Madame Racketeer | |
---|---|
Directed by | Harry Wagstaff Gribble Alexander Hall |
Written by | Malcolm Stuart Boylan Harvey Gates |
Produced by | Harry Wagstaff Gribble |
Starring | Alison Skipworth Richard Bennett George Raft |
Cinematography | Henry Sharp |
Music by | John Leipold |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Madame Racketeer is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film featuring Alison Skipworth, Richard Bennett and George Raft. The movie was directed by Harry Wagstaff Gribble and Alexander Hall. [1] It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
This article needs a plot summary.(June 2021) |
The film was based on an original screenplay based on the life of a real woman. [2] It was sold under the title The Countess of Auburn. This was changed to The Sporting Widow then Madame Racketeer. [3] In March 1932 Paramount announced Alison Skipworth would star. [4]
In April 1932 Irving Cummings signed to direct. [5] George Raft was cast later that month. [6] Raft had recently signed a long-term contract with Paramount off the back of his strength of his work in Scarface but that film had not gone into wide release yet. [7]
Numerous retakes were done after the film was completed. [8]
The movie was one of 23 films put into receivership by Paramount in January 1933. [9]
The New York Times said "part of it is funny, part of it is amusing enough and some of it is a little on the sadward side." [10]
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembered for his gangster roles in Quick Millions (1931) with Spencer Tracy, Scarface (1932) with Paul Muni, Each Dawn I Die (1939) with James Cagney, Invisible Stripes (1939) with Humphrey Bogart, and Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon; and as a dancer in Bolero (1934) with Carole Lombard and a truck driver in They Drive by Night (1940) with Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino and Bogart.
Edward Small was an American film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movies The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Corsican Brothers (1941), Brewster's Millions (1945), Raw Deal (1948), Black Magic (1949), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Solomon and Sheba (1959).
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The Princess Comes Across is a 1936 American mystery comedy film directed by William K. Howard and starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, the second of the four times they were paired together. Lombard, playing an actress from Brooklyn pretending to be a Swedish princess, does a "film-length takeoff" on MGM's Swedish star Greta Garbo. The film was based on the 1935 novel A Halálkabin by Louis Lucien Rogger, the pseudonym of Laszlo Aigner and Louis Acze.
Bolero is a 1934 American pre-Code musical drama film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring George Raft and Carole Lombard. The Paramount production was a rare chance for Raft to play a dancer, which had been his profession in New York City, rather than portraying a gangster. The film takes its title from the Maurice Ravel composition Boléro (1928). The supporting cast includes William Frawley, Ray Milland and Sally Rand.
The Lady's from Kentucky is a 1939 film directed by Alexander Hall and starring George Raft and Ellen Drew. It was written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan from a story by Rowland Brown. The screenplay involves a failing bookie (Raft) who becomes half owner of a racehorse, with a Kentucky lady (Drew) owning the other half. ZaSu Pitts plays a supporting role.
Midnight Club is a 1933 American pre-Code crime drama film about a gang of London jewel thieves infiltrated by an undercover agent. The film was directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes. Produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures it is based on the 1931 short story Gangster's Glory by E. Phillips Oppenheim.
Pick-Up is a 1933 American pre-Code crime film directed by Marion Gering and starring Sylvia Sidney and George Raft.
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Under Cover Man is a 1932 American pre-Code crime film directed by James Flood and starring George Raft, Nancy Carroll and Lew Cody. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
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Queen of the Night Clubs is a 1929 American Pre-Code musical drama film produced and directed by Bryan Foy, distributed by Warner Bros., and starred legendary nightclub hostess Texas Guinan. The picture, which featured appearances by Eddie Foy, Jr., Lila Lee, and George Raft, is now considered a lost film. A still existing vintage movie trailer of this film displays no clip of the feature.
Rumba is a 1935 American musical drama film starring George Raft as a Cuban dancer and Carole Lombard as a Manhattan socialite. The movie was directed by Marion Gering and is considered an unsuccessful follow-up to Raft and Lombard's smash hit Bolero the previous year.
Alison Skipworth was an English stage and screen actress.
Alexander Hall was an American film director, film editor and theatre actor.
The Glass Key is a 1942 American film noir based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The picture was directed by Stuart Heisler starring Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd. A successful earlier film version starring George Raft in Ladd's role had been released in 1935. The 1942 version's supporting cast features William Bendix, Bonita Granville, Richard Denning and Joseph Calleia.
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Shoot the Works is a 1934 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles and written by Claude Binyon, Gene Fowler, Howard J. Green and Ben Hecht. It is based on the Gene Fowler and Harold Hecht 1932 play The Great Magoo. The film stars Jack Oakie, Ben Bernie, Dorothy Dell, Alison Skipworth, Roscoe Karns, Arline Judge and William Frawley. It was released on June 29, 1934 by Paramount Pictures, just before rigorous enforcement of the Hollywood Production Code that began on July 1, 1934.