Idiot's Delight (1939)

A group of disparate travelers are caught are thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the start of WWII.

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

Robert E. Sherwood (play), Robert E. Sherwood (screenplay)

Stars:

Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, Edward Arnold

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Norma Shearer	...	Irene Fellara
Clark Gable	...	Harry Van
Edward Arnold	...	Achille Weber
Charles Coburn	...	Dr. Hugo Waldersee
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Capt. Kirvline
Burgess Meredith	...	Quillary
Laura Hope Crews	...	Madame Zuleika
Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher	...	'Don' Navadel (as Skeets Gallagher)
Peter Willes	...	Mr. Jimmy Cherry
Pat Paterson	...	Mrs. Cherry
William Edmunds	...	Dumptsy
Fritz Feld	...	Pittatek
Virginia Grey	...	Shirley Laughlin
Virginia Dale	...	Francine Merle
Paula Stone	...	Beulah Tremayne

Storyline

When song-and-dance man Harry Van returns from World War I, he finds work hard to come by. His greatest success comes as straight man in a phony vaudeville mind-reading act with the tipsy Madame Zulieka. While on tour in Omaha he meets acrobat Irene Fellara, and they have a brief romance. Twenty years later while Harry is on tour in Europe with a troupe of leggy blonde dancers, his train is stopped at the Swiss border and he finds himself stranded in the Alps in anticipation of World War II hostilities. Harry and his chorines take refuge in an Alpine hotel with a group of disparate travelers who are also marooned there. Among them are an American pacifist, British newlyweds, a cancer researcher, a German munitions manufacturer, and a beautiful blonde expatriate Russian aristocrat who looks suspiciously like the Irene of two decades earlier.

---

Plot Keywords:

hotel | blonde | mind reading act | vaudeville | newlyweds | 

---

Taglines:

The Biggest Thrill They Ever Gave You! Norma and Clark together in the romance of a "ham" song-and-dance man and a "red-headed liar from Omaha."

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Esperanto

Release Date:

27 January 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Az élet komédiása

Filming Locations:

Clarence Brown Ranch - Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Joan Crawford desperately wanted the role of Irene. But Shearer's late husband, producer Irving Thalberg had left his MGM stock to her, so she had first choice of parts.

---

Goofs

During the air battle in the ending shot for the international market the background film is clearly looped since the same twin-tailed airplane (similar to an American P-38) flies past the window 8 times.

---

Quotes

Irene Fellara: Where'd you get your education, Harry?
Harry Van: What makes you think I got one?

---

Crazy Credits

The actresses who play "Les Blondes" are not credited individually; they are given the credit "Harry Van's 'Les Blondes'......Themselves", similar to the manner in which the "Munchkins" were credited in "The Wizard of Oz", another film released that year by M-G-M.

---

Connections

Featured in Clark Gable: Tall, Dark and Handsome (1996)

---

Soundtracks

"How Strange"
(uncredited)
Music by Sam Messenheimer
Lyrics by Gus Kahn
Played at Daka's Place and at the hotel
Sung by Norma Shearer in Russian

User Reviews

Wonderfully odd. Would to see it on DVD.

I saw this last year at an old movie festival. Wonderful 35mm print with the pops and hisses and of course it broke in the middle. Still, managed to see it all.

Gable and Shearer are perfect and it's so quirky, so odd, that it works. Great chemistry between them and great secondary cast.

Gable can sing and dance a little but the dialog is what you are looking for.

The outbreak of WW2 and you're in the alps or wherever stranded with these stars.

A restored DVD copy would be great. Watch for it.