Stubs - Way Out West

Way Out West (1937) Starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynne, James Finlayson, Rosina Lawrence, Stanley Fields. Directed by James W. Horne. Screenplay by Charles Rogers, Felix Adler, James Parrott. Producer: Hal Roach, Stan Laurel. Run Time: 64 minutes. USA Black and White. Comedy

From the March 13, 1927 release of Duck Soup until the November 21, 1951 release of Atoll K, there were few film comedy duos as dominant as the teaming of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Brought together by Hal Roach, the duo enjoyed great success and are remembered for such films as the Academy Award-winning short The Music Box (1932), County Hospital (1932), Sons of the Desert (1933), Babes in Toyland (1934), and Way Out West (1937). In prep for the new Stan & Ollie (2018) biopic, we decided to take a look at one of these films, Way Out West.

The film was made between late August and early November 1936, originally called In the Money, Tonight's the Night, and They Done It Wrong before it received its final title. This bears the credit, A Stan Laurel Production, a testament to the actor’s prowess not just in front but behind the camera as well. Once the understudy for Charlie Chaplin in the Fred Karno troupe, he arrived in the U.S. on the same ship. While he made some early silent films, including Nuts in May (1917), and sometimes appeared in films as a Charlie Chaplin imitator, he joined the Hal Roach studios in 1925 as a writer and director.

The movie opens in Brushwood Gulch, a small Western town. There the main saloon is owned by Mickey Finn (James Finlayson). (Mickey Finn is an old expression referring to the practice of lacing a drink with chloral hydrate, a powerful and sometimes deadly sedative, in order to do mischief to an unsuspecting dupe.) The star attraction of the saloon is the musical prowess and sex appeal of his wife, Lola Marcel (Sharon Lynne). Working for them as waitress/cleaning woman is the young and naïve Mary Roberts (Rosina Lawrence).

Mary Roberts (Rosina Lawrence) is the waitress at the saloon.

Once we’ve established that relationship, Stan and Oliver are seen in transit to Brushwood Gulch. Stan is driving a mule (Dinah) which is pulling a slumbering Ollie behind him. But some rough road awakens the sleeping Ollie. While he manages to get back to sleep, it is crossing a stream that really wakes him from his slumbers.

When the raft carrying him gets detached from the donkey, Ollie starts to slowly sink into the water. Stan comes back to retrieve him, but on the way out, Ollie falls through a hole in the bottom of the river.

Stan helps Ollie after he's fallen into a hole in the riverbed.

Now soaked, Ollie continues wrapped in a blanket, while his clothes air dry. That is until they make it to a trail about two miles out of town. While Ollie dresses, Stan goes to see if he can thumb a drive.  Nothing seems to work until he shows a little leg, which gets the attention of a passing stagecoach.

Because of how they treated his wife, the Sheriff (Stanley Fields)
tells Stan and Ollie to be on the next stage out of town.

Once onboard, in tight quarters, the boys make the lone female passenger (Vivien Oakland) upset when Ollie makes a sort of veiled pass at her. When they reach the town, she is met by her husband, the Sheriff (Stanley Fields), who is not amused. He tells the boys to be on the next stage out of town, which doesn’t give them much time for the business that brought them there.

The Avalon Boys play outside the saloon.

Outside of Mickey Finn’s saloon, The Avalon Boys are performing J. Leubrie Hill's "At the Ball, That's All," which appears to catch the fancy of Stan and Ollie, and the two perform one of the more famous dance numbers to be captured on film, with apologies to Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Gene Kelly.

Stan and Ollie dance to "At the Ball That's All."

Once inside, they explain their secret mission to Finn. They have been entrusted to deliver the deed to a gold mine the prospector discovered to the man's daughter, Mary Roberts. They assure Finn of the riches, even showing him the deed, which is a little worse for wear, having been used by Stan to cover a hole in his shoes.

Stan and Ollie get hoodwinked by Mickey Finn (James Finlayson)
and his wife, Lola Marcel (Sharon Lynne).

Finn, no surprise, doesn’t do the right thing. Instead, he convinces Lola to pretend to be Mary and allow them to take the mine for themselves. Since the boys have never met Mary, they are easy to fool. There is also a locket, which Ollie has around his neck, that he’s supposed to give Mary as well. Ollie practically has to undress completely to find it, only to discover that it has fallen to the floor.

With their mission completed, the boys go downstairs to have a drink in the saloon. They end up singing a song, "Trail of the Lonesome Pine," with Chill Wills, one of The Avalon Boys playing. Stan not only sings in a deep bass (supplied by Wills), but also in a soprano (supplied by Rosina Lawrence) to the amazement of Ollie. Meanwhile, Lola tricks Mary into signing the deed over to her.

The Boys try to get the deed back from Lola and Mickey.

On their way out, the boys say goodbye to everyone, including Mary. When they ask her name and she tells them, they figure out the ruse and go back upstairs to confront Lola. Before they do, Stan promises to get the deed back or he'll eat Ollie’s hat. There is a bit of keep away that goes on with the deed, with Lola, Mickey, Stan, and Ollie all taking turns with the paper. Finally, Stan stuffs it in his shirt but Lola locks him in her bedroom and tickles him into submission, taking the deed away from him. There is a little bit more back and forth with the paper before Mickey locks it up in their vault.

Lola tickles Stan into submission and takes back the deed.

The Sheriff finally arrives but won’t listen to Stan and Ollie, since they should already be out of town. He chases after them, shooting as they flee. Once again, when they cross the river, Ollie falls into the small hole in the river bed.

In camp that night, Ollie is once again wrapped in a blanket while his clothes dry. While they discuss their plan to sneak back into town to steal the deed back, Ollie tries to light his pipe but his matches are understandably wet and won’t spark. Stan helps out, flicking his thumb like it’s a lighter and, again to Ollie’s amazement, his thumb catches fire.

Stan gives Ollie a light using his thumb.

Before they go, Ollie makes Stan eat his hat, as Stan did not fulfill his earlier promise of getting the deed back. After a few bites around the brim, Stan appears to like it. Ollie takes the hat back, even eating a little bit himself. To the film’s credit, from then on, Ollie’s hat has several bites out of it.

Stan has to eat Ollie's hat for failing in his promise to get the deed back.

The break-in does not go off without a hitch nor making a lot of noise. Ollie tries to climb up to a building but falls through the roof. The noise they’re making awakens Finn and Lola, who sleep in separate beds and rooms. After Ollie frees himself, they discuss plan B, however, Stan blows the candlelight they're using. Once again, he sparks his thumb and relights the candle.

The break-in doesn't go well, when Ollie falls through the roof.

Armed with a rifle, Finn comes outside but doesn’t see anything.

Meanwhile, Stan and Ollie hatch the idea to hoist Ollie up to the second story window. While Ollie is in mid-air, Stan decides to get a better grip and lets go of the rope. Ollie falls to the ground. During the argument that follows, Stan manages to flip Ollie back on to the ground. When Ollie tries to retaliate, Stan lets go of the rope and Ollie falls back again.

Using Dinah, they manage to hoist Ollie up to the window but when Stan goes back to give him the tools, Ollie’s weight lifts the mule up to the landing as he plummets through the doors of the cellar. This noise, of course, reawakens Finn and Lola.

Leaving the mule upstairs, they gain entrance through the cellar coming up through a trapdoor in the floor. Mary comes out of her room and screams, causing Stan to drop the door on Ollie’s head, which is now sticking up through it.

Ollie ends up with his head through a trapdoor.

Meanwhile, Lola has gotten Finn to get up again and he comes downstairs again with his rifle. They put a bucket over Ollie’s head and Mary hides Stan in a closet just before Finn arrives. He goes back to bed, but not before sending Mary to her room. On his way out, he kicks the bucket, hurting his foot in the process.

In an attempt to free Ollie, Stan stands on the trapdoor and pulls up on his neck, stretching it to many times its natural length before it snaps back and Ollie falls through the hole.

Meanwhile, Finn goes back to bed holding his rifle and Dinah starts to eat the furniture.

Now freed, Stan and Ollie continue their quest. But Stan can’t resist a slot machine, which makes a lot of noise when it pays off. It, of course, wakes Finn once again.

In their argument about the noise, the candle again goes out and Stan lights his thumb again. Ollie, who still can’t understand how he does that, tries it for himself and is surprised when his own thumb lights up.

At gunpoint, Ollie makes Finn open the safe and hand over the deed.

His scream brings Finn downstairs and the boys hide in a grand piano. Finn discovers them in there and plays the piano so that the keys are hitting them in the face. When they can’t take it any longer, they try to get out, but Finn pushes the cover back on top of them, pushing them all the way through the piano. In the confusion that follows, Ollie takes control of the rifle and forces Finn to open the safe and hand over the deed. Then, at gunpoint, they march him back to his bed, tying him up in his sheets. Ollie suspends him from the chandelier in the room. Stan retrieves Dinah and, with Mary, beat a hasty retreat.

After their escape, Stan, Ollie, and Mary walk along the river, and Ollie and Mary discover that they are both from the South. Stan adds that he is from the south of London, and as the group sings about returning to Dixie, Ollie falls into a hole in the riverbed.

James Finlayson, who plays Mickey Finn, should look familiar to anyone who has watched a Laurel and Hardy film. The Hal Roach studios once touted Finlayson alongside Laurel and Hardy as a "famous comedy trio", as part of their All-Star Comedy series. However, his star began to fall when Leo McCarey, a staff producer at the studio, recognized the comedic potential of the Laurel and Hardy pairing. Soon, they became the focus of their own series. By the fall of 1928, Laurel and Hardy had their own series and Finlayson was reduced to a supporting role.

James Finlayson played the foil to Laurel and Hardy in many of their films.

As in Way Out West, Finlayson became the Boys’ cinematic foil, appearing in 33 of their films, including Another Fine Mess (1930), Bonnie Scotland (1935), The Flying Deuces (1939), and Saps at Sea (1940) to name a few. Interestingly, his trademark mustache was actually fake, a prop.

The female support roles, played by Sharon Lynne and Rosina Lawrence, could have been played by anyone as their parts were not all that remarkable. Interestingly, both actresses would appear in Way Out West towards the end of their respective careers. Rosina would get married in 1939 and retire from entertainment. Lynn, who had begun acting in silent films, saw her career fading and she would be out of the movies by 1938.

There is not much you can say about Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy that hasn’t already been said. They are comedic geniuses. Even if the material isn’t always up to par, they can make you laugh. In many cases, they are as funny with the dialogue as they are with the physical humor. In Way Out West, it is the physicality that saves the day.

As Frank S. Nugent wrote in his contemporary review in the New York Times, “they would not be funny if both were fat or both skinny.” Chris Farley once commented something to the effect that everyone loves to watch the fat man fall down. In this case, it’s Ollie falling through the roof of a building or his pulling the mule off the street as he falls through the doors to the cellar. There is also the physical humor of Stan eating and enjoying Ollie’s hat, as well as his ability to light his thumb.

Let’s not forget the silly and adorable, though possibly extended, dance they do outside the saloon. That dance is worth the price of admission. If you have never seen the film before, I would recommend it for that dance sequence alone. The film has the thinnest of plots but still manages to provide a good time for the viewer.

Stubs - A Night at the Movies

A Night At the Movies (1937) Starring Robert Benchley, Betty Ross Clarke, Gwen Lee. Directed by  Roy Rowland. Screenplay by Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo, Robert Benchley. Produced by Jack Chertok Run Time: 10 minutes. USA Comedy, Short

Following the success of How To Sleep (1935), MGM kept producing Robert Benchley Miniatures. While all featured Benchley, unfortunately not all of them were also written by the humorist. How to Behave (1936), How To Train a Dog (1936), How to Vote (1936), How to Be a Detective (1936), The Romance of Digestion (1937) and How to Start The Day (1937) followed, but with much less fanfare and accolades. That changed with A Night At The Movies (1937).

Robert Benchley and wife (Betty Ross Clarke) look for a movie to see.

The film opens with Robert Benchley and his wife (Betty Ross Clarke) looking at the newspaper looking for a movie to go see. The problem is that they’ve each seen one of the two movies that are playing at their neighborhood theater. The solution is that they go see a film he has already seen, Souls on a Tandem.

Trying to communicate with the girl in the box office.

Now, these are the days before online ticket buying and reserved seats, so they actually have to go to the theater's box office to purchase them. There are other differences between their experience and the modern moviegoer’s. The theater is having a drawing to give away a car and there are ushers in uniforms to help them, though they don’t help them actually find a seat. Rather, they ask for their ticket, which it turns out he has put in for the raffle.

The theater has a raffle. Benchley will accidentally put his theater tickets in the raffle box.

Their lack of tickets causes the Usher, one of several on duty, to call over her supervisor, Mr. Pennelly (Hal K. Dawson), who doesn’t believe Benchley, so he calls over the theater manager, Mr. Baum (Frank Sheridan). Mr. Baum makes the command decision and lets them go inside.

The agent calls Mr. Pennelly (Hal K. Dawson) and Pennelly calls for Mr. Baum (Frank Sheridan).

But once they find seats, all is not well. Benchley fumbles with what to do with his hat, but the real annoyance comes from a staring child (Ricardo Lord Cezon) who unnerves Benchley. 

Little boy stares at Benchley.

While he is busy being stared down, a rather large patron (Jack 'Tiny' Lipson) sits in front of him and totally blocks his view. Benchley’s fidgeting to see around ‘Tiny” irritates the man sitting behind them, so Benchley decides to move.

Jack "Tiny" Lipson sits down in front of Benchley and blocks his view.

His first choice of seats gets nabbed by a faster younger couple, forcing them to look for seats closer to the screen. But sitting so close and to the side causes the image to look distorted.

Sitting too close distorts the motion picture.

Feeling dry, Benchley pops a lozenge, probably a Lifesaver, into his mouth after offering one to the Mrs. But he begins to cough and despite his wife’s help, he seeks solace to recover. Accidentally, he ends up outside and locked out.

Benchley manages to get locked outside the theater.

His wife doesn’t seem to notice that Benchley is missing until the lights come on between features.

On stage, a live prelude with dancing girls starts their routine. Meanwhile, Benchley searches for a way in and finds an unlocked door. You can see it coming, so it is no surprise that Benchley walks out onto the stage in the middle of the dancer’s routine. A little embarrassed, Benchley exits the stage and the film ends.

At the end, Benchley walks out into the middle of the live prelude.

Released on November 6, 1937, A Night at the Movies was Benchley’s best-received miniature since his first one. The film was even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (One-Reel), losing to The Private Life of the Gannets (1934), a British documentary about a colony of Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) on the small rocky island of Grassholm, off the coast of Wales produced by Alexander Korda.

The director, Roy Rowland, would helm many different types of films in his career. In addition to comedy, he also directed romance: Lost Angel (1943); film noir: Scene of the Crime (1949); musical fantasy: The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; suspense: Witness to Murder (1954); and even spaghetti Westerns: Gunfighters of Casa Grande (1964). Rowland would never get further than being considered a journeyman director, able to work in many genres, but a master of none.

Similar to How To Sleep, A Night At the Movies is all about Robert Benchley. The film relies on his presence because without it, it would verge on being unwatchable. And like his first miniature, it deals with a situation many people have experienced themselves. Who hasn’t had a bad experience at the movies?

But even the relatable premise and the presence of Benchley are not enough to save it. There seems to be something missing this time around. Less an instructional film, A Night At the Movies feels much less structured and almost seems to be ad-libbed in places.

Again, the short provides the modern viewer a look back at life in the 1930s. Films were the main out of the house entertainment and it wasn’t unusual for a couple to go out during the week to see a movie; there was no Netflix or DVDs or even TV. Also, there wasn’t necessarily a firm start time as people would enter the theater when they got there and not wait for the next showing. (You can thank Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 Psycho for changing that.)

All that said, A Night at the Movies was not quite as much fun to watch as How To Sleep and therefore I can’t recommend it.

Stubs – Stand-In

Stand-In (1937) Starring: Leslie Howard, Joan Blondell, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Mowbray, Maria Shelton, C. Henry Gordon and Jack Carson. Directed by Tay Garnett. Screenplay by Gene Towne and Graham Baker. Produced by Walter Wanger. Run Time: 91 minutes. U.S. Black and White. Comedy

While it might seem that movie stars are born full cloth, they take time to develop. Such is the case with one of my favorite film actors, Humphrey Bogart. While he appeared in over 75 films in a career that spanned 30 years, he was not always a star.

Bogart made his stage debut in 1921 in the play Drifting, with one line of dialogue, in the part of a Japanese butler. Between 1922 and 1935, he would appear in 17 Broadway plays, usually cast as a juvenile or a romantic second lead in what have been described as drawing room comedies. Reports are that he was the first actor to say the line “Tennis, anyone?” on stage. Critic Alexander Woollcott (the basis for the character of Sheridan Whiteside in the play and movie The Man Who Came to Dinner) once described Bogart’s acting as “inadequate.” Personally, Bogart disliked these types of roles, referring to them as “White Pants Willie” roles.

The stock market crash of 1929, led to a curtailment of stage productions and many actors, including Bogart, started to make films, though he had made one film in 1928, a Helen Hayes two-reeler, The Dancing Town, now one of the many lost films from this era. He would also appear with Joan Blondell in the Vitaphone short, Broadway’s Like That (1930).

That same year, Bogart signed a contract with Fox Film Corporation, starring with Spence Tracy, another Broadway actor, in Tracy’s film debut, Up the River (1930) directed by John Ford. The next year, he had a minor role in the Bette Davis film, The Bad Sister (1931).

Between 1930 and 1935, Bogart travelled between the Hollywood movie set and the Broadway stage, but often times not working. Things began to change in 1934, when he starred in the play Invitation to Murder (1934). This led to him being cast in the play, the Petrified Forest, opposite Leslie Howard. When Warner Bros., bought the film rights, they cast Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Edward G. Robinson, the latter playing Duke Mantee. But Howard was adamant about them casting Bogart in the role and Warner Bros. relented.

While The Petrified Forest was what they used to call an “A” picture and Bogart received great reviews, he was signed to Warner Bros. and began a long career playing in “B” picture crime dramas.

Stand-In (1937) was a bit of a departure from his screen persona. Loaned out to producer Walter Wagner in exchange for Henry Fonda, The Stand-In reunites Bogart with Howard and Blondell. The film was an independent production and released through United Artists.

Wagner had been in motion pictures, having started at Famous Players – Lasky (later  Paramount) with the film The Sheik (1921) which starred Rudolph Valentino. He also produced the Marx Bros.’ first film for Paramount, The Cocoanuts (1929). Other films to his credit include: The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933); John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939); Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent (1940); Scarlet Street (1945); Joan of Arc (1948); the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956); I Want to Live! (1958) and Cleopatra (1963) with Elizabeth Taylor.

A take-off on Hollywood, Stand-In opens with cranky old Fowler Pettypacker (Tully Marshall), head of the banking firm of Pettypacker & Sons, deciding to disregard the recommendation made by his vice-president, Atterbury Dodds (Leslie Howard), not to sell Colossal Film Company, which has been losing money, to the Hollywood Cinema Finance company, headed by well-known shyster Ivor Nassau (C. Henry Gordon), for half its $10 million value to get rid of it.

Atterbury, considered to be the most brilliant brain developed by Wall Street in the past ten years, this per Nassau, wants to protect the investment of the firm's 30,202 stockholders and he offers to go to Hollywood to investigate and correct the problems at Colossal.

Pettypacker agrees, but warns Atterbury that they are dealing with people, not just a business, but Atterbury insists that business is business. His confidence comes from mathematics. Pettypacker puts Atterbury in charge, but tells him if he fails to save Colossal not to come back.

In Hollywood, Nassau, who is infamous for making money by closing and selling studios, plots with star Thelma Cheri (Maria Shelton), her fiancé, Russian-born director Koslofski (Alan Mawbray) and press agent Tom Potts (Jack Carson) to drive the studio under through expensive retakes on their current picture. The four plot to pull a fast deal over on Atterbury.

Enter Douglas Quintain (Humphrey Bogart) who is less interested in their plotting than getting Cheri and Koslofski to finish the picture they’re currently making. When Cheri reminds him that she has final cut, Quintain recalls that he’s the one who gave her such approval. He blames the fact he was in love with her and admits, even though she’s engaged to Koslofski, he still is.

Douglas Quintain (Humphrey Bogart) tries to motivate Thelma Cheri (Maria Shelton) to finish the movie she's making.

Arriving wide-eyed at the sights of the film capital, many of which are no longer there, like the Brown Derby, Atterbury fortunately meets Cheri's stand-in, Lester Plum (Joan Blondell), when she jumps into his limousine, the Colossal Picture’s limo, at the corner of Hollywood and Highland. She’s tired and asks the driver to take her home. Making herself more comfortable, she takes off her shoes.

Stand-in Lester Plum (Joan Blondell) invites herself into new studio head Atterbury Dodd's (Leslie Howard) limo.

She tells Atterbury that she’s a stand-in for Cheri, but he doesn’t know who Cheri is and what a stand-in does. She jokes that since he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the motion picture business he should do fine. When she gets out of the limo at Mrs. Mack’s Boarding House, she accidentally leaves one of her shoes inside the car.

When Atterbury checks into the hotel, is he shocked at how much the room is, $100 a day, and that it is being charged to Colossal Pictures. Everyone, including Potts, is very carefree with Colossal’s money and Atterbury starts taking notes about expenses. Potts is sent to distract Atterbury, but he is not interested in the date Potts has arranged for him.

Barely in town for an hour, he is confronted by a stage mother, who drags her Shirley Temple wannabe into his suite for an audition. Welcome to the picture business, Atterbury Dodd. However, Atterbury is unimpressed and castigates the mother for how she’s raising her daughter.

Later, Atterbury goes to Mrs. Mack’s to return the shoe Lester left behind in the limo and is immersed in the hams, wannabes and has-beens who live there. He asks Lester where there’s some place he could live without being tricked and lied to and Lester tells him there is a room in her building. Lester knows the business intimately, having once been a child star, and having graduated from secretarial school, offers herself to be the naïve and shy Atterbury’s secretary, but Atterbury is non-commital, saying he’s always had a male secretary.

The next day, Atterbury arrives at Colossal Pictures by bus to see Quintain and is at first refused entrance by the security guard. But Atterbury does get in and tells Quintain, he wants to immerse himself in the business so the books will make more sense. Quintain warns him about Nassau’s plans for Colossal while showing Atterbury around the studio.

Quintain shows Adderly around Colossal Pictures.

Atterbury seems to be overwhelmed by the activity and the jargon of the film productions he watches. He also sees Lester in action, standing in while lights and cameras are set up for Cheri. Quintain takes Atterbury to meet Cheri and Koslofski in the actress’ dressing room. Cheri invites Atterbury to a party in his honor and when he tells her he doesn’t like parties, she agrees with him, but still tries to flirt with him, which only chases him away.

Lester though doesn’t give up on the idea of working for Atterbury and bugs him until he hires her as his secretary. The first order of business is to send a telegram back to the home office. Atterbury wants to delay selling the studio until the success or failure of Sex and Satan, Cheri’s newest film can be determined.

Lester becomes Adderly's secretary through persistence.

Oblivious to Lester's flirtations and charms, Atterbury takes her advice to get out of the office to have fun and asks Lester to teach him to dance, which she does. Atterbury meticulously draws out every step on the floor of his office and uses math, of course, to remember each move. Lester calls the boarding home to tell them not to wait dinner for her or Atterbury, but then finds Atterbury isn’t going out with her, but rather to a dance thrown by Cheri. This provokes Lester's jealousy and ire.

At the party, Atterbury dances by the numbers while Cheri continues her flirtation, but she leaves him to take a call from Quintain, who wants to see her. When Atterbury finds that plates belonging to Colossal are being used by Koslofski, the director gives his boss a black eye. No sooner does Atterbury make his exit than Potts makes fun of his dancing, only for Atterbury to return to retrieve something he’s forgotten.

Back that boarding house, Atterbury hears Lester crying in the next room. When he checks on her, she is concerned about his black eye. She shows him some jujitsu he could have used to protect himself. Atterbury gets carried away with the lessons and throws Lester across the room before he realizes what’s he done.

Lester tends to Adderly's black eye back at back at the boarding house.

After a preview screening of Sex and Satan, producer Quintain calls the film a "turkey" and urges Atterbury to "junk it, and forget it" rather than try to save it with retakes. Koslofski advises expensive retakes and blames the problems on Quintain's drunkenness on the set.

Even Quintain's editing wasn't enough to save Sex and Satan.

When Cheri tells Atterbury that Koslofski's accusations are true, Quintain quits, leaving Atterbury to run the stuido alone. Cheri tries to apologize, but Quintain is not in the mood to forget. He blames himself for making her an applause addict and leaves to go get drunk.

But an audience preview proves Quintain was right. Comments are negative about both the story and the lead actress. Atterbury fears the film leaves him no choice but to sell the studio to Nassau. At Lester’s insistence, he tries to find Quintain in a last ditch effort to save the studio and the livelihood of its 3000 employees.

When Adderly finds Quintain he's protesting being cut off by the Cafe Trocadero.

Attenbury finds Quintain at the Café Trocadero where he’s protesting them from keeping him out. Using the jujitsu he learned from Lester, Atterbury gets Quintain into a taxi. On the ride, Quintain drinks a case of beer and sobers up by the morning. The two men agree that the only way to save the studio is to recut the picture, eliminating some of Cheri’s performance, but Cheri's contract stipulates that she has final cut approval. Realizing that Cheri's contract will be considered breached if she is caught in a scandal, Atterbury takes her drinking. She willingly goes, but in the early morning hours, she slips under the table of a club, and when Atterbury joins her, their "romance" makes headlines.

Quintain uses beer to sober up.

Pettypacker reads the news and, fearing ruin, calls Nassau, who plays hard to get and has to be talked into buying Colossal Pictures. Atterbury, soon after sending Cheri a breach of contract notice for the scandal she caused, is then fired by Pettypacker. Lester berates Atterbury for being unconcerned about the studio employees who will lose their jobs. In a last ditch effort, and knowing Quintain needs 48 hours to finish the recuts, Atterbury, who is at first literally run over by leaving and disgruntled employees, manages, over Pott’s heckling, to convince them to work for no pay to remake the film as a comedy, rather than lose their jobs if the film is scrapped and the deal with Nassau is consummated.

Nassau is then unceremoniously thrown over the studio wall, and after Atterbury dictates to Lester a telegram informing Pettypacker of his plan to fight the sale, he consults his checklist of things to do and sees "Propose to Miss Plum," and asks her to marry him. She accepts and they hesitatingly kiss.

There is too much talent involved in this film for it not be better than it is with Leslie Howard, Joan Blondell and Humphrey Bogart in front of the camera and Tay Garnett and Walter Wagner behind it. But the obvious problem seems to be the story. For a film about Hollywood made in Hollywood, the story seems to have been written by people with no idea how things really work from the business-side of the equation. The big issue set up in the movie is whether or not Colossal Pictures can be saved, but that never really gets resolved.

And while it seemed all along that Atterbury was immune to the many and abundant charms of Lester Plum, some of which she enumerated for him, including her eyes and her legs (this was the 30’s, after all), his proposal seems to be a little out of left field. And that’s supposed to be our happy ending, because the film needed one. To be fair, romances in movies of the 30’s and 40’s seemed to develop rapidly or come to sudden happy conclusions, especially between people who seem to have a great dislike for each other. In Stand-In, Atterbury and Lester are not at each other’s throats, but for most of the film he only seems interested in her mind if he’s interested in her at all.

A studio the purported size of Colossal would be most likely cranking out a movie a week rather than putting all their eggs into one film. Now a single film can sink a studio, see United Artists and Heaven’s Gate, but back then a studio the size of Colossal would have many stars, many producers, directors and executives, not one of each. It just doesn’t ring true.

But I know this is not a documentary on Hollywood in the 1930’s, but I guess I expect more out of the film than explaining everything away with the tag “that’s the movie business”. Also, it’s hard to think of any star under contract who had as much control over her films as Cheri does in Stand-In. Usually, you hear about complaints about the studio abusing their stars, not the other way around.

There is character growth in that Atterbury comes to see the studio employees as people rather than units or line items on an account ledger. And while the premise of an accountant running a studio might have seem farfetched at the time, it is more the reality now.

The film’s humor is mostly verbal, but speed of speech more often than not supplants wit. There are the occasional physical comedy bits, such as Atterbury being run over and Nassau being thrown over a wall, but they seem to be a little out of place with the rest of the film.

The script overall seems to be very haphazard. Characters seem to act against their own best interest, such as Quintain’s love for Cheri, a woman who is ruthlessly only looking out for herself. Their relationship, while unresolved in the film, seems destined for failure.

There are several problems with the story. Who sobers up drinking beer the way Quintain does in the movie? Wouldn’t he wake up with a wicked hangover after adding beer on top of the drunk he already had going on? I’m pretty sure that they knew in the 30’s that a bender was not a cure for a bender. This isn’t the hair of the dog, it’s more like a pack of them.

While the character of Quintain has problems, Potts is downright annoying, with his hyena laughter. I have usually liked Jack Carson in other films I’ve seen him in (ex. Mildred Pierce), but whenever I see him on screen in Stand-In, I can’t wait for him to get off. And I honestly think he would be amongst the workers leaving Colossal when it’s sold, since he was working with Nassau throughout, is that the writer needed him to be there to heckle Atterbury. It’s the only reason that makes sense and still it doesn’t.

I had high hopes in watching Stand-In, but I came away very dissatisfied. Humphrey Bogart and Joan Blondell were not enough to save this film. While I know I’m coming at this film from a modern perspective, I don’t think my opinion is too far off the general reception the film received when it was first released. The film, budgeted at over $523,000 only made a profit of $9,274.

If you want to watch a good movie about Hollywood, I would recommend that you keep looking; Stand-In isn’t it.

Stubs – San Quentin (1937)

San Quentin (1937) Starring: Pat O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Barton MacLane. Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Screenplay by Peter Milne, Humphrey Cobb. Story by Robert Tasker, John Bright. Produced by Jack L. Warner (Exec. Producer) Hal B. Wallis (Exec. Producer) Run Time: 70 minutes. U.S.  Black and White. Drama, Prison

After having successfully created the gangster film genre, Warner Bros. was starting to find itself under fire by the new production code of 1933 which was suddenly being enforced. A simple fix was to move gangster stars, like Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar 1930) and James Cagney (Public Enemy 1931) into law enforcement in 

Bullets or Ballots (1936) and G-Men (1935) respectively.

But Warners was never one to walk away from a news story that could be made into a movie. They had already made a film about prison-life, I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), and with the depression starting to come to a close, prisons were filled with the victims of the hard times who were being forced to share cell space with hardened career criminals. This, coupled with overcrowding and tales of prison guard brutality, was more fodder for the Warner Bros. By the end of the decade, Warner Bros. had released several prison films including: Alcatraz Island (1937), Blackwell's Island (1939), Each Dawn I Die (1939) and San Quentin (1937), which starred up and comers named Pat O’Brien and Humphrey Bogart.

An example of guard brutality opens the film. The prisoners are in the yard when some of them are being called to the Captain’s porch, which is where re-assignments and punishments are handed out. Captain of the Yard Druggin (Barton MacLane) dishes out punishment to a deaf prisoner, upping his time in solitary by ten day increments, because the prisoner can’t hear him. Such treatment leads to unrest amongst the prisoners, who protest their treatment.

Captain of the Yard Druggin (Barton MacLane) likes to dish out punishment.

The warden calls Druggin into his office to tell him that a new Captain of the Yard will be arriving tomorrow. Druggin, as it turns out, was an interim fill-in who thought he might get the job. The warden informs him that he lacks people skills and that they’re bringing in someone who does, Army trainer Stephen Jameson (Pat O'Brien). Druggin, not surprisingly, does not take the news well.

For his last night on active duty, Jameson goes to the Lorenz Revue with a couple of his fellow officers. His friends are ribbing him about his assignment, but Jameson is more interested in the captivating singer May Kennedy (Ann Sheridan), who is singing under the stage name, Mae De Villers. There seems to be a rule that every Warner Bros. sound era film in the 1930’s has a nightclub scene with a featured song. In this case the song is “How Could You," music and lyrics by Harry Warren and Al Dubin.

May Kennedy (Ann Sheridan) sings at the Lorenz Revue.

May’s kid brother, Joe "Red" Kennedy (Humphrey Bogart), a petty crook, shows up backstage. He asks May for some money, telling her he has a job offer in Seattle. But no sooner does she give him the money than the police arrive to arrest him for robbery. Shots are fired and Jameson, as well as other patrons, go backstage to see what’s the commotion. He sees Red being arrested, but Red doesn’t see him. Once the police take him away, Jameson moves forward to comfort May, but she’s up and the show must go on.

Red (Humphrey Bogart) shows up backstage and asks his sister for some money.

The next day is Jameson’s first day at San Quentin. Out in the yard, one of the prisoners, Dopey Rogers (Garry Owen), is shown reading from the Common Book of Prayers. While he is praying a couple of other prisoners give him a hot foot, much to the amusement of others in the yard.

The San Quentin prison yard as shown in the film.

When the Warden introduces Jameson, he tries to make a brief speech, but he is interrupted by a heckler. As punishment, Jameson makes him get up in front of the yard to sing. He’s shown later still singing though the yard is now empty.

Soon, Red shows up in a delivery of prisoners. With him is Sailor Boy Hansen (Joe Sawyer) who has been at San Quentin before. Red is unfamiliar with prison terms, like a weekend meaning ten years. Hansen takes him under his wing and show him the ropes. Red also meets Jameson for the first time.

Red arrives at San Quentin with Sailor Boy Hansen (Joe Sawyer).

Out in the yard, Red tells anyone who will listen that he’s got friends on the outside who will spring him. He talks so much that Sailor Boy plans a practical joke. Red hears his name and prisoner number called out. He’s told that he’s going to be sent back to San Francisco. But Red doesn’t think it’s so funny and in fact punches Hansen for his part in it. That punch lands Red in solitary for fighting.

Back at the Lorenz Revue, Jameson makes a point to bump into May. She invites him back to her apartment for some home cooking. There she opens up about her brother and the mistreatment he is no doubt receiving in prison.

Next, May goes to visit Red in prison, but gets caught passing money to him that Sailor Boy has told him is necessary for smokes and chocolate. Red get punished and May is called by Druggin to deal with Jameson, unaware that the two know each other. May is not happy to learn this is what Jameson does for a living, but he tries to explain to her that he thinks he can bring something better out of Red, who has lost all privileges for thirty days.

May visits Red in prison and gets in trouble for passing him money.

Twenty-nine days later, Jameson is conducting an inspection. Rogers is there. Jameson realizes that there is something mentally wrong with him and plans to talk to the board about moving him elsewhere. He also runs into Red again and offers that if he keeps straight and follows the rules, he’ll see time come off his sentence.

The next day, Red is working in one of the machine shops and is partnered with Sailor Boy. There are no hard feelings between them. They talk about escape out on the yard while playing dominoes. Rogers comes by proselytizing to the yard, but Sailor Boy and Red work together to knock him over, which again brings laughter to the yard at Roger’s expense.

Out on the yard, Sailor Boy and Red talk about escape.

When a guard accidentally drops his rifle into the yard, Rogers scoops it up. He shoots one of the guards and threatens everyone, prisoner and guard alike. Jameson shows up and manages to get the rifle away from Rogers, who is then taken to the hospital because he needs mental treatments. The prisoners, including Red, are impressed by Jameson’s bravery and decisiveness.

After getting no respect for so long, Dopey Rogers (Garry Owen)
snaps and takes revenge when a rifle falls into the yard.

Jameson’s approval drops when he starts changing the assignments, putting Red and others on the road gang, which displaces some who feel they’ve earned the privilege. Prisoner’s protest and strike rather than go to work. The yard nearly riots, but Jameson demands its clearance and sends everyone to their cells with no chow. Still it takes guards firing into the air to clear the yard. Still, the prisoners don’t go willingly, banging the pipes with their cups. Even turning off the lights on them doesn’t quiet them down.

Druggin, who has never gotten along with Jameson, uses the near riot to call a reporter friend of his at the Daily Chronicle. Soon headlines are everywhere about Jameson’s methods. The public outcry has Jameson brought before the prison board. There he explains what he’s trying to do and asks for a chance, which the board grants him.

After May visits Red, she asks to see Jameson, who is out in the yard. While Druggin watches on, May thanks Jameson for what he’s doing for her brother and apologizes for her earlier comments about prison guards.

While Duggin watches, May thanks Jameson for the treatment Red is receiving.

Meanwhile, Hansen plots a potential escape plan with his girl, Helen (Veda Ann Borg) when she comes to visit. He tells her that if he can get on the road crew then she could help him. Another prisoner, identified as Fink (Ernie Adams), overhears Hansen’s plans and goes to, what else, Fink to Druggin. His sign that he has something to say is to drop a piece of paper. While Druggin yells at him for littering, Fink tells him what he’s learned.

Sailor Boy hatches an escape plan with his girlfriend, Helen (Veda Ann Borg)

When Jameson gives Druggin the list of prisoners for the road gang, Druggin alters it to add Hansen to the detail.

While working together, Hansen tells Red about his plans, but Red, following advice he’s heard many times, tells him he just wants to keep straight and get out as soon as he can. But back in the bunk house for the road gang, which seems odd since they go back and forth to the prison, Red gets ribbed about his special treatment, which is credited to Red’s outside connections until one prisoner makes reference to May’s relationship with Jameson, hinting at, but not explicitly stating (this was made under the Production Code) Jameson is swapping sexual favors from May for treating Red with kid gloves.

Red doesn't take kindly to accusations about his sister.

Upset about the allegations, Red decides to teach Jameson a lesson and tells Sailor Boy he wants in on the escape attempt.

Later, back on the road gang, Helen’s car has a flat tire right in front of the crew. When the guards tell her to leave, she asks for help, suggesting that Sailor Boy and Red, who just happen to be nearby, could do the work.  The guard agrees, but hidden in a secret compartment under her tools are guns, which Hansen and Red use to aid their escape. Druggin, who knows Hansen’s plan, is taken hostage; he is later thrown from the moving car.

Druggin gets thrown from the moving car as Red and Sailor Boy make their escape.

Guards take chase and manage to blow a hole in the gas tank before crashing. The Sheriff takes over the chase. Running low on fuel, the boys carjack another car and send Helen on her own. The boys manage to get ahead of their pursuers by barely beating a train to a crossing, but their luck doesn’t hold out and before they can try that maneuver again, Red, who is driving, crashes the car. Sailor Boy is killed, but Red manages to get away, catching a ride on a passing train.

Sailor Boy gets killed in the crash, but Red survives.

The warden tells Jameson that the escape means his methods are through. But Jameson wonders how Hansen’s name got on the list and vows to find Red.

Meanwhile, Red is still out for revenge. When he hits the city, presumably San Francisco, he heads to a friend’s shop and demands a .38 and some slugs, as he puts it.

Jameson, with Red watching from the roof, goes to see May. Red comes into the apartment and shoots Jameson in the arm. Still, Jameson wants to help him and tries to convince him he’s been duped and to give himself up. When police arrive to check out the gun shots, Jameson hides his wound under a coat and hides Red as well. But after the police have left, Jameson and May find that Red has again escaped.

Still on the run, Red breaks into May's apartment when Jameson is visiting her.

But Red doesn’t get very far before one of the police watching May’s apartment shoots him as he goes over a wall. But Red is not easily stopped and makes it out of the city. He hitches a ride with a trucker, who notices something’s not right with him. Red insists he’s fine and is let off at the San Quentin turnoff. From there he hikes to the prison, but dies at the gate from his wound and the loss of blood. One of his last words to a guard is to “tell Jameson I came back.”

Shot between October 5 and November 10, 1936, the film had some retakes in January and March, 1937. One of the reasons for the retakes was that Jack Warner thought the ending was rather abrupt and wanted an additional scene added to the end in which "Capt. Stephen Jameson" is having breakfast with "May Kennedy" when he receives a phone call from the warden telling him that "Joe 'Red' Kennedy" has died. Director Michael Curtiz shot the additional scenes in January, 1937 but they were later reshot by Bacon in March after Pat O'Brien returned to the studio after a six-week vacation. A studio memo from Associate producer Sam Bischoff to Producer Hal B. Wallis complained that the sequence, as shot by Curtiz, was not a sufficiently serious ending to the tragic situation that had transpired. The final version of the film does not contain this additional scene.

Like so many Warner Bros. films from the 30’s and 40’s, it is sometimes the supporting actors who add that little extra something to the film. In this case, it’s Barton MacLane, who was a contract player at Warner Bros. in the 1930’s and 40’s. He began his career on the Broadway stage, making his debut at the age of 25 in The Trial of Mary Dugan in 1927. His first screen appearance is in an uncredited role in the Marx Brother’s Cocoanuts (1929). His first film credit was in His Woman (1931). But MacLane wasn’t through with Broadway. He wrote a play, Rendezvous, in which he played the part of Private Oakley. While the play only ran for 21 performances, it was enough to get him noticed and signed as a contract player to Warner Bros.

Regularly cast as a heavy or bad guy, MacLane sometimes played tough policemen, such as Detective Dundy opposite Humphrey Bogart’s Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941). He would also work with Bogart and director John Huston again in the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Other notable films MacLane appeared in include: Frisco Kid (1935) opposite James Cagney; Bullets or Ballots (1936) with Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell and Bogart; High Sierra (1941) again with Bogart; All Through the Night (1941) with Bogart and Conrad Veidt; San Quentin (1946), not a remake and in which MacLane plays a convict; The Geisha Boy (1958), starring Jerry Lewis; Pocketful of Miracles (1961), directed by Frank Capra; The Rounders (1965) starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda; and his last film, Buckskin (1968).

Barton MacLane played a lot of heavies in films.

When film work slowed, MacLane moved to TV, appearing in guest roles on shows as: Cheyenne; 77 Sunset Strip (1958); Perry Mason, four episodes from 1959-1964; Laramie (1960), four episodes in 1960, 1962 and 1963; The Munsters (1966); and Gunsmoke, two episodes in 1966 and 1967. He was one of the stars of the 1960 western series on NBC, appearing in 27 episodes; and appeared in 35 episodes of I Dream of Jeannie from 1965 to 1969.

When not acting, MacLane lived on a cattle ranch in Madera County, California, located in the Central Valley, and played several musical instruments, including the violin, piano and guitar. Born on Christmas Day, 1902, MacLane died on New Year’s Day 1969 from double pneumonia.

Joe Sawyer, who played Sailor Boy Hanson, was a Canadian-born actor who appeared in more than 200 films between 1930 and 1962, sometimes in uncredited roles. A stable at Warner Bros. in the 30’s, he appeared in such films as Jimmy the Gent (1934), Frisco Kid, The Petrified Forest (1936), Black Legion (1937), The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Sergeant York (1942), Gilda (1946), The Killing (1956) and How the West Was Won (1962). He also appeared on Broadway in the play Casey Jones (1938) and on TV in such shows as Maverick, Bat Masterson, Sugarfoot and Peter Gunn. His is one of those faces you see again and again in films.

Joe Sawyer with Humphrey Bogart in San Quentin (1937).

The film’s director, Lloyd Bacon, is not someone who gets mentioned when talking about the greats or, as the French would say, auteurs. Still, he did direct over 100 films between 1920 and 1955. Bacon started out as an actor, appearing in about 40 films including Charlie Chaplin’s shorts The Tramp (1915), The Champion (1915) and Easy Street (1917).

Bacon began directing comedy shorts and moved on to features at about the same time sound came into use. A workhorse director for Warner Bros., Bacon is not remembered for having many classic films to his credit, though his name and his films frequently show up on Trophy Unlocked. While he was the director on 42^nd Street (1933) and Footlight Parade (1933), his work is overshadowed by the choreography of Busby Berkeley. Bacon would direct several films starring James Cagney: Picture Snatcher (1933), Here Comes the Navy (1934), Frisco Kid (1935), Boy Meets Girl (1938) and The Oklahoma Kid (1939), but he’s not known for the actor’s signature gangster roles.

Director Lloyd Bacon.

Bacon would also direct A Slight Case of Murder (1938), Indianapolis Speedway (1939), Brother Orchid (1940), Knute Rockne All American (1940), Action in the North Atlantic (1944) and The Fighting Sullivans (1944). His last film would be She Couldn’t Say No (1954), starring Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons. Bacon died in 1955.

There is an attempted earnestness about San Quentin. Deep down inside, the film wants to be the next I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, but it falls very short. The ending, with a dying Red trying to do good for Jameson and May, is a Hollywood ending if there ever was one. Druggin may get his comeuppance, but he is never held responsible for the wrongs he’s done and there is no sign that things will really change. In fact, since Jameson’s plans failed, his reforms seem more likely to be discarded than adopted.

We are also never shown how harsh the treatment really is, the way Fugitive from a Chain Gang showed us with beatings and harsh conditions. Like the long shots of the actual San Quentin prison yard, we are kept away from seeing actual mistreatment or suffering by the prisoners at the hands of those in power like Druggin. We are told rather than shown and that waters down the message.

Perhaps it was Hollywood at the time, trying to work within the confines of the Production Code, or it was simply bad filmmaking, but what could have been a powerful story of prisoner abuse gets shorted by a somewhat hard to believe (not to mention really convenient) relationship between the Captain of the prison yard and the beautiful sister of one of his newest prisoners. These kinds of romantic connections are better suited for comedy than a prison picture.

If you’re like me and want to see everything you can starring, or almost starring, Humphrey Bogart, then you should definitely see San Quentin, if only to see how far he would come. And there are better prison films out there if you’re interested in that genre of films, such as I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. San Quentin is not a bad film, just one that could have been better and could have meant more if it had been.

Interested in seeing this film? It is available at WBShop.com: