Wonder Bar (1934)

Harry and Inez are a dance team at the Wonder Bar. Inez loves Harry, but he is in love with Liane, the wife of a wealthy business man. Al Wonder and the conductor/singer Tommy are in love ... See full summary »

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Geza Herczeg (based on the play by), Karl Farkas (based on the play by),

Stars:

Al Jolson, Kay Francis, Dolores del Rio

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Al Jolson	...	Al Wonder
Kay Francis	...	Liane
Dolores del Rio	...	Inez (as Dolores Del Rio)
Ricardo Cortez	...	Harry
Dick Powell	...	Tommy
Guy Kibbee	...	Simpson
Ruth Donnelly	...	Mrs. Simpson
Hugh Herbert	...	Pratt
Louise Fazenda	...	Mrs. Pratt
Hal Le Roy	...	Himself
Fifi D'Orsay	...	Mitzi
Merna Kennedy	...	Claire
Henry O'Neill	...	Richard - the Maitre'd
Robert Barrat	...	Captain Hugo Von Ferring
Henry Kolker	...	Mr. R.H. Renaud

Storyline

Harry and Inez are a dance team at the Wonder Bar. Inez loves Harry, but he is in love with Liane, the wife of a wealthy business man. Al Wonder and the conductor/singer Tommy are in love with Inez. When Inez finds out, that Harry wants to leave Paris and is going to the USA with Liane she kills him.

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Plot Keywords:

russian | homosexuality | rivals for love | 1930s | painted face | 

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Taglines:

Warner Bros.' Wonder Show of the Century!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 March 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bar Wonder

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$675,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Al Jolson insisted on singing the opening number Vive la France live on set, as he claimed it would be impossible to do the song justice if was filmed miming to playback, in order to deliver it with the excitement and verve that only he could bring to it. Even though this presented considerable technical problems, Warner Brothers agreed (that's the real studio orchestra actually on set playing the house band of the Wonder Bar) and this is one of the very last musical numbers to be performed live on camera.

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Quotes

Al Wonder: [rolls eyes as two men dance off together] Boys will be boys, woooo!

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Connections

Referenced in And She Learned About Dames (1934)

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Soundtracks

"All Washed Up"
(1934) (uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Instrumental dance number (after Jolson sings "Vive La France")

User Reviews

Busby Berkeley Rules

Jolson's Al Wonder is a cross between Rufus T. Firefly and an early blueprint for Bogart's Rick in CASABLANCA (he owns a club, he fixes everybody's problems, he's hopelessly in love with a woman (del Rio) who's attached to somebody else, and he's an American living in a foreign city -- Paris, in this case).

Ricardo Cortez and Dolores del Rio display mannerisms typical of actors still in transition from the silent era. They both bring some magnetism to the screen, as do Kay Francis and Dick Powell. The comedy thread, featuring Guy Kibbee, Ruth Donnelly, Hugh Herbert and Louise Fazenda as two American couples determined to take advantage of the sexual exoticism of Paris, gets a little thin.

It's a well made film, although clearly dated, and with some interesting moral ambiguity. Its limits as art and as entertainment are transcended during two sublime Busby Berkeley sequences: the first a typically dazzling choreographic gem emerging from a Cortez/del Rio dance routine; and the second, equally impressive, but bizarre, following Jolson in blackface going up to Heaven on a mule, during which Jolson seems to want to add Cab Calloway to his character's identikit.

It's to Lloyd Bacon's (and the cast's) credit that the contrivances of the plot don't dull the film's impact too much, but it is only when BB's magic unfolds that WONDER BAR becomes exceptionally good.