The Thin Man, besides producing such sequels as After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man, boosted the reputations of its two stars. Myrna Loy, after a career that had consisted largely of a dreary succession of Oriental seductresses, revealed herself as an irresistibly adroit comedienne. William Powell, who had been known chiefly as a heavy, emerged as the perfect type of polished, urbane man of the world.
Gloria Swanson temporarily gave up the drama to appear in a Fox edition of the musical-comedy success, Music in the Air. (June Vlasek (later, and more pronounceably, June Lang), Douglass Montgomery, Al Shean, and Miss Swanson).
The couple eying each other in apparent consternation are Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier as they appeared in Ernst Lubitsch's production of The Merry Widow, made by M-G-M in 1934. The picture was so expensive that only a boxoffice miracle could have made it profitable. The miracle did not occur.
Though she had appeared in pictures earlier, Shirley Temple first gained attention in a Fox revue of 1934, Stand Up an Cheer, which featured Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, and James Dunn. Miss Temple appears here with Dunn. Her next picture, Little Miss Marker, released the same year, definitely established her as a box-office draw.
The greatest tear-jerker of 1934 was Fannie Hurst's Imitation of Life, starring Claudette Colbert and featuring Louise Beavers. John M. Stahl directed for Universal.
The year 1934 was memorable for the unheralded debut of one who was destined to become a worldfamous star. His name is Donald Duck, and he made his first appearance playing a small part in Walt Disney's The Orphans Benefit.
Will Rogers was another screen favorite whose screen career was nearing an untimely close. This scene, with Stepin Fetchit, is from Judge Priest, a picture made in 1934, based on Irvin S. Cobb's well-known series of short stories. Rogers, with the aviator Wiley Post, was killed in a plane crash the following year.
John Ford directed an all-male cast in The Lost Patrol. The film featured taut direction and a number of fine performances, especially by Reginald Denny and Victor McLaglen. RKO produced it in 1934.
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