Zenobia (1939)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Walter DeLeon (story) &
Arnold Belgard (story) ...

Release Date:

21 April 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A southern country doctor is called on by a visiting circus man to cure his sick elephant. After the doctor heals the grateful beast...

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Elephant | Americana | Beautiful Woman | Racial Stereotype

Cast

Oliver Hardy	...	Dr. Henry Tibbett
Harry Langdon	...	Professor McCrackle
Billie Burke	...	Mrs. Bessie Tibbett
Alice Brady	...	Mrs. Emily Carter
James Ellison	...	Jeff Carter
Jean Parker	...	Mary Tibbett
June Lang	...	Virginia Reynolds
Olin Howland	...	Attorney Culpepper
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Judge
Stepin Fetchit	...	Zero (as Step'n Fetchit)
Hattie McDaniel	...	Dehlia (as Hattie McDaniels)
Philip Hurlic	...	Zeke (as Phillip Hurlic)
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Mr. Dover
Clem Bevans	...	Sheriff
Tommy Mack	...	Mr. Miller - the Butcher

Also Known As:

Elephants Never Forget (UK)
It's Spring Again (USA) (working title)
This Time It's Love (USA) (working title)
We the People (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #5022) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:S | Germany:o.Al. | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

This film was originally developed as a Laurel and Hardy vehicle, but was re-scripted after Stan Laurel had a falling out with Hal Roach and left the studio for quite some time in 1938-1939.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Of Mice and Men (1939)

Soundtrack:

I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls

Unique one time partnership

For those looking for the magic of Laurel and Hardy, "Zenobia" offers an alternative that occurred because of Laurel's contract negotiations. Made the same year as "Gone With The Wind", Zenobia takes place in a time before the Civil War, where a small Southern plantation town at peace, is disrupted when the excitable traveling promoter (Harry Langdon), seeks aid for his ailing partner. A beloved country doctor (Oliver Hardy) is surprised and resists, but is coerced into treating a fully grown elephant for a terrible condition. Proving that a good deed never goes unpunished for Hardy, the patient, attempting to say 'thanks', relentlessly follows the good doctor and there is no place to hide, not even a formal social gathering. With the town in an uproar and his wife (Billie Burke) embarrassed at the spectacle, Dr Tibbetts is the focus of laughter, ridicule and a lawsuit. Twelve year old Philip Hurlic turns in a memorable performance that needs to be seen in the context of today.

Langdon is little known by most and seems very much like Buster Keaton, but just a bit more shy. Although, Langdon is not as appreciated for his works as Stan and Ollie, his touching performance in "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!" when he meets Joan Crawford, the girl of his dreams, face to face for the first time is something to behold. If you can look past Laurel's absence in this rare partnership, Zenobia will have you laughing at a moment in time when fate put two funny men and an elephant on a collision course. On such paths they prove there is just no dignified way to get around a loving elephant.