High, Wide and Handsome

Last updated
High, Wide and Handsome
High wide and handsome promo picture.jpg
Promotional poster
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
Written by
Produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr.
Starring
Cinematography
Edited by Archie Marshek
Music by Jerome Kern
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • July 21, 1937 (1937-07-21)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.9 million

High, Wide and Handsome is a 1937 American musical western film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Alan Hale Sr., Charles Bickford and Dorothy Lamour. The film was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and written by Oscar Hammerstein II and George O'Neil, with lyrics by Hammerstein and music by Jerome Kern. It was released by Paramount Pictures. [1] [2]

Contents

The musical recounts the history of Pennsylvania farmers in 1859 who discovered crude oil deposits on their land. When railroad barons attempt to charge exorbitant freight fees, the hardy agrarians successfully build their own pipeline to the refinery, fending off attacks by corporation-hired thugs en route. [3] The film oscillates between the romantic setting of the Cortlandt Ranch, where Sally (Irene Dunne) and Peter (Randolph Soctt) discover love in an enchanted idyll and commune with the farm animals. [4]

Plot

In 1859, Doc Watterson brings his traveling medicine show to Titusville, Pennsylvania. After the show wagon is destroyed by an accidental fire, Mrs. Cortlandt and her grandson Peter invite the Wattersons and the show's fake Indian, Mac, to stay with them. Peter and Sally fall in love.

Railroad tycoon Walt Brennan wants to acquire the land of several oil-drilling farmers, led by Peter Cortlandt. The townspeople block the plan, assisted by a herd of circus elephants, and instead construct their own oil pipeline.

Cast

Songs

Production

Paramount Pictures and producer Arthur Hornblow, Jr. conceived High, Wide and Handsome as a “big-budget” musical that would deliver “prestige entertainment” supported by a talented cast and crew. [7]

High, Wide and Handsome was filmed on location in Chino, California. The principle filming began in early January 1937 and finished in late April that year, exceeding its 10-week shooting schedule. [8]

The production was particularly challenging both physically and operationally due to “torrential rains, mudslides [and] equipment malfunctions.” Tragically, a catastrophic accident during filming injured over a dozen of the cast and crew, some seriously. [9] [10] [11]

With the assistance of Kern and Hammerstein, director Rouben Mamoulian attempted to firmly integrate the songs into the plot of the film in order to advance the storyline. [12]

High, Wide and Handsome, budgeted at about $1.3 million, had a final cost of $1.8 million. [13] The film was released October 1, 1937.

Reception

Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times wrote: "A richly produced, spectacular and melodious show, it moves easily into the ranks of the season's best and probably is as good an all-around entertainment as we are likely to find on Broadway this summer." [14]

Variety reported that the film had "too much Hollywood hokum" and that it "flounders as it progresses, and winds up in a melodramatic shambles of fisticuffs, villainy and skullduggery which smacks of the serial film school." [15]

Harrison's Reports called it "very good mass entertainment" with "delightful" music but a story that was "very weak." [16]

Russell Maloney of The New Yorker wrote: "Mamoulian's handling of the story leaves something to be desired (he's pretty preoccupied with apple blossoms and hillsides) but the general effect of the picture is pleasant." [17]

Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, characterizing it as "two hours of [a] long, dumb and dreary picture." Greene noted that the Hollywood aesthetics attributable to Mamoulian made the film unrealistic and improbable. [18] [19]

Film historian Marc Spergel writes that contemporary reviews “were generally favorable, if not enthusiastic. Commercially, the film did poorly, especially for its high production cost, and has since slid virtually into oblivion.” [20] [21] [22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Spergel, 1993 p. 280-281: Filmography and Stageography.
  2. ↑ Milne, 1969 p. 167-168: Filmography.
  3. ↑ Jensen, 2024 p. 142
  4. ↑ Milne, 1969, 108-109: “idyllic romance” and friendly “approving” farm animals.
  5. ↑ Milne, 1969 p. 167-168:Filmography
  6. ↑ Spergel, 1993 p. 280-281: Filmography and Stageography
  7. ↑ Jensen, 2024 p. 140-141: The film “had pedigree” from the start and “a golden spoon in its mouth.” And p. 146: “prestige entertainment.”
  8. ↑ Jensen, 2024 p. 141
  9. ↑ Jensen, 2024 p. 141, And pp. 144-146: See here for detailed account of the accident.
  10. ↑ Spergel, 1993 p. 164: see here for difficulties on location. And p. 280-281: Filmography, filmed at Paramount studios and Chino, Ca, “January to May, 1937”
  11. ↑ Danks, 2007: “Mamoulian’s well-documented experiments in…location filming (High, Wide and Handsome).”
  12. ↑ Milne, 1969 p. 106: “Hammerstein, it seems, wrote a gay and fluffy musical comedy; Mamoulian rewrote it with him, putting its feet back on the ground with a good deal of accurate background detail.”
  13. ↑ Jensen, 2024 p. 141
  14. ↑ The New York Times Film Reviews, Volume 2: 1932-1938. The New York Times & Arno Press. 1970. p. 1410.
  15. ↑ "Film Reviews". Variety . New York: Variety, Inc. July 28, 1937. p. 16.
  16. ↑ "High, Wide and Handsome". Harrison's Reports . New York: Harrison's Reports, Inc.: 126 August 7, 1937.
  17. ↑ Maloney, Russell (July 31, 1937). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker . New York: F-R Publishing Corp. p. 49.
  18. ↑ Greene, Graham (August 26, 1937). "Saratoga/High, Wide and Handsome/His Affair". Night and Day . (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. pp. 163–164. ISBN   0192812866.)
  19. ↑ Jensen, 2024 p. 146: See here for remarks on Greene’s hostile review and Mamoulian’s response.
  20. ↑ Spergel, 1993 p. 166:
  21. ↑ Callahan, 2007: “the epic High, Wide and Handsome (1937) looks now like Mamoulian’s high-water mark as a film director…If you only see one film in this Mamoulian series, make it High, Wide and Handsome, which is never shown on TV and isn’t on DVD.”
  22. ↑ Milne, 1969 p. 106: “...the most persistently underrated of all Mamoulian’s films…”

Related Research Articles

<i>Love Me Tonight</i> 1932 film by Rouben Mamoulian

Love Me Tonight is a 1932 American pre-Code musical comedy film produced and directed by Rouben Mamoulian, with music by Rodgers and Hart. It stars Maurice Chevalier as a tailor who poses as a nobleman and Jeanette MacDonald as a princess with whom he falls in love. It also stars Charles Ruggles as a penniless nobleman, along with Charles Butterworth and Myrna Loy as members of his family.

<i>Becky Sharp</i> (film) 1935 film by Rouben Mamoulian, Lowell Sherman

Becky Sharp is a 1935 American Technicolor historical drama film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Miriam Hopkins, who plays the eponymous protagonist. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Other supporting cast were William Faversham, Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke, Alison Skipworth, Nigel Bruce, and Alan Mowbray.

<i>The Mark of Zorro</i> (1940 film) 1940 film by Rouben Mamoulian

The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American black-and-white swashbuckling film released by 20th Century-Fox, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, and starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Basil Rathbone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rouben Mamoulian</span> American film and theatre director (1897–1987)

Rouben Zachary Mamoulian was an Armenian-American film and theater director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Daniels (cinematographer)</span> American cinematographer

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).

<i>Queen Christina</i> (film) 1933 film by Rouben Mamoulian

Queen Christina is a pre-Code Hollywood biographical film, produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933 by Walter Wanger and directed by Rouben Mamoulian. It stars Swedish-born actress Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in their fourth and last film together.

<i>Blood and Sand</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by Rouben Mamoulian

Blood and Sand is a 1941 American Technicolor film drama starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth and Nazimova. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it was produced by 20th Century Fox and was based on the 1908 Spanish novel Blood and Sand by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. The supporting cast features Anthony Quinn, Lynn Bari, Laird Cregar, J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine and George Reeves. Rita Hayworth's singing voice was dubbed by Gracilla Pirraga.

<i>Applause</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

Applause is a 1929 American backstage musical "talkie" directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Helen Morgan, Jack Cameron, and Joan Peers. It was shot at Paramount's Astoria Studios in Astoria, New York during the early years of sound films.

<i>City Streets</i> (1931 film) 1931 film

City Streets is a 1931 American Pre-Code romantic melodrama directed by Rouben Mamoulian from a story by Dashiell Hammett and stars Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney and Paul Lukas.

<i>Golden Boy</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by Rouben Mamoulian

Golden Boy is a 1939 American drama romance sports film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou and William Holden. It is based on the 1937 play of the same title by Clifford Odets.

<i>Silk Stockings</i> (1957 film) 1957 film by Rouben Mamoulian

Silk Stockings is a 1957 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It is based on the 1955 stage musical of the same name, which had been adapted from the film Ninotchka (1939). The film was choreographed by Eugene Loring and Hermes Pan.

<i>Roberta</i> (1935 film) 1935 American musical film directed by William A. Seiter

Roberta is a 1935 American musical film released by RKO Radio Pictures and directed by William A. Seiter. It stars Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and features Randolph Scott, Helen Westley, Victor Varconi and Claire Dodd. The film was an adaptation of the 1933 Broadway musical Roberta, which in turn was based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller. It was a solid hit, showing a net profit of more than three-quarters of a million dollars.

<i>Summer Holiday</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Rouben Mamoulian

Summer Holiday is a 1948 American musical-comedy film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Mickey Rooney and Gloria DeHaven. The picture is based on the play Ah, Wilderness! (1933) by Eugene O'Neill, which had been filmed under that name by MGM in 1935 with Rooney in a much smaller role, as the younger brother. Although completed in October 1946, the film sat on the shelf until 1948.

<i>Rings on Her Fingers</i> 1942 film by Rouben Mamoulian

Rings on Her Fingers is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Rouben Mamoulian for 20th Century Studios and starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney.

<i>We Live Again</i> 1934 film by Rouben Mamoulian

We Live Again is a 1934 American film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Anna Sten and Fredric March. The film is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1899 novel Resurrection (Voskraeseniye). The screenplay was written by Maxwell Anderson with contributions from a number of writers, including Preston Sturges and Thornton Wilder.

<i>The Song of Songs</i> (1933 film) 1933 film by Rouben Mamoulian

The Song of Songs is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Marlene Dietrich. This Paramount picture is based on the Hermann Sudermann novel Das Hohe Lied (1908) and the play The Song of Songs (1914) by Edward Sheldon.

<i>Sweet Adeline</i> (musical) Musical

Sweet Adeline is a musical with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and original orchestration by Robert Russell Bennett. It premiered on Broadway in 1929. The story, set in the Gay Nineties, concerns a Hoboken, New Jersey girl who, unlucky in love, becomes a Broadway star.

<i>The Gay Desperado</i> 1936 film by Rouben Mamoulian

The Gay Desperado is a 1936 American musical-comedy film starring Ida Lupino, Leo Carrillo, and Nino Martini and directed by Rouben Mamoulian, produced by Mary Pickford and Jesse Lasky and originally released by United Artists. The film is a spoof of the Hollywood gangster genre.

"The Folks Who Live on the Hill" is a 1937 popular song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.