What a Widow!

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What a Widow!
What a Widow poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Allan Dwan
Dudley Murphy (uncredited)
James Seymour (uncredited)
Screenplay by James Gleason
James Seymour
Story by Josephine Lovett
Produced by Gloria Swanson
Joseph P. Kennedy
Allan Dwan
StarringGloria Swanson
Owen Moore
Lew Cody
Cinematography George Barnes
Edited by Viola Lawrence
Music by Hugo Felix
Josiah Zuro
Production
company
Gloria Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • August 13, 1930 (1930-08-13)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

What a Widow! is a 1930 American pre-Code musical romantic comedy film directed by Allan Dwan and produced by and starring Gloria Swanson. The music was written by Vincent Youmans. It was distributed through United Artists. [1] Although rumored to have been lost for decades, the film is extant in two complete 35mm copies at the George Eastman Museum.

Contents

The film was produced by Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. It received generally positive reviews and was noted for its animated title sequence created by William Dietz, but was met with indifferent returns at the box office mainly due to the backlash against musical films late in 1930. [2] Due to the public's backlash against musicals, United Artists downplayed the fact that the film was a musical, removed references to Vincent Youmans and his songs and advertised the film as a romantic comedy.

Lobby card What a Widow lobby card.jpg
Lobby card

Cast

Music

The film features three songs with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by J. Russel Robinson and George Waggner. The songs are titled "Love Is Like a Song," "Say 'Oui' Cheri" and "You're the One" and were all sung by Gloria Swanson in the film. Gloria Swansons also recorded the songs for Victor Records. Due to the public's backlash against musicals the recordings were not released however.

Preservation status

Two 35mm negatives of the film are housed at the George Eastman Museum. [3] The soundtrack is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the trailer is preserved at the Library of Congress. [4] [5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Shearer, Stephen Michael; Basinger, Jeanine (2013). Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star. Macmillan. p. 445. ISBN   978-1-250-01366-8.
  2. ↑ ( Shearer & Basinger 2013 , pp. 1673–1674)
  3. ↑ https://collections.eastman.org/objects/314889/what-a-widow?ctx=4a105de9-9809-4526-a5fe-14802478e02d&idx=389  ; https://collections.eastman.org/objects/314890/what-a-widow?ctx=4a105de9-9809-4526-a5fe-14802478e02d&idx=390
  4. ↑ Lombardi, Frederic (2013). Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios. McFarland. p. 180. ISBN   978-0-786-43485-5.
  5. ↑ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collections and The United Artist Collections at The Library of Congress [trailer only]. p. 206. c.1978 by the American Film Institute


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