Once in a Lifetime (1932)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Russell Mack

Writers:

Moss Hart (play) and
George S. Kaufman (play) ...

Release Date:

2 October 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Story of a Hollywood studio during the transition from silents to talkies. |

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Train | Vaudevillian | Satire | Based On Play

Cast

Jack Oakie	...	George Lewis
Sidney Fox	...	Susan Walker
Aline MacMahon	...	May Daniels
Russell Hopton	...	Jerome 'Jerry' Hyland
Louise Fazenda	...	Helen Hobart
Zasu Pitts	...	Miss Leyton
Gregory Ratoff	...	Herman Glogauer
Jobyna Howland	...	Mrs. Walker
Onslow Stevens	...	Lawrence Vail
Gregory Gaye	...	Rudolph Kammerling
Eddie Kane	...	Meterstein
Johnnie Morris	...	Weiskopf (as Johnny Morris)
Frank LaRue	...	The Bishop
Margaret Lindsay	...	Dr. Lewis' Secretary

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #3158) (24 February 1937)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Quotes:

Herman Gloguaer: What did they have to go and make pictures talk for? Things were going along fine. You couldn't stop making money - even if you turned out a good picture you made money.

Broadway to Hollywood

ONCE IN A LIFETIME (Universal, 1932), directed by Russell Mack, is a film comedy based on the 1930 stage success by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The screen adaptation, dated, sometimes stagy and mostly all-talking, does manage to come across with some funny lines given by veteran comedians, headed by Jack Oakie (on loan from Paramount) as George Lewis, the lovable dim-wit, with Aline MacMahon (on loan from Warner Brothers) as the serious-minded, acid-tongued May Daniels, whose mannerisms sometimes reminds me of Audrey Meadows character role of Alice Kramden in the classic TV sit-com "The Honeymooners" starring Jackie Gleason.

The story begins with a trio of vaudevillians, George, May and Jerry Hyland (Russell Hopton) who find there is no longer a future in performing to almost empty houses while crowds line up outside movie theaters to watch the new phase of "talking pictures." May suggests the trio take their once in a lifetime chance, pack up their bags and take the next train out to Hollywood in hope to land jobs as voice-culture experts, even though they know nothing about the subject. On the train they encounter Helen Hobart (Louise Fazenda), a gossip columnist, conversing with Susan Walker (Sidney Fox), an young hopeful who is heading for Hollywood to break into the movies. George becomes very much interested in young Susan, but before long, Susan starts to call him "Georgie." After making a good impression with Helen Hobart, George, May and Jerry con her into letting them visit with the studio boss, Herman Glogauer (Gregory Ratoff) who agrees on setting up a school of elocution. Because George boldly talks back to the heavily accented Glogauer, telling him truths that his "yes" men keep from him, George is made supervising producer. Funny moments occur when George is given a movie assignment, but to Glogauer's rage, learns that George has filmed the wrong movie by taking a script from a 1910 production. As for Susan, who auditions by stump marching her feet and reciting "Boots, Boots, Boots, Boots ...." (don't remember how the rest of this goes), gets a part in George's movie, but after seeing the sneak preview, she becomes outraged by the outcome, feeling her career is finished before it has begun. George gets fired, but due to his trial and error, all works out well in the end.

Also featured in the cast are Onslow Stevens as Lawrence Vail, a young playwright (reportedly inspired by Kaufman himself) who sits in the studio waiting area for SIX months hoping to see Mr. Glogauer, eventually getting frustrated at Glogauer's scatterbrained receptionist, Miss Leighton (ZaSu Pitts), before taking the next train back East; Jobyna Howland and Robert McWade as Susan's parents; Gregory Gaye as Rudolph; Carol Tevis, the one with that baby voice, as Florabelle Leigh, auditioning for a movie role by crying; and appearing briefly is Margaret Lindsay as George Lewis's secretary.

Once considered to be a lost movie, the found ONCE IN A LIFETIME did gets its rare TV presentation on education television (PBS) and revival theaters in the early 1970s before going out of circulation again. While other Hollywood's Hollywood stories of 1932 occasionally do get revived these days, including the serious WHAT PRICE Hollywood? (RKO); the hilarious Harold Lloyd comedy, MOVIE CRAZY, and comedy-drama, MAKE ME A STAR (both for Paramount), which get to be shown here and there on Turner Classic Movies, ONCE IN A LIFETIME is worthy of rediscovering again, and to see it shown after decades resting in some dark studio vault, would definitely be a once in a lifetime experience. (***)