You Only Live Once (1937)

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Gene Towne (screenplay) &
C. Graham Baker (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 January 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

He robbed... kidnapped... he murdered... Because of the love of one woman!

Plot:

Joan is the secretary to the public defender in a large city. She is in love with a career criminal named Eddie...

Plot Keywords:

Paradise | Suicide Attempt | Falsely Accused | Prison | Social Issues

Cast

Sylvia Sidney	...	Joan Graham Taylor
Henry Fonda	...	Eddie Taylor
Barton MacLane	...	Stephen Whitney
Jean Dixon	...	Bonnie Graham
William Gargan	...	Father Dolan
Jerome Cowan	...	Dr. Hill
Charles 'Chic' Sale	...	Ethan (as Chic Sale)
Margaret Hamilton	...	Hester
Warren Hymer	...	Buggsy
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Rogers (misspelled Roger in closing credits) (as Guinn Williams)
John Wray	...	Warden Wheeler
Walter De Palma	...	Monk Mendall
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Earl Askam	...	Corridor guard (uncredited)
Hooper Atchley	...	Teletype operator (uncredited)
Allen Black	...	Baby Taylor (uncredited)
Stanley Blystone	...	Rafferty, guard (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Casey, guard (uncredited)
Wade Boteler	...	Pat, policeman with package (uncredited)
Al Bridge	...	Guard (uncredited)
Don Brodie	...	Compositor (uncredited)
Raymond Brown	...	Engineer (uncredited)
George Burton	...	Convict waiter (uncredited)
Jack Carson	...	Attendant in first gas station (uncredited)
Jack Cheatham	...	Prison hospital guard (uncredited)
Russ Clark	...	Officer (uncredited)
David Clyde	...	Fireman (uncredited)
Shirley Coates	...	Ethel (uncredited)
Harry Cording	...	Guard (uncredited)
Edgar Dearing	...	State trooper firing machine gun (uncredited)
Mary Anne Durkin	...	Warden's 14-year-old daughter (uncredited)
Dick Elliott	...	City editor (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	State trooper (uncredited)
Malcolm Graham	...	Warden's secretary (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Jonathan Hale	...	District attorney (uncredited)
Al K. Hall	...	Man in auto court office (uncredited)
Ben Hall	...	Messenger with package (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Armored car guard unloading money (uncredited)
Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian	...	Williams' assistant (uncredited)
Jack Herrick	...	Convict watching baseball game (uncredited)
Herbert Heywood	...	Brakeman in diner (uncredited)
Al Hill	...	Attendant in second gas station (uncredited)
Earl 'Hap' Hogan	...	Trusty (uncredited)
Betsy Ruth Huff	...	Eight-year-old girl (uncredited)
Ethan Laidlaw	...	Tony, aka Tommy, a guard (uncredited)
Robert Lee	...	Jason (uncredited)
Wally Maher	...	Attendant in second gas station (uncredited)
Frank Mills	...	Man telling Eddie of phone call (uncredited)
Roberta Mountjoy	...	Warden's eight-year-old daughter (uncredited)
Ted Oliver	...	State trooper (uncredited)
William Pawley	...	Mr. Williams (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Corridor guard (uncredited)
James Pierce	...	Guard (uncredited)
Lon Poff	...	Halsey (uncredited)
Stanley Price	...	Sparks, man in diner (uncredited)
Mickey Rentschler	...	Ten-year-old boy (uncredited)
William Ruhl	...	Guard (uncredited)
Claire Sinclair	...	Mrs. Wheeler (uncredited)
Robert St. Angelo	...	Corridor guard (uncredited)
Jean Stoddard	...	Stenographer (uncredited)
Henry Taylor	...	Kozderonas, apple vendor (uncredited)
Monte Vandergrift	...	Traffic policeman (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	Dan, corridor guard (uncredited)
Kathrin Clare Ward	...	Blonde cook in diner (uncredited)
E. Alyn Warren	...	Prison chef (as Fred Warren) (uncredited)
Lillian West	...	Mother (uncredited)
Charles C. Wilson	...	Police inspector (uncredited)
Harry Wilson	...	Convict watching baseball game (uncredited)

Directed by
Fritz Lang

Writing credits
Gene Towne		(screenplay) &
C. Graham Baker		(screenplay) (as Graham Baker)

Produced by
Walter Wanger	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Alfred Newman		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Leon Shamroy		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Daniel Mandell

Art Direction by
Alexander Toluboff

Costume Design by
Helen Taylor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Lee	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Frank Maher	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Burnett Guffey	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Alfred Newman	....	musical director
Hugo Friedhofer	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Raphael Penso	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Walter Wanger	....	presenter
Hazel Adams	....	stand-in: Sylvia Sidney (uncredited)
Vance Griffith	....	stand-in: Barton MacLane (uncredited)
Robert Mitchell	....	stand-in: Henry Fonda (uncredited)
Isabelle Sheridan	....	stand-in: Jean Dixon (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Walter Wanger Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1937) (USA) (theatrical)
• Masterpiece Productions (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Masterpiece Productions (1950) (USA) (TV)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2006) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Three Time Loser (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1937) | USA:Approved (PCA #2944) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Walter Wanger Productions

Trivia:

The song "A Thousand Dreams of You" was probably played as background music, since the published sheet music cover showed pictures of Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda. It is known that Fonda recorded the song on 6 November 1936, but his singing does not appear in the film.

Quotes:

Joan Graham: Anywhere's our home. On the road. Out there on a cold star. Anywhere's our home.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)

Soundtrack:

A Thousand Dreams of You

A bit over rated

A bit over rated, this one, I think. It certainly takes a while to get going, is a bit sentimental and has plenty of plot holes. However, this is an early noir and being of lasting influence was certainly one of Mr Lang's traits.

Some of the shots are as stunning as they are surprising and things are not overly explained, it's just that some stretches seem a little flat. Whilst I can see much of the early scenes are to make the later consequences more poignant but seventy years on these can appear ponderous.

Take nothing away for the last twenty minutes or so, though, plus the superb and heavily ironic prison yard scene.