Swing High, Swing Low (1937)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

George Manker Watters (play) and
Arthur Hopkins (play) ...

Release Date:

12 March 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Plot:

In Panama, Maggie King meets soldier Skid Johnson on his last day in the army and reluctantly agrees to a date to celebrate...

Plot Keywords:

Nightclub | Soldier | Success | Trumpet | Stranded

Cast

Carole Lombard	...	Marguerite 'Maggie' King
Fred MacMurray	...	Skid Johnson
Charles Butterworth	...	Harry
Jean Dixon	...	Ella
Dorothy Lamour	...	Anita Alvarez
Harvey Stephens	...	Harvey Howell
Cecil Cunningham	...	Murphy
Charles Arnt	...	Georgie Herman
Franklin Pangborn	...	Henri
Anthony Quinn	...	The Don
Charles Judels	...	Tony Morelli

Runtime:

92 min | USA:82 min (2005 DVD release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2995) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The play, "Burlesque," opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 1 September 1927 and closed in July 1928 after 372 performances. The opening night cast included Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Levant and Charles D. Brown. It was revived in 1946 and ran for 2 seasons with Bert Lahr and Jean Parker.

Quotes:

Skid Johnson: I'm all washed up in the army. This is my last day. Say, there's an idea - we oughta celebrate.
Marguerite 'Maggie' King: Yeah, the army will probably do the celebrating!

Movie Connections:

Version of When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)

Soundtrack:

I Hear a Call to Arms

Something About Burlesque

The third Fred MacMurray/Carole Lombard film is a bit more serious than Hands Across the Table and The Princess Comes Across. It's yet another adaption of the play Burlesque which apparently was popular back in the day.

The original play Burlesque ran on Broadway in the 1927-1928 season for 372 performances and it's the role that Carole Lombard plays that Barbara Stanwyck originated on Broadway that brought her to Hollywood. A version starred Nancy Carroll in the early days of talkies and later on Betty Grable and Dan Dailey did still another version of it in When My Baby Smiles At Me.

In fact I have a vinyl album of a radio version that Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler did for the Lux Radio Theater. That's an interesting work, believe me.

Anyway MacMurray and Lombard do fine by the old chestnut, the story is now set in a nightclub where Lombard is a singer and MacMurray is a jazz trumpeter. Note a nice performance by Dorothy Lamour as the Latin vixen who gets between Fred and Carole. Also Anthony Quinn is in one of his earliest films as a wolf on the make for Lombard.

Swing High, Swing Low holds up real nice today and I wouldn't be surprised if we see yet another version of Burlesque for the Twenty First Century.