International House (1933 film)
Encyclopedia
International House is a comedy film
, directed by A. Edward Sutherland
and released by Paramount Pictures
. The tagline of the film was "the Grand Hotel
of comedy".
variety show, interlaced with a plot line, in the style of the Big Broadcast
pictures that were also released by Paramount during the 1930s
The ostensible plot line concerns a Chinese inventor trying to sell a "radioscope", an early version of television
. Unlike real television, this imagined mechanism did not need a camera, but its monitor could zoom in on acts around the world. In addition to the typical Fieldsian comic lunacy, it also provides a snapshot of some popular stage and radio acts of the era.
The setting is a large hotel in Wuhu, China
(from the dialogue, "Wuhu" was clearly chosen as a pun on the greeting "Yoo hoo") and the "international" in the title resonates with the real-life International Settlement in Shanghai
. It was actually filmed on Paramount's Hollywood back lot.
Fields portrays Dr. Henry R. Quail, who is one of many people—from all over the world—converging on the "International House Hotel" in Wuhu, though he is the only one not hoping to buy (or steal) Dr. Wong's television invention, as he was intending to land in Kansas City but went off-course.
The film ends with minor characters chasing Fields as he drives Peggy Hopkins Joyce in his American Austin (the smallest car sold in America at that time) through the function rooms of the hotel and up and down the stairs, to drive the car into the hold of his autogyro
and take off.
fully controlled filmmaking, and is notable for the kind of risqué humor associated with Pre-Code Hollywood. In Cab Calloway
's song "Reefer Man," moreover, bass player Al Morgan
performs as if in a trance and Calloway sings about him being "high on reefers."
newsreel featured the story. A documentary featurette on W.C. Fields accompanying the film's DVD release, however, reveals that Fields faked the footage from the set as a publicity stunt. The actual earthquake
was centered in nearby Long Beach, California
. 115 people were killed and most of the downtown section was destroyed.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
, directed by A. Edward Sutherland
A. Edward Sutherland
A. Edward Sutherland aka Eddie Sutherland was a film director and actor. Born Albert Edward Sutherland in London, he was from a theatrical family. His father, Al Sutherland, was a theatre manager and producer and his mother, Julie Ring, was a vaudeville performer...
and released by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. The tagline of the film was "the Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel (film)
Grand Hotel is a 1932 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by William A. Drake and Béla Balázs is based on the 1930 play of the same title by Drake, who had adapted it from the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum...
of comedy".
Actors
- Peggy Hopkins JoycePeggy Hopkins JoycePeggy Hopkins Joyce was an American actress and celebrity, famed as much for her several marriages to wealthy men, colorful divorces, scandalous affairs, her diamonds and generally lavish lifestyle as for her work on stage or screen.-Brief Biography:Born Marguerite Upton in Berkley, Virginia, she...
as herself - W. C. FieldsW. C. FieldsWilliam Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
as Prof. Henry R. Quail - Stuart ErwinStuart ErwinStuart Erwin was an American actor. Erwin began acting in college in the 1920s, first appearing on the stage, then breaking into films in 1928 in Mother Knows Best...
- Tommy Nash - George BurnsGeorge BurnsGeorge Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
- Doctor Burns - Gracie AllenGracie AllenGrace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
- Nurse Allen - Sari MaritzaSari MaritzaSari Maritza was an actress in British films of the early 1930s.Born Dora Patricia Detring-Nathan in Tianjin, China, Maritza was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist and his Viennese wife. Her stage name was taken from the titles of two then famous European operettas: 'Sari' and 'Countess...
- Carol Fortescue - Lumsden HareLumsden HareLumsden Hare was an Irish born film and theatre actor. He was also a theatre director and theatrical producer....
- Sir Mortimer Fortescue - Bela LugosiBéla LugosiBéla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
- Gen. Nicholas Petronovich - Franklin PangbornFranklin PangbornFranklin Pangborn was an American comedic character actor. Pangborn was famous for small, but memorable roles, with a comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W.C. Fields films International House, The Bank Dick, and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break...
- Hotel Manager - Edmund BreeseEdmund BreeseEdmund Breese was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Long on the stage with a varied Broadway career before entering movies he appeared with James O'Neill in The Count of Monte Cristo , The Lion and the Mouse with Richard Bennett, The Third Degree with Helen Ware, The...
- Dr. Wong, Chinese inventor - Stoopnagle and BuddStoopnagle and BuddStoopnagle and Budd were a popular radio comedy team of the 1930s, who are sometimes cited as forerunners of the Bob and Ray style of radio comedy...
as F. Chase Taylor and Budd Hulick
Performers
- Rudy ValleeRudy ValléeRudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
as himself - Cab CallowayCab CallowayCabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
as himself, with his band - Rose MarieRose MarieRose Marie is an American actress. As a child performer she had a successful singing career as Baby Rose Marie....
as herself ("Baby Rose Marie") - Sterling HollowaySterling HollowaySterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...
- Coffee Mugg
Synopsis
The film is a mix of numerous acts and bits, like a vaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
variety show, interlaced with a plot line, in the style of the Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast of 1938
The Big Broadcast of 1938 is a Paramount Pictures film featuring W.C. Fields and Bob Hope. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film is the last in a series of Big Broadcast movies that were variety show anthologies...
pictures that were also released by Paramount during the 1930s
The ostensible plot line concerns a Chinese inventor trying to sell a "radioscope", an early version of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Unlike real television, this imagined mechanism did not need a camera, but its monitor could zoom in on acts around the world. In addition to the typical Fieldsian comic lunacy, it also provides a snapshot of some popular stage and radio acts of the era.
The setting is a large hotel in Wuhu, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(from the dialogue, "Wuhu" was clearly chosen as a pun on the greeting "Yoo hoo") and the "international" in the title resonates with the real-life International Settlement in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. It was actually filmed on Paramount's Hollywood back lot.
Fields portrays Dr. Henry R. Quail, who is one of many people—from all over the world—converging on the "International House Hotel" in Wuhu, though he is the only one not hoping to buy (or steal) Dr. Wong's television invention, as he was intending to land in Kansas City but went off-course.
The film ends with minor characters chasing Fields as he drives Peggy Hopkins Joyce in his American Austin (the smallest car sold in America at that time) through the function rooms of the hotel and up and down the stairs, to drive the car into the hold of his autogyro
Autogyro
An autogyro , also known as gyroplane, gyrocopter, or rotaplane, is a type of rotorcraft which uses an unpowered rotor in autorotation to develop lift, and an engine-powered propeller, similar to that of a fixed-wing aircraft, to provide thrust...
and take off.
Pre-Code elements
The film was produced in the days before the Production CodeProduction Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
fully controlled filmmaking, and is notable for the kind of risqué humor associated with Pre-Code Hollywood. In Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
's song "Reefer Man," moreover, bass player Al Morgan
Al Morgan (musician)
Albert Morgan was an American jazz double-bassist.Morgan came from a musical family; Sam Morgan and Isaiah Morgan were both bandleaders and trumpeters, and Andrew Morgan was a jazz reedist. Morgan started on clarinet, then learned baritone sax, tuba, and bass...
performs as if in a trance and Calloway sings about him being "high on reefers."
Earthquake
During the filming of International House, a small tremor struck the set while cameras were rolling, and a Paramount NewsParamount News
Paramount News is the name on the newsreels produced by Paramount Pictures .-History:The Paramount Newsreel began operation in 1927 and distributed roughly two movie theater issues per week until their closing in 1957. Movie theaters across the country would run these issues, usually on 35mm...
newsreel featured the story. A documentary featurette on W.C. Fields accompanying the film's DVD release, however, reveals that Fields faked the footage from the set as a publicity stunt. The actual earthquake
1933 Long Beach earthquake
The Long Beach earthquake of 1933 took place on March 10, 1933 at 17:55 PST , with a magnitude of 6.4, causing widespread damage to buildings throughout Southern California. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach on the Newport-Inglewood Fault. An estimated fifty million dollars worth...
was centered in nearby Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
. 115 people were killed and most of the downtown section was destroyed.