Fourth and last of the small independent films Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur wrote, produced & directed for Paramount release; all parties happy to put an end to the series. You can see what the boys were aiming at* (targeting Commies & Capitalists; Wealth & Academia; Romance & the Modern Woman), but by now it was painfully clear that the team hadn’t the patience, self-discipline or respect for filmcraft needed. Walter Connelly stars, in typical dyspeptic form, as a financial titan harried over left-wing protests at ‘Connelly U’ led by radical student John Howard. And things just get worse when daughter Mary Taylor (a Kate Hepburn wannabe) runs off to join the student crowd only to wind up kidnaped by anarchist Lionel Stander (who else?). The possibilities for Screwball comedy are obvious, along with a fair share of good lines (‘He’s a brokenhearted Bolshevik . . . and they’re the worst kind.’), even a bit of pace in the third of four acts. But hit-and-miss execution keeps the film from coming together. Monogram turned out a slicker product. MacArthur never megged again, but Hecht did, three more times, scoring on his next, ANGELS OVER BROADWAY/’40, co-directed with cinematographer Lee Garmes who shot all his films except SOAK, lensed by Leon Shamroy.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: *Playwrighting partners George S. Kauffman & Moss Hart definitely saw what Hecht was aiming at, and made it work in the hugely successful YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, opening later that year on B’way. Frank Capra ‘Capra-fied’ it for film in 1938, earning Best Pic & Director Oscars. OR: The original play in various broadcast revivals; best with Jason Robards who taped his hit B’way revival for PBS in 1984.
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