Prestige (1932)

Director:

Tay Garnett

Writers:

Harry Hervey (story)
Tay Garnett (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

22 January 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Colonial Era | Marriage | Separation | Jungle | Elephant

Cast

Ann Harding	...	Therese Du Flos Verlaine
Adolphe Menjou	...	Capt. Remy Baudoin
Melvyn Douglas	...	Lt. / Capt. Andre Verlaine
Ian Maclaren	...	Col. Du Flos (as Ian MacLaren)
Guy Bates Post	...	Major
Rollo Lloyd	...	Capt. Emil de Fontenac
Clarence Muse	...	Nham, Verlaine's Servant
Tetsu Komai	...	Sergeant

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

USA:Passed

Filming Locations:

Venice, Florida, USA

Company:

RKO Pathé Pictures

Trivia:

Melvyn Douglas was borrowed from Samuel Goldwyn to replace the originally cast Robert Williams (V) who had died of a ruptured appendix.

Quotes:

Lt.: Tell me, what sort of a trip did you have, eh? Pretty rough?
Capt. Remy Baudoin: Not bad. There was an episode with some crocodiles. I thought for a moment I was gone. But it appears they prefer dark meat.
Lt.: Boatman?
[casually]
Lt.: Too bad.

Soundtrack:

Etude in E Op.10 No.3

Kudos for the director

Like virtually all films of its era that deal with Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, this one is totally matter-of-fact about the impact of colonialism on the affected nations and their people, and instead concentrates on the hardships suffered by Europeans assigned there. Melvyn Douglas, ordered to command a penal colony in French Indo-China, falls victim to heat, boredom, loneliness; so severe is his decline into alcoholism and despair that not even the arrival of his beloved, Ann Harding, is able to pull him out of it for long.

The prisoners would gladly trade his problems for their own. What lifts this melodrama out of the realm of the ordinary is the outstanding work of director Tay Garnett, particularly his use of a very mobile camera and the construction of perhaps a dozen long tracking shots that are stunning to behold. It is always notable when conventional material is transformed into on-screen excellence by the talent behind the camera, as well as in front of it. Here is a prime example.