A Girl in Every Port (1928 film)

Last updated

A Girl in Every Port
A Girl in Every Port poster.jpg
Film poster [1]
Directed by Howard Hawks
Written by Seton I. Miller
Malcolm Stuart Boylan (intertitles)
Screenplay by James Kevin McGuinness
Story byHoward Hawks
Produced by William Fox
Starring Victor McLaglen
Robert Armstrong
Louise Brooks
CinematographyRudolph J. Bergquist
L. William O'Connell
Edited byRalph Dixon
Production
company
Distributed byFox Film Corporation
Release date
  • 1928 (1928)(U.S.)
Running time
78 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent (English intertitles)

A Girl in Every Port is a 1928 American silent comedy film based on an original story by Howard Hawks, who directed the film as well. The feature stars Victor McLaglen, Robert Armstrong, and Louise Brooks. It was produced and distributed by the Fox Film Corporation, which later remade it as Goldie in 1931, with Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow. A print of the 1928 movie exists at the George Eastman House and a DVD-R was released in 2002. [2]

Contents

Plot

Spike (McLaglen) travels the world as the mate of a schooner. He has a little address book full of sweethearts, but everywhere he goes, he finds that someone has been there before him, leaving behind with each girl a heart-shaped charm with an anchor inscribed on it. In Central America, he takes a dislike to another sailor, Salami (Armstrong), but before they can settle their differences, they brawl with the police and are thrown in jail. Then Spike notices that Salami has a ring shaped like a heart with an anchor inscribed. He has finally found his nemesis. When they are released, they look for a private place to fight, but accidentally fall into the water. Oddly, Spike cannot swim, so when Salami rescues him, they become the best of friends. Inseparable, they sail the seas on the same ships.

Just before they reach Marseille, Spike tells Salami he has finally saved enough money to buy a house and some horses, cows and chickens, but Salami scoffs at the idea. When they dock, Salami has to stay aboard due to a toothache and worries that Spike will get into trouble without him. At a carnival, Spike becomes entranced by the high diver "Mam'selle Godiva" (Brooks). When the barker signals her that Spike gave him the most money to watch her performance, she latches onto him. He is so in love with her that he asks her if she would like to settle down with him; she leads him on so she can get the rest of his money.

When Spike first introduces Salami to her, Salami recognizes her. She was his girlfriend at Coney Island until he left her. She makes it clear that she would very much like to renew their relationship, but he is not interested, nor does he want to hurt Spike by telling him the truth. One night, she sends Spike on an errand so she can visit Salami, whom she finds asleep in bed. She tells him that she has gotten most of Spike's savings and is about to drop him. Salami refuses to take her back; he gets dressed and goes to a bar to get away from her. However, Spike returns to their lodgings and finds her there. He also spots Salami's unmade bed, so he assumes the worst. Meanwhile, Salami gets into a fight with two other sailors and yells for his friend's help. Spike knocks the two men out, then does the same to Salami. After thinking over all the fun they had together, however, he asks Salami if he betrayed him. When Salami says no, they become friends again.

Cast

Background

Characters talk very tersely in Hawks films, refusing to put their thoughts and feelings into explicit speeches which would either sentimentalize or vulgarize those internal abstractions. Instead, Hawks’s characters reveal their feelings in action, not in talk, showing what they mean by what they do, not what they say. Hawks deflects his portrayal of the inner life from explicit speeches to symbolic physical objects—concrete visual images of things that convey the intentions of the person who handles, uses, or controls the piece of physical matter.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers [3]

Howard Hawks went on to direct many notable movies, including, Bringing Up Baby , Sergeant York (nominated for Best Director), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Rio Bravo . Author Todd McCarthy wrote in his book Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood, that A Girl in Every Port is considered by film scholars to be the most important film of Hawks's silent career because it is his first film to introduce many of the Hawksian themes and characters that would continue until his final films. It was his first "love story between two men," with two men bonding over their duty, skills and careers and considering their friendship to be more important than relationships with women. [4]

In his book Hawks on Hawks , [5] Joseph McBride asked the director: "What is the reason for the running bit of business in A Girl in Every Port of one guy pulling the other guy’s finger?" Hawks replied: "You ever hit anybody hard? Your finger goes out of joint, and somebody takes it and pulls it back into joint. I hit Hemingway, and I broke the whole back of my hand. I wish it had just gone out of joint." McBride asks him why he hit Hemingway, which Hawks replies: "He just said, Can you hit? I broke my whole hand. He laughed like hell, and he sat up all night making a splint out of a tomato can so that I could go shooting with him the next morning. It didn’t do my hand any good. It’s an absolutely different shape." McBride then asks of Hawks: "Was the finger business in A Girl in Every Port supposed to be a gesture of friendship? You used it again with Kirk Douglas and Dewey Martin in The Big Sky." Hawks stated, "Oh, it’s just like Wayne rolling cigarettes for Dean Martin. One thing you can do is look at all the pictures I’ve ever made, and you’ll see that nobody pats another on the back. That’s the goddamnedest inane thing I’ve ever known." [3]

Coast Guard officers at Fox Theater in Washington D.C. (c. 1928) Coast Guard at Fox Theater in Washington D.C. 1928.jpg
Coast Guard officers at Fox Theater in Washington D.C. (c. 1928)

Semper Paratus

During the film's run at the Fox Theater in Washington D.C., a detachment of 50 Coast Guard officers were recruited to appear at the theater for the inauguration of "Semper Paratus", the official song of the U.S. Coast Guard. The song had recently been written by an officer and adopted by Admiral Frederick C. Billard, Commandant of the Coast Guard. The officers appeared at each performance during the rendition of the song. [6]

Versions

The film was shot in November and December, 1927 at Fox's studios in Hollywood. Location shooting was done on a boating trip to Santa Cruz Island, located along the California coast. [7] The 78-minutes currently available version omits chapters with girls in Liverpool, a South Sea Island, Singapore and Bombay. These girls are mentioned in some reviews and publicity.[ citation needed ]

Reviews and reception

Swiss writer Blaise Cendrars said the film "definitively marked the first appearance of contemporary cinema", and that the movie represented the first of Hawks' "buddy films". A reviewer for The New York Times praised the film saying, "the incidents are set forth in a rollicking fashion with none other than the towering Victor McLaglen filling the part of Madden...Robert Armstrong’s acting of the part of Salami is natural. He gives you a good idea of the fearlessness of the individual." [3] Variety [8] compares the friendship to that of Damon and Pythias.

The Film Daily reported in March 1928 that the feature had broken the "world's record" for a single day's box office receipts at the Roxy Theater in New York, when it grossed $29,463.00 on Washington's Birthday. [9] An exhibitor from Michigan wrote in the Exhibitor's Herald that, "the salesman said that this was a good picture when he sold it to me...time must have rotted it for it is one of the smuttiest pictures on the market. If you want to promote immorality, by all means play this one. I have to use care and precaution in the selection of pictures, and this one brought plenty of criticism". [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Hawks</span> American film director (1896–1977)

Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." Roger Ebert called Hawks "one of the greatest American directors of pure movies, and a hero of auteur critics because he found his own laconic values in so many different kinds of genre material." He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Sergeant York (1941) and earned the Honorary Academy Award in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor McLaglen</span> British-American actor and boxer (1886-1959)

Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was a British-American actor and boxer. His film career spanned from the early 1920s through the 1950s, initially as a leading man, though he was better known for his character acting. He was a well-known member of John Ford’s Stock Company, appearing in 12 of the director’s films, seven of which co-starred John Wayne.

<i>His Girl Friday</i> 1940 film by Howard Hawks

His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy and Gene Lockhart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The plot centers on a newspaper editor named Walter Burns who is about to lose his ace reporter and ex-wife, Hildy Johnson, newly engaged to another man. Burns suggests they cover one more story together, getting themselves entangled in the case of murderer Earl Williams as Burns desperately tries to win back his wife. The screenplay was adapted from the 1928 play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. This was the second time the play had been adapted for the screen, the first occasion being the 1931 film which kept the original title The Front Page.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Brooks</span> American actress (1906–1985)

Mary Louise Brooks was an American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helped popularize during the prime of her career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Simmons</span> British actress and singer (1929–2010)

Jean Merilyn Simmons was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets," she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Britain during and after the Second World War, followed mainly by Hollywood films from 1950 onwards.

To Have and Have Not is a 1944 American romantic war adventure film directed by Howard Hawks, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall; it also features Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Sheldon Leonard, Dan Seymour, and Marcel Dalio. The plot, centered on the romance between a freelancing fisherman in Martinique and a beautiful American drifter, is complicated by the growing French resistance in Vichy France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Armstrong (actor)</span> American actor (1890–1973)

Robert William Armstrong was an American film and television actor remembered for his role as Carl Denham in the 1933 version of King Kong by RKO Pictures. He delivered the film's famous final line: "It wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawksian woman</span> Character archetype of an up-front, tough woman

In film theory, the "Hawksian woman" is a character archetype of the tough-talking woman, popularized in film by director Howard Hawks through his use of actresses such as Katharine Hepburn, Ann Dvorak, Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck, and Angie Dickinson. The best known Hawksian woman is probably Lauren Bacall, who iconically played the type opposite Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. The archetype was first identified by film critic Naomi Wise in 1971.

<i>Hangmans House</i> 1928 film by John Ford

Hangman's House is a 1928 romantic drama genre silent film set in County Wicklow, Ireland, directed by John Ford (uncredited) with inter-titles written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan. It is based on a novel by Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne. It was adapted by Philip Klein with scenarios by Marion Orth. The film is also notable for containing the first confirmed appearance by John Wayne in a John Ford film.

<i>Goldie</i> (film) 1931 American film by Benjamin Stoloff

Goldie is a 1931 American pre-Code black-and-white romantic comedy film starring Warren Hymer, Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow. The script was written by Paul Perez and Gene Towne, and directed by Benjamin Stoloff. It was made before the Hays Code was rigidly enforced. It is a remake of Howard Hawks' 1928 silent film, A Girl in Every Port.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veda Ann Borg</span> American actress (1915–1973)

Veda Ann Borg was an American film and television actress.

Seton Ingersoll Miller was an American screenwriter and producer. During his career, he worked with film directors such as Howard Hawks and Michael Curtiz. Miller received two Oscar nominations and won once for Best Screenplay for the 1941 fantasy romantic comedy film, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, along with Sidney Buchman.

A Girl in Every Port may refer to:

For the Term of His Natural Life is a 1927 Australian film based on the 1874 novel by Marcus Clarke, directed, produced and co-written by Norman Dawn. It was the most expensive Australian silent film ever made and remains one of the most famous Australian films of the silent era.

<i>The Glorious Adventure</i> (1922 film) 1922 film by J. Stuart Blackton

The Glorious Adventure is a 1922 British Prizmacolor silent feature film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and written by Felix Orman. The film's sets were designed by Walter Murton. It was shot at the Cricklewood Studios of Stoll Pictures in London.

<i>Woman to Woman</i> (1923 film) 1923 film

Woman to Woman is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Graham Cutts, with Alfred Hitchcock as the uncredited assistant director and co-screenwriter. The film was the first of three adaptions of the 1921 play Woman to Woman by Michael Morton. To capitalise on the success of the film, Cutts and Hitchcock made another film, The White Shadow, with Compson before she returned to the United States.

<i>All the Brothers Were Valiant</i> (1923 film) 1923 film by Irvin Willat

All the Brothers Were Valiant is a 1923 American silent sea adventure and romantic drama film starring Lon Chaney. The film was produced and distributed by Metro Pictures corporation and directed by Irvin Willat. The cast also features Malcolm McGregor, Billie Dove and Robert McKim. The screenplay was written by Julien Josephson, based on the eponymous novel by Ben Ames Williams. The film was also known as Cold Courage.

<i>Bride by Mistake</i> 1944 film by Richard Wallace

Bride by Mistake is a 1944 American romantic comedy film directed by Richard Wallace, and starring Alan Marshal and Laraine Day.

<i>Winds of Chance</i> 1925 film

Winds of Chance is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and produced and released by First National Pictures.

<i>Percy</i> (1925 film) 1925 film

Percy is a lost 1925 American silent comedy film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Charles Ray, Louise Dresser and Victor McLaglen. The film is based upon the novel The Desert Fiddler by William Henry Hamby.

References

  1. "A Girl in Every Port". cinematerial. Retrieved July 11, 2022. Movie Poster
  2. "A Girl in Every Port". Silent Era. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "A Girl in Every Port". New York State Writers Institute. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  4. Todd McCarthy (December 1, 2007). Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood. Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated. pp. 86–91. ISBN   978-0-8021-9640-8.
  5. Joseph McBride (1982). Hawks on Hawks. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-04552-1.
  6. "Coast Guard". Exhibitors Herald. 33 (4): 38. April 1928.
  7. "A Girl in Every Port (filmography page)". Louise Brooks Society. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  8. A Girl in Every Port , Variety , December 31, 1927.
  9. "February, A Short Month, But Long On Accomplishment". The Film Daily. 43 (51): 8. March 1928.
  10. "A Girl in Every Port". Exhibitors Herald. 36 (2): 53. December 1928.