Merrily We Go to Hell (MWGTH) provides a useful example of one of the downside aspects of the Studio System that flourished during the Golden Age of Hollywood. In 1928, Fredric March was one of America's better known and most promising young stage actors---primarily because of his recent celebrated performance as Tony Cavendish (a spoof of John Barrymore) in the hit play "The Royal Family of Broadway." A movie career inevitably beckoned, and accordingly March signed a five year contract to be a film actor employed by Paramount Studio. Soon he was hard at work making many movies----some worthwhile and others less so.
In 1931, he had the good fortune to star in the stylish (and now classic) Rouben Mamoulian version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde---for which he received his first Academy Award. March's performance was so remarkable.and distinctive that one could reasonably assume Paramount would willingly have provided him with more significant roles to utilize his obvious talent. Alas, that is not the way the Studio System operated. Shortly thereafter, March appeared in a routine vehicle titled Strangers in Love. Then, about six months after he made Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, March starred in MWGTH. It was cut from similar cloth as Strangers in Love, and from an artistic point of view--it proved to be equally disappointing to March.
By 1932, it was increasingly difficult to make a believable romantic comedy that presented a chronic alcoholic lead character as also being a charming, appealing and fun-loving hero. And even in this pre-code era, it was getting somewhat tiresome to offer the idea of an "open" marriage as a good way to sustain a meaningful life style between two people who claimed that they were truly in love with each other. Nevertheless even with good acting and Dorothy Arzner's careful direction, the narrative of MWGTH made it particularly difficult to empathize with the March character. And while Sylvia Sidney's sweet and endearing heroine was quite likable and attractive, this just did not seem enough to make us care about how the story was ultimately resolved. That was too bad, because Sidney made her long-suffering wife very likable. And "Skeets" Gallagher's best friend role also came across effective as well. Strange, but I never before noticed how much Gallagher facially reminded me of Joe E. Brown.
Making films like MWGTH must have provided a serious wake up call for March in terms of how not to successfully sustain a budding movie career. When his Paramount contract lapsed, he did not renew it. March (and other actors of similar stature---most notably Cary Grant) subsequently insisted on becoming a free-lance artist, which enabled him to be more choosy about the roles he would agree to play in the future.
MWGTH is an interesting vehicle to illustrate the kind of films that talented contract players like March had to make under the Studio System at its zenith. He would never allow himself to be put in that situation again. March appeared in some later films that may have been beneath him. But the choice to do so was now his alone.
As a practical matter, it seems that the plot elements of drunkenness and wanton behavior have limited entertainment appeal when offered as inducements to see what is presented to the public as light romantic comedy. Fortunately, March went on to create a major film career that ranks among the greatest in Hollywood history.
In 1931, he had the good fortune to star in the stylish (and now classic) Rouben Mamoulian version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde---for which he received his first Academy Award. March's performance was so remarkable.and distinctive that one could reasonably assume Paramount would willingly have provided him with more significant roles to utilize his obvious talent. Alas, that is not the way the Studio System operated. Shortly thereafter, March appeared in a routine vehicle titled Strangers in Love. Then, about six months after he made Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, March starred in MWGTH. It was cut from similar cloth as Strangers in Love, and from an artistic point of view--it proved to be equally disappointing to March.
By 1932, it was increasingly difficult to make a believable romantic comedy that presented a chronic alcoholic lead character as also being a charming, appealing and fun-loving hero. And even in this pre-code era, it was getting somewhat tiresome to offer the idea of an "open" marriage as a good way to sustain a meaningful life style between two people who claimed that they were truly in love with each other. Nevertheless even with good acting and Dorothy Arzner's careful direction, the narrative of MWGTH made it particularly difficult to empathize with the March character. And while Sylvia Sidney's sweet and endearing heroine was quite likable and attractive, this just did not seem enough to make us care about how the story was ultimately resolved. That was too bad, because Sidney made her long-suffering wife very likable. And "Skeets" Gallagher's best friend role also came across effective as well. Strange, but I never before noticed how much Gallagher facially reminded me of Joe E. Brown.
Making films like MWGTH must have provided a serious wake up call for March in terms of how not to successfully sustain a budding movie career. When his Paramount contract lapsed, he did not renew it. March (and other actors of similar stature---most notably Cary Grant) subsequently insisted on becoming a free-lance artist, which enabled him to be more choosy about the roles he would agree to play in the future.
MWGTH is an interesting vehicle to illustrate the kind of films that talented contract players like March had to make under the Studio System at its zenith. He would never allow himself to be put in that situation again. March appeared in some later films that may have been beneath him. But the choice to do so was now his alone.
As a practical matter, it seems that the plot elements of drunkenness and wanton behavior have limited entertainment appeal when offered as inducements to see what is presented to the public as light romantic comedy. Fortunately, March went on to create a major film career that ranks among the greatest in Hollywood history.