The Movies ... and the People Who Make Them (1939)

"Th« MOVIES • ■ ■ ■ 1939" the assignment. So Spiro has his henchmen do the job, leaving clues to implicate the Wolf. If he is to keep his new respectable reputation, Michael Lanyard must see that the -plans are returned. Skipping about in his usual elusive style, pursued by Val and the complications his little daughter provokes with her own sleuthing efforts, he at last gets the plans and rounds up the villains for the authorities. He has escaped suspicion — and at the finish he has also escaped Val that she may pursue him through the next in the series. Warren William once again is a bland and self-assured Lone Wolf and Ida Lupino trails him in farcical manner as the matrimonially determined Val. Virginia Weidler is his daughter and Ralph Morgan the spy chief Spiro. Action and comedy are combined with emphasis on all possible laughs and the pace is fast throughout. IDIOT’S DELIGHT: Produced by Hunt Stromberg for MGM Director: Clarence Brown Play 8C Screenplay: Robert E. Sherwood Photography: Williams Daniels Art Director: Cedric Gibbons Music Director: Herbert Stothart Montage Effects: Slavko Vorkapich Irene Harry Achille Weber .... Edward Arnold Dr. Waldersee Captain Kirvline ... Jos. Schildkraut Quillery Burgess Meredith Madame Zuleika Laura Hope Crews Donald Navadel ... Skeets Gallagher Mr. Cherry Mrs. Cherry Pat Patterson Dumptsy . William Edmunds Pittatek Shirley Virginia Grey Bebc .. Lorraine Kreugcr Beulah Francine Elaine Edna .. Bernadene Hayes Expertly produced. carefully handled screen version of the Pulitzer Prize play with the anti-war emphasis toned down and the love story played up; a romantic comedy-melodrama about a vaudeville hoofer and a feminine acrobat who meet again under unusual circumstances and are held in a European frontier hotel by the threat of war. (Adults) (Running time,, 100 minutes) Idiot’s Delight has had careful attention in its transition from stage to screen. Playwright Robert E. Sherwood did the adaptation himself, retaining the essential outline of the original and making use of the greater scope of the camera. The first meeting of hoofer Harry and acrobat Irene, for example, is not suggested by dialogue as in the play, but presented fully in the first sequences and the air raid at the finish is not merely discussed by the actors to the accompaniment of off-stage noises, but is pictured with scenes of spectacular destruction. In the play the anti-war theme was of primary importance and the romance subordinate. In the film, which must of necessity strike at more direct entertainment and a wider audience, the romance is always predominant. It is a shift of attention and emphasis, but the The primary purpose of these surveys is to provide objective and impartial information upon which readers may base their own individual choices of the films they prefer to patronize. The editor is firmly convinced that it is the responsibility of parents to determine for themselves which films their children shall see. But for the benefiet of those who wish, and are willing to accept his judgement, a suggestion of audience suitability is added to the brief statement heading each survey. message of the play remains for those who think behind the surface of running entertainment and follow through the implications of much of the pungent dialog. Harry Van, who has run up and down through just about every type of stage work, is down to a mind-reading act in Omaha when he meets Irene, member of an acrobatic troupe who has acquired a Russian accent and a phoney princess background. Temporarily they are attracted to each other, but their theatrical paths soon separate. Six years later Harry, touring Europe with six blonde chorines in a musical act, is stopped at a frontier post by rumors of war and the troupe descends on a hotel in company with a varied assortment of individuals: scientist Dr. Waldersee; pacifist Quillery; a young English honey-mooning couple; and commandant Kirvline of the military post. Then munitions magnate Weber appears with an exotic Russian princess. Harry thinks she is Irene and she knows who he is but tries to remain aloof. News of an impending air raid plunges them all suddenly into the midst of war atmosphere and with swift, telling scenes the film discloses the effect upon each. A chance of escape to Switzerland is provided — but “princess” Irene has no passport. Weber, fearing for himself and angry at her resentment of his business, leaves her behind. Hoofer Harry, swept into nobility by the realization of their love, stays with her. As they plan their future, the air raid strikes, the hotel is hit and plunged into darkness. But as the sound of the planes roars overhead, Harry and Irene are heard singing “Onward Christian Soldiers.” That last was the ending of the play and of the first film version. Tried out in preview, it seemed incongruous and a new ending was made. The result was identical, and by the time the picture was ready for public showings the report was current that at least twelve different endings had been tried. The one chosen — perhaps in desperation — for at least the first releases, maintains the shift of emphasis of the rest of the film. Harry sits at the piano and Irene, catching his spirit, joins him in their answer to the idiot’s delight of war as they sing “Goodbye Broadway.” Then, as the planes fade away into the distance, the audience can absorb the notion of an at least romantically happy ending. Clark Gable and Norma Shearer, he with a dapper mustache and she with a long blonde bob, will surprise their followers by their hilarious antics and undoubtedly some critics by their effectiveness in the suddenly serious scenes. The latter is largely the result of director Clark Gable Norma Shearer Fritz Feld “IDIOT’S DELIGHT” 277