The Amazing Mr. Williams

Last updated
The Amazing Mr. Williams
The Amazing Mr. Williams.jpg
Directed by Alexander Hall
Written by Dwight Taylor
Sy Bartlett
Richard Maibaum
Story by Sy Bartlett
Produced by Everett Riskin
Starring Melvyn Douglas
Joan Blondell
Ruth Donnelly
Cinematography Arthur L. Todd
Edited by Viola Lawrence
Music by Morris Stoloff [1]
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • November 22, 1939 (1939-11-22)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Amazing Mr. Williams is a 1939 American screwball comedy film [2] produced by Everett Riskin for Columbia Pictures and directed by Alexander Hall. The film stars Melvyn Douglas, [3] Joan Blondell [4] and Clarence Kolb. It was written by Dwight Taylor, Sy Bartlett and Richard Maibaum. The film is about a police lieutenant who is too busy solving crimes to marry his longtime fiancée, who decides to take action and get him to marry her and settle down. The film was released on November 22, 1939. [5]

Contents

Plot

Maxine Carroll, secretary to the mayor, [5] waits impatiently for Kenny Williams, who gets called away by Captain McGovern on police business not long after he arrives. Maxine has enough time to try to talk him into leaving the police force to start a family. Kenny joins Detective Deever and Lieutenant Bixler) in the investigation of the murder of a circus performer, which Kenny solves with the arrest of a jealous knife-thrower.

Kenny has another date with Maxine, but this time the captain wants him to pick up Texas Buck Moseby at the jail and take him to the penitentiary by train. Instead of heading straight to the train, however, Kenny passes Moseby off as his college friend so he can keep his date with Maxine. Moseby is introduced to Effie, and the four go to the beach casino, then dancing later. [6] Maxine suspects something is not right and calls the captain who tells her Kenny is on the train with Texas Buck Moseby, she informs him that they are both with her, which the captain does not believe. Bixler then tells the captain that the prison warden has called and said Kenny and Moseby have not arrived yet. The captain, who is still on the phone with Maxine, asks her to try to keep them there as long as possible. When the cops do arrive, Moseby tries to make a run for it, but Kenny is too quick for him and puts handcuffs on him. Effie faints when the captain announces that Buck Moseby is a notorious convict and killer.

Because of the incident with Moseby, Kenny is suspended for 60 days without pay by the police commissioner at the citizens committee meeting the following day. The Phantom Slugger, [7] who has been fatally attacking random women on the street, has still not been caught, and the citizens committee is in an uproar about it. Captain McGovern suggests a male policeman wear women's clothes as a decoy to try to catch the criminal. Maxine writes a note suggesting they use Kenny and hands it to the mayor. The police commissioner is willing to reinstate Kenny if he will agree to go undercover, which he does. After 48 hours, Maxine is worried that neither she nor anyone at the police force has heard from Kenny, when they find out he has been spotted. Maxine goes to the location, but as soon as she sees Kenny the Phantom Slugger attacks her and knocks her out. Kenny struggles with the criminal, still in women's clothes, and arrests him.

Kenny visits Maxine in the hospital. She pretends to be sicker than she is and convinces him to turn in his resignation. The next day it is discovered that the night watchman at the First National Bank has been killed in a burglary worth $25,000. The captain finds Kenny's resignation but needs him to investigate the burglary, so Bixler pretends to have resigned as well to pique his interest in the investigation. Meanwhile, Maxine and Effie are planning a wedding for noon at the mayor's office, but Kenny is late as usual. The captain arrives and boasts that Kenny has nabbed the burglar, Stanley. Maxine calls off the wedding. Kenny arrives but it is too late.

Stanley insists he was forced to take part in the robbery by another man. Kenny discovers new evidence that might clear Stanley but he is supposed to take him to the prison by train. Meanwhile, the captain and detectives are trying to arrest Kenny for taking Stanley off the train. Kenny enlists Maxine's help in finding the person who purchased the liquor bottle found in Stanley's car, which leads them to the racetrack to arrest the real killer.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<i>Half Baked</i> 1998 American stoner comedy film

Half Baked is a 1998 American stoner comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, and Guillermo Díaz. The film was directed by Tamra Davis, co-written by Chappelle and Neal Brennan and produced by Robert Simonds. The film received negative reviews but has since become a cult film.

<i>Mr. & Mrs. Smith</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by Alfred Hitchcock

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 1941 American screwball comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Norman Krasna, and starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. It also features Gene Raymond, Jack Carson, Philip Merivale, and Lucile Watson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Brophy</span> American actor (1895–1960)

Edward Santree Brophy was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently portrayed dumb cops and gangsters, both serious and comic.

<i>Its a Wonderful World</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by W. S. Van Dyke

It's a Wonderful World is a 1939 American screwball comedy starring Claudette Colbert and James Stewart, and directed by W. S. Van Dyke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Litel</span> American actor (1892–1972)

John Beach Litel was an American film and television actor.

<i>The Little Princess</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by Walter Lang, William A. Seiter

The Little Princess is a 1939 American drama film directed by Walter Lang. The screenplay by Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris is loosely based on the 1905 novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film was the first Shirley Temple movie to be filmed completely in Technicolor. It was also her last major success as a child star. This film was the third of three in which Shirley Temple and Cesar Romero appeared together, second was Wee Willie Winkie (1937) and Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937).

<i>The Impostors</i> 1998 American film

The Impostors is a 1998 American farce film, directed, written, and produced by Stanley Tucci, starring Oliver Platt, Tucci, Alfred Molina, Tony Shalhoub, Steve Buscemi, and Billy Connolly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Hale</span> Canadian-born film and television actor (1891–1966)

Jonathan Hale was a Canadian-born film and television actor.

<i>Hells Kitchen</i> (1939 film) 1939 thriller film

Hell's Kitchen is a 1939 thriller Warner Bros. film starring The Dead End Kids and Ronald Reagan.

<i>Dream Wife</i> 1953 film by Sidney Sheldon

Dream Wife is a 1953 romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddy Chandler</span> American actor (1894–1948)

Eddy Chandler was an American actor who appeared, mostly uncredited, in more than 350 films. Three of these films won the Academy Award for Best Picture: It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), and Gone with the Wind (1939). Chandler was born in the small Iowa city of Wilton Junction and died in Los Angeles. He served in World War I.

<i>Eyewitness</i> (1981 film) 1981 film by Peter Yates

Eyewitness is a 1981 American neo-noir thriller film produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. It stars William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, and James Woods. The story involves a television news reporter and a janitor who team to solve a murder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald MacBride</span> American actor (1893–1957)

Donald Hugh MacBride was an American character actor on stage, in films, and on television who launched his career as a teenage singer in vaudeville and went on to be an actor in New York.

<i>Bullets or Ballots</i> 1936 gangster film by William Keighley

Bullets or Ballots is a 1936 American gangster film starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, and Humphrey Bogart. Robinson plays a police detective who infiltrates a crime gang. This is the first of several films featuring both Robinson and Bogart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emory Parnell</span> American actor (1892–1979)

Emory Parnell was an American vaudeville performer and actor who appeared in over 250 films in his 36-year career.

<i>Everythings on Ice</i> 1939 film

Everything's on Ice is a 1939 American musical film produced by Sol Lesser for RKO Pictures, directed by Erle C. Kenton and stars six year old Irene Dare, Edgar Kennedy and Lynne Roberts. The film was released on October 6, 1939, and is also known as Frolics on Ice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Middlemass</span> American actor and playwright (1883–1949)

Robert Middlemass was an American playwright and stage actor, and later character actor with over 100 film appearances, usually playing detectives or policemen.

Good Girls Go to Paris is a 1939 American romantic comedy film starring Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell.

<i>The Kid from Kokomo</i> 1939 film by Lewis Seiler

The Kid from Kokomo is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Lewis Seiler and written by Richard Macaulay and Jerry Wald. The film stars Pat O'Brien, Wayne Morris, Joan Blondell, May Robson, Jane Wyman and Stanley Fields. The film was released by Warner Bros. on May 23, 1939.

References

  1. ↑ Parish, James Robert; Stanke, Don E.; Taylor, T. Allan (1975). The Debonairs. New Rochelle, New York, USA: Arlington House Publishers. p. 124. ISBN   9780870002939.
  2. ↑ Milberg, Doris (2013). The Art of the Screwball Comedy: Madcap Entertainment from the 1930s to Today. Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland Incorporated. p. 117. ISBN   9780786467815.
  3. ↑ Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965. Montclair, New Jersey, USA: Applause Books. p. 202. ISBN   9781557835512.
  4. ↑ Bubbeo, Daniel (2010). The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies, with Filmographies for Each. Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland Inc. p. 17. ISBN   9780786462360.
  5. 1 2 Hischak, Thomas (2017). 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year. Lanham, Maryland, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 306. ISBN   9781442278059.
  6. ↑ "The Movies....1939" (PDF). The Movies...and the people who make them. New Haven, Connecticut, USA: Theater Patrons, Inc. 26 December 1939. p. 18. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  7. ↑ Ginibre, Jean-Louis (2005). Ladies Or Gentlemen:A Pictorial History of Male Cross-dressing in the Movies. New York, New York, USA: Filipacchi Publishing. p. 246. ISBN   9781933231044.
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.