Long Lost Father (1934)

Director:

Ernest B. Schoedsack

Writers:

G.B. Stern (novel)
Dwight Taylor (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 January 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Carl Bellairs and Lindsey Lane, his daughter, meet many years after he deserted her and her mother. They don't much like each other...

Plot Keywords:

Nightclub | Thief | Inheritance | Con Man | London England

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

John Barrymore	...	Carl Bellairs
Helen Chandler	...	Lindsey Lane
Donald Cook	...	Bill Strong
Alan Mowbray	...	Sir Tony Gelding
Claude King	...	The Inspector
E.E. Clive	...	Spot Hawkins
Reginald Sharland	...	Lord Vivian
Ferdinand Gottschalk	...	The Lawyer
Natalie Moorhead	...	Phyllis Mersey-Royds
Doris Lloyd	...	The Blonde Widow
Phyllis Barry	...	Party Guest
Tempe Pigott	...	Mrs. Gamp - The Old Woman
Herbert Bunston	...	The Bishop
Charles Irwin	...	Mr. Chisholm
John Rogers	...	Mr. Arno

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1340-R, 29 August 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Helen Chandler replaced Elizabeth Allan after Allan was taken ill.

Quotes:

Bellairs: [on the phone with Lindsey] Sir Anthony Gelding wants to know how much you would ask to appear here in our floor show at the Happy Hour... How much? How much? My dear young lady, it's only for singing. Sir Anthony Gelding's a happily married man.

Soundtrack:

Auld Lang Syne

Delightful, a little gem

This is a quite short and minor film for movie great John Barrymore, but one of his most engaging. He plays a ne'er-do-well man about town who is currently managing a London nightclub. At a will reading he comes to meet the daughter he has not seen in twenty years. She is now an entertainer and at the behest of the nightclub owner, is induced, against the father's wishes, to perform there. The father-daughter relationship, at first very frosty, develops amusingly and charmingly.

Barrymore, capable, of course, of the great dramatic or romantic performance, is here wonderfully delightful, at times touchingly paternal, but never overly sentimental. As always, it is pure pleasure to hear his every line of dialog and to see the thoughts and emotions play upon his face. This is Barrymore lite, but a performance one can easily see again and again with enjoyment. His daughter, not expectedly a bit wild and eccentric, is perfectly played by Helen Chandler. She is best known for being in Dracula with Lugosi and Christopher Strong with Hepburn, but this is probably her best role. (Actually this is a part one can imagine John's grand-daughter Drew playing!) Miss Chandler, so believable as John Barrymore's daughter was, ironically, married to Bramwell Fletcher, who would later marry Barrymore's daughter.

The supporting cast, particularly Donald Cook as the boyfriend and Alan Mowbray as the nightclub owner, is very good. The direction (by King Kong veteran Ernest Schoedsack) is brisk and well-paced, even if the story meanders a bit. --- The major fault of the film is that there perhaps could be a bit more of it.