von Stroheim had no say in the re-editing of the film. After this experience, he left directing and went into acting. [6]
The final cut, which clocked in at 61 minutes, [3] bore little resemblance to the original in tone and characterization. The films differ in emphasis in many places, particularly in the characters of Mac and Millie. According to the AFI Catalog of Feature Films , Mac is even more vulgar in Walking Down Broadway, while Millie plays a more important role thematically. [1] Hello, Sister! changed the original characterization of "the turtle-petting, hunchback-befriending, blood and pickle-loving Millie" into a comedic presence right from the start. [3]
The most obvious difference between the films is their endings. In the original, the apartment blaze is caused by Millie trying to kill herself by opening the gas in her oven. The action then switches to her hospital bed, where she encourages Jimmy and Peggy to reunite and then "succumbs to an agonizing, terrifying death". [1] In the re-edited film, the apartment blaze is caused by dynamite that has been stored in the basement by a drunkard, who also functions as comic relief. [3]
Through analysis of the production stills from Walking Down Broadway, film historian William K. Everson has estimated that about 60% of Hello, Sister! comes from von Stroheim's footage, while von Stroheim biographer Richard Koszarski asserts that 75% of the final cut contains von Stroheim's work. [3] Based on the re-shooting script dated February 6, 1933, the American Film Institute determined that the following scenes were shot by von Stroheim:
some shots of the "walk down Broadway"; Millie's dialogue with Jimmy as they walk about her fondness for funerals; Jimmy finding the injured dog; Millie falling in the sewer and Jimmy rescuing her; hallway shots as Jimmy goes to Peggy's apartment; Jimmy and Peggy climbing up to look out the skylight in her apartment (however most of the apartment scene is new); Mac's attempted rape of Peggy and his subsequent fight with Mona; Jimmy's talk with his boss in the bank; the marriage license bureau scenes; Jimmy and Peggy's argument in the rain; Peggy's return to the apartment; the fight in the street; the explosion and most of the fire sequence. [1]
Noting the studio's upheaval of von Stroheim's original intent, film historians have decried Hello, Sister! as "an uncredited mediocrity", [7] a "mutilated, garbled and partially reshot" film, [8] and "a mongrel artifact". [3]
Hello, Sister! was released on April 14, 1933. [1] It was marketed in England under the title Clipped Wings. [6] The film was a box-office flop. [3]
Colin Patrick of The Indianapolis Star said the characters, the setting, and Dunn's presence in the film all drew comparisons to Bad Girl (1931), which launched Dunn's film career, "but Hello, Sister lacks the simple, human sincerity of that good play". He also called the storyline "hokum", explaining: "When they have to have an explosion caused by a habitual drunk with a mania for collecting dynamite to arrive at a climax, you may be sure that the story tellers are running out of ideas". [9] Gilbert Kanour of the Baltimore Evening Sun panned the film, writing: "Half a dozen actors do the best they can to make 'Hello Sister' something else than a dull torment, but the task is too much for them". [10] Mollie Merrick felt the film should win "worst picture of the year", writing: "It cost plenty; was completely remade, launched a new star who is everything but star material, and was just one colossal bore". [11] The Film Daily noted that the film is "[f]or adults only. Its story is hackneyed and considerably off-color, with dialogue which at times cannot be described as wholesome". [1] Harold R. Cohen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did not even bother reviewing the film upon its 1933 release; referring to the combined cost of the original and re-edited versions, he summed it up as "$375,000 worth of pure, unadulterated cinematic garbage". [12]
Some contemporary reviews endorsed the romantic elements of the film. The Hartford Courant wrote:
Hello Sister is a typical James Dunn picture, full of sweetness and light and young romance. … James Dunn gives his usual ingratiating performance and Miss Mallory is delightful. ZaSu Pitts competently handles the comedy relief, and Terrance Ray is about as disagreeable a villain as one can conceive. Minna Gombell is excellent as the girl whose morals aren't proof against diamonds. [13]
The Kansas City Star credits Mallory, Dunn, and Pitts for lifting the film above its forgettable plot, writing:
For its real entertainment comes from the beauty and charm of Boots Mallory (who saves the picture), from Jimmy Dunn's always welcome portrayal of an earnest and honest young punk in the city, from Zasu Pitts' comedy and from the tender and sympathetic handling of the 'pick-up' problem as it affects girls who want to be good but who don't want to be lonesome. [14]
The Daily News singled out the film's unusual substitution of the love triangle for a "rectangle"—"two men after the same girl and two girls after the same man". [15] The Akron Beacon Journal stated that the film is "aimed at the feminine trade and the romance is frequently relieved by laughs". [16]
Hello, Sister! was thought to have been lost until film historian Everson discovered a print in the early 1970s. [3] Hello, Sister! was publicly aired as part of the Film Forum's "Fox Before the Code" series in December 2006. [3]
Bad Girl is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Sally Eilers, James Dunn, and Minna Gombell. The screenplay was adapted by Edwin J. Burke from the 1928 novel by Viña Delmar and the 1930 play by Delmar and Brian Marlowe. The plot follows the courtship and marriage of two young, working-class people and the misunderstandings that result from their not having learned to trust and communicate with one another. The film propelled then-unknown actors Eilers and Dunn to stardom. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
ZaSu Pitts was an American actress who, in a career spanning nearly five decades, starred in many silent film dramas, such as Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic Greed, and comedies, before transitioning successfully to mostly comedy roles with the advent of sound films. She also appeared on numerous radio shows and, later, made her mark on television. She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 at 6554 Hollywood Blvd.
James Howard Dunn, billed as Jimmy Dunn in his early career, was an American actor and vaudeville performer. The son of a New York stockbroker, he initially worked in his father's firm but was more interested in theater. He landed jobs as an extra in short films produced by Paramount Pictures in its Long Island studio, and also performed with several stock theater companies, culminating with playing the male lead in the 1929 Broadway musical Sweet Adeline. This performance attracted the attention of film studio executives, and in 1931, Fox Film signed him to a Hollywood contract.
William H. Daniels ASC was a film cinematographer who was best-known as actress Greta Garbo's personal lensman. Daniels served as the cinematographer on all but three of Garbo's films during her tenure at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, including Torrent (1926), The Mysterious Lady (1928), The Kiss (1929), Anna Christie (1930), Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), Anna Karenina (1935), Camille (1936) and Ninotchka (1939). Early in his career, Daniels worked regularly with director Erich von Stroheim, providing cinematography for such films as The Devil's Pass Key (1920) and Greed (1924). Daniels went on to win an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on The Naked City (1948).
George White's Scandals were a long-running string of Broadway revues produced by George White that ran from 1919–1939, modeled after the Ziegfeld Follies. The "Scandals" launched the careers of many entertainers, including W. C. Fields, the Three Stooges, Ray Bolger, Helen Morgan, Ethel Merman, Ann Miller, Eleanor Powell, Bert Lahr and Rudy Vallée. Louise Brooks, Dolores Costello, Barbara Pepper, and Alice Faye got their show business start as lavishly dressed chorus girls strutting to the "Scandal Walk". Much of George Gershwin's early work appeared in the 1920–24 editions of Scandals. The Black Bottom, danced by Ziegfeld Follies star Ann Pennington and Tom Patricola, touched off a national dance craze.
Peggy Shannon was an American actress. She appeared on the stage and screen of the 1920s and 1930s.
Alfred L. Werker was a film director whose work in movies spanned from 1917 through 1957. After a number of film production jobs and assistant directing, Werker co-directed his first film, Ridin' the Wind in 1925 alongside director Del Andrews. He was brought in by Fox Film Corporation executives to re-shoot and re-edit Erich von Stroheim's film Hello, Sister! (1933), co-starring Boots Mallory and ZaSu Pitts.
Patricia "Boots" Mallory was an American film actress, dancer, and model.
Leonard Spigelgass was an American playwright, film producer and screenwriter. During his career, Spigelgass wrote the scripts for 11 Academy Award-winning films. He himself was nominated in 1950 for the story for Mystery Street and garnered three Writers Guild of America nominations over the course of his career. Spigelgass was also a friend of Gore Vidal who used Spigelgass as the model for Vidal's semi fictionary "wise hack" character in the latter's series of essays about Hollywood.
Thoroughly Modern Millie is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Dick Scanlan, and a book by Richard Morris and Scanlan. It is based on the 1967 film of the same name, which itself was based on the British musical Chrysanthemum, which opened in London in 1956. Thoroughly Modern Millie tells the story of a small-town girl, Millie Dillmount, who comes to New York City to marry for money instead of love – a thoroughly modern aim in 1922, when women were just entering the workforce. Millie soon begins to take delight in the flapper lifestyle, but problems arise when she checks into a hotel owned by the leader of a white slavery ring in China. The style of the musical is comic pastiche. Like the film on which it is based, it interpolates new tunes with some previously written songs.
Dorothy Burgess was an American stage and motion-picture actress.
Mary Josephine Dunn was an American stage and film actress of the 1920s and 1930s.
Irene Ware was an American actress. She was a beauty queen and showgirl before appearing in 29 films between 1932 and 1940, and is mostly remembered for her roles as Princess Nadji in Chandu the Magician (1932) with Edmund Lowe and Bela Lugosi, and as Boris Karloff's and Lugosi's leading lady in 1935's The Raven.
Rafaela Ottiano was an Italian-American actress. She was best known for her role as Suzette in Grand Hotel (1932) and as Russian Rita in She Done Him Wrong (1933).
Richard Day was a Canadian art director in the film industry. He won seven Academy Awards and was nominated for a further 13 in the category of Best Art Direction. He worked on 265 films between 1923 and 1970. He was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and died in Hollywood, California.
Minna Marie Gombell was an American stage and film actress.
Sailor's Luck is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Raoul Walsh for Fox Film Corporation. It stars James Dunn, Sally Eilers, Victor Jory, and Frank Moran.
Good Sport is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Kenneth MacKenna and written by William Hurlbut. The film stars Linda Watkins, John Boles, Greta Nissen, Minna Gombell, Hedda Hopper and Alan Dinehart. The film was released on December 13, 1931, by Fox Film Corporation.
Jimmy and Sally is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by James Tinling and written by Paul Schofield and Marguerite Roberts with additional dialogue by William Conselman. Starring James Dunn, Claire Trevor, Harvey Stephens, Lya Lys, and Jed Prouty, the story concerns a self-centered publicist who relies on his secretary's creativity but takes her affection for him for granted. After a series of publicity blunders and being fired several times, he humbly acknowledges that he is the one responsible for letting their relationship collapse. Though she has accepted a marriage proposal from another publicist in his absence, the girl still loves him, and ultimately chooses him.
Lola Lane was an American actress and one of the Lane Sisters with her sisters Leota, Rosemary, and Priscilla Lane. She appeared on Broadway and in films from the 1920s to 1940s.