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Wonder Bar (1934)
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Overview
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Release Date:
31 March 1934 (USA)
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Tagline:
Warner Bros.' Wonder Show of the Century!
Plot:
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...
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Perverse, jaw-dropping Art Deco musical
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Al Jolson | ... | Al Wonder |
 | Kay Francis | ... | Liane Renaud |
 | Dolores del Rio | ... | Inez (as Dolores Del Rio) |
 | Ricardo Cortez | ... | Harry the Gigolo |
| Dick Powell | ... | Tommy |
| Guy Kibbee | ... | Henry Simpson |
| Ruth Donnelly | ... | Mrs. Emma Simpson |
 | Hugh Herbert | ... | Corey Pratt |
| Louise Fazenda | ... | Mrs. Pansy Pratt |
| Hal Le Roy | ... | Hal - Blackface Dancer |
| 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 |
Additional Details
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Runtime:
84 min
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Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
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Certification:
Australia:G |
USA:Passed (National Board of Review) |
USA:Approved (PCA #2699-R) (22 September 1936 for re-release)
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
One scene gave the censors some consternation: A man asks a couple if he can cut into their dance, and while the woman says, "Sure!" and rushes towards him, he dances away with her partner. Upon hearing this, Al Jolson says with a twinkle in his eye: "Boys will be boys!" Warner Brothers refused to cut the scene (and it exists today in the Turner Classic Movies print). At the time, the Production Code was not rigorously enforced. Surprisingly, however, the movie was approved for reissue in 1936 despite this homosexual scene and the fact that someone gets away with murder, both clear violations of the Production Code.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in A Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio (1935)
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Soundtrack:
Fairer on the Riviera
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In the series of Warner Bros/Busby Berkeley musicals stretching from 42ND Street to Varsity Show, Wonder Bar remains the least appreciated (and perhaps the least seen). It's quite remarkable in that the plot, aside from a few opening scenes, keeps "real time" and relationships begin/end, lives are lost, and and all sorts of minor dramas are tied up neatly in one evening at a nightclub.
Al Jolson, as the club owner, takes some getting used to, but he's actually more low-key than usual here--and even a bit touching in scenes. And how fabulous do Kay Francis and Delores Del Rio look in this film? Who cares if they can't act--they do lots of radiant posing and wear gorgeous outfits. There are some bits with Louise Fazenda and a much younger man that left me gasping. The brief (and very funny) "gay scene" and hunky Ricardo Cortez whipping Del Rio also had me shaking my head in disbelief. Anyone care to count how many censorship Code infractions are contained in this film? It raised a stir with the Catholic church and Legion of Decency, and I've read a memo somewhere that some audiences reportedly were appalled by the goings-on in this movie (it was a hit though--grossing nearly a million dollars for the studio).
If you're reading about this movie you already know about the musical numbers--"Don't Say Goodnight", with its octagon of mirrors and chorus stretching into infinity, and "Goin to Heaven on a Mule", with the blackface angels and dancing watermelon. "Mule" is beyond belief--it must've been a killer on the big screen. Viewers are still offended by it, and certainly should be--all it is missing is a Grand Dragon.
A witty, fascinating, naughty, beautifully photographed film. If 42ND Street is the king of the WB/Busby Berkeley crown, Wonder Bar is the banished, scandalous cousin that is inevitably more fun.