It's Great to Be Alive (film)

Last updated

It's Great to Be Alive
It's Great to Be Alive (film).jpg
Directed by Alfred L. Werker
Written by Arthur Kober
Paul Perez
Starring Raul Roulien
Gloria Stuart
Edna May Oliver
Herbert Mundin
Joan Marsh
Cinematography Robert H. Planck
Edited byBarney Wolf
Distributed by Fox Film Corporation
Release date
  • July 8, 1933 (1933-07-08)
Running time
69 minutes
CountryUnited States

It's Great to Be Alive (1933) is an American Pre-Code science fiction musical comedy film produced by Fox Film Corporation, is a remake of The Last Man on Earth (1924), and later influenced the novel Mr. Adam (1946) by Pat Frank.

Contents

Plot

A young aviator, Carlos Martin (played by Raul Roulien), is dumped by his girlfriend (Gloria Stuart), and heads on a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean. He has engine trouble and makes an emergency landing on an uninhabited island out in the Pacific. Shortly afterward, a pandemic of a new disease called "masculitis" kills every fertile male human on the planet. When efforts to cure the disease fail, the human race is doomed. Humanity's institutions are all run by women, including the Chicago underworld. Carlos escapes the island, and once he returns home and hears the news, it now depends on him to continue the human race.

Cast

Production

The film was shot during April 1933, with location scenes photographed at the Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California. [1]

Other cast members include Edna May Oliver, Joan Marsh, Edward Van Sloan, and Peaches Jackson.

A sequence depicts look-a-likes of the two top scientists of the era, Albert Einstein and Auguste Piccard, trying to find a cure for masculitis The actor who was the Einstein look-a-like was Alexander Schonberg . Another scene portrays a burlesque show dubbed "Girls of all Nations".

Related Research Articles

The following is an overview of 1933 in film, including significant events, a list of films released, and notable births and deaths.

The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloria Stuart</span> American actress and painter (1910–2010)

Gloria Frances Stuart was an American actress, visual artist, and activist. She was known for her roles in Pre-Code films, and garnered renewed fame late in life for her portrayal of Rose Dawson Calvert in James Cameron's epic romance Titanic (1997), one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Her performance in the film won her a Screen Actors Guild Award and earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WAMPAS Baby Stars</span> Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers promotion

The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the United States Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, which honored 13 young actresses each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. The campaign ran from 1922 to 1934, except for 1930 and 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edna May Oliver</span> American actress (1883–1942)

Edna May Oliver was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the better-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockford Peaches</span> Minor league baseball team

The Rockford Peaches were a women's professional baseball team who played from 1943 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team represented Rockford, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Rosher</span> English cinematographer (1885–1974)

Charles G. Rosher, A.S.C. was an English-born cinematographer who worked from the early days of silent films through the 1950s.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is the American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history and is the second list of the AFI 100 Years... series.

<i>Little Women</i> (1933 film) 1933 film by George Cukor

Little Women is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Cukor, and starring Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Frances Dee, and Jean Parker. The screenplay, written by Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman, is based on the 1868-1869 two-volume novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Van Sloan</span> American actor

Edward Van Sloan was an American character actor best remembered for his roles in the Universal Studios horror films such as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), and The Mummy (1932).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Marsh</span> American actress (1914–2000)

Joan Marsh was an American child actress in silent films between 1915 and 1921. Later, during the sound era, she resumed her acting career and performed in a variety of films during the 1930s and 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Granger</span> American actress (1911–95)

Dorothy Karolyn Granger was an American actress best known for her roles in short subject comedies in Hollywood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racine Belles</span> Minor league baseball team

The Racine Belles were one of the original teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing from 1943 through 1950 out of Racine, Wisconsin. The Belles won the league's first championship. The team played its home games at Horlick Field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lilian Bond</span> English-American actress (1908–1991)

Lilian Bond was an English-American actress based in the United States.

Joan Berger [Knebl] was a infielder and outfielder who played from 1951 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m), 132 lb, she batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Passaic, New Jersey.

<i>Guns and Guitars</i> 1936 film by Joseph Kane

Guns and Guitars is a 1936 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Dorothy Dix in her final film appearance. Written by Dorrell and Stuart E. McGowan, the film is about a singing cowboy who helps protect a county from fever-ridden cattle, and after being framed for murdering the sheriff, proves his innocence, gets elected sheriff, and then goes after the bad guy.

<i>The Tip-Off</i> (film) 1931 film

The Tip-Off is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Albert S. Rogell, written by Earl Baldwin, and starring Eddie Quillan, Robert Armstrong, Ginger Rogers, Joan Peers and Ralf Harolde. The film was released on October 16, 1931, by RKO Pictures.

<i>Laddie</i> (1935 film) 1935 film by George Stevens

Laddie is a 1935 American comedy-drama film directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Ray Harris and Dorothy Yost, based on the 1913 novel, Laddie: A True Blue Story, by Gene Stratton-Porter. The film stars John Beal, Gloria Stuart, and Virginia Weidler.

Oliver T. Marsh was a prolific Hollywood cinematographer. He worked on over eighty films just for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer alone.

<i>Eating You Alive</i> 2018 American film

Eating You Alive is a 2018 health documentary film about why Americans are suffering from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disease, among other diseases, and whether the outcome can be changed.

References

  1. Gevinson, Alan (ed). Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp 511-512. web December 3, 2015