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Mississippi (1935 film)
Encyclopedia
Mississippi is a musical comedy starring Bing Crosby
, W. C. Fields
, and Joan Bennett
. The film was produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr. and directed by A. Edward Sutherland
from an adaptation of a Booth Tarkington
story by Herbert Fields and Claude Binyon. The screenplay was by Francis Martin and Jack Cunningham and the movie was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures
.
This film has the distinction of being the only W. C. Fields
film with a score by Richard Rodgers
and Lorenz Hart
. Also, it is the only film in which he costarred with Bing Crosby
. Photographed by Charles Lang
, the film featured art direction by Hans Dreier and Bernard Herzburn and was edited by Chandler House. The sound man was Eugene Merritt.
The original running time of this black-and-white film was 80 minutes. The film has been released on VHS and DVD as part of the W.C. Fields Collection (UK).
) is the captain of a Mississippi showboat in the late nineteenth century. Tom Grayson (Bing Crosby
) is engaged to be married and has been disgraced for refusing to fight a duel with Major Patterson (John Miljan
).
Accused of being a coward, Grayson joins Jackson's showboat. Over the duration of the film, the behaviour of the meek and mild Tom Grayson alters as a consequence of the constant representation of him, by Commodore Jackson, as "The Notorious Colonel Steele", "the Singing Killer", and the constant attribution, by Jackson, of duelling victories by Grayson to unrelated corpses freshly dragged from the river beside the showboat as "yet another victim of the notorious Colonel Steele, the Singing Killer".
The film provides sufficient opportunities for Crosby to sing the Rodgers and Hart songs, including the centerpiece number, "Soon
", while Fields gets to tell some outlandish stories. Crosby and Fields worked well together and there is one memorable scene in which Fields tries to tell Crosby how to act tougher. In the film, Crosby does a number of brilliantly engineered sight gags involving a chair and a bowie knife. Another highlight is Fields' remarkable story about his exploits among one notorious Indian tribe.
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
, and Joan Bennett
Joan Bennett
Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies well into the sound era...
. The film was produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr. and 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...
from an adaptation of a Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
story by Herbert Fields and Claude Binyon. The screenplay was by Francis Martin and Jack Cunningham and the movie was produced and distributed 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...
.
This film has the distinction of being the only W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
film with a score by Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
and Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
. Also, it is the only film in which he costarred with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
. Photographed by Charles Lang
Charles Lang
Charles Bryant Lang, Jr., A.S.C. was an American cinematographer.Early in his career he worked with the Akeley camera, a gyroscope-mounted "pancake" camera designed by Carl Akeley for outdoor action shots...
, the film featured art direction by Hans Dreier and Bernard Herzburn and was edited by Chandler House. The sound man was Eugene Merritt.
The original running time of this black-and-white film was 80 minutes. The film has been released on VHS and DVD as part of the W.C. Fields Collection (UK).
Story
Commodore Jackson (W. C. FieldsW. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
) is the captain of a Mississippi showboat in the late nineteenth century. Tom Grayson (Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
) is engaged to be married and has been disgraced for refusing to fight a duel with Major Patterson (John Miljan
John Miljan
John Miljan was an American actor of Serbian origin. He appeared in 201 films between 1924 and 1958.He died from cancer.-Selected filmography:* The Lone Chance * Silent Sanderson...
).
Accused of being a coward, Grayson joins Jackson's showboat. Over the duration of the film, the behaviour of the meek and mild Tom Grayson alters as a consequence of the constant representation of him, by Commodore Jackson, as "The Notorious Colonel Steele", "the Singing Killer", and the constant attribution, by Jackson, of duelling victories by Grayson to unrelated corpses freshly dragged from the river beside the showboat as "yet another victim of the notorious Colonel Steele, the Singing Killer".
The film provides sufficient opportunities for Crosby to sing the Rodgers and Hart songs, including the centerpiece number, "Soon
Soon (song)
"Soon" is a 1927 song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.It was introduced by Helen Gilligan and Jerry Goff in the 1930 revision of the musical Strike Up the Band.- Notable recordings :...
", while Fields gets to tell some outlandish stories. Crosby and Fields worked well together and there is one memorable scene in which Fields tries to tell Crosby how to act tougher. In the film, Crosby does a number of brilliantly engineered sight gags involving a chair and a bowie knife. Another highlight is Fields' remarkable story about his exploits among one notorious Indian tribe.
Cast
- Bing CrosbyBing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
as Tom Grayson - W. C. FieldsW. C. FieldsWilliam Claude Dukenfield , better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer...
as Commodore Jackson - Joan BennettJoan BennettJoan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies well into the sound era...
as Lucy Rumford - Queenie SmithQueenie SmithQueenie Smith was an American stage, television, and film actress.-Biography:Smith got an early start, being trained in ballet and dance and spent her teen years performing as a dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Company in operas such as Aida, La Traviata, and Faust...
as Alabam' - Gail PatrickGail PatrickGail Patrick was an American film actress.Born Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick, she appeared in 62 movies between 1932 and 1948, usually as the leading lady's extremely formidable rival; some of these roles include the second wife in My Favorite Wife with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, Anna May Wong's...
as Elvira Rumford - Claude Gillingwater Sr. as General Rumford
- John MiljanJohn MiljanJohn Miljan was an American actor of Serbian origin. He appeared in 201 films between 1924 and 1958.He died from cancer.-Selected filmography:* The Lone Chance * Silent Sanderson...
as Major Patterson - Edward PawleyEdward PawleyEdward Joel Pawley was an American actor of radio, films and Broadway. The full name on his birth certificate is Edward Joel Stone Pawley, however, he never used the Stone name. It derived from a Stone family in Illinois.At maturity, Pawley was 5'-10" tall with thick black hair and blue eyes...
as Joe Patterson - Fred KohlerFred KohlerFred Kohler was an American actor known for his "heavy" style of character.-Career:Fred Kohler was born in Kansas City, Missouri. As a teen, he began to pursue a career in vaudeville, but worked other jobs to support himself. He lost part of his right hand in a mining accident during this time...
as Captain Blackie - Five Cabin Kids as the Cabin Kids
- John LarkinJohn LarkinJohn Larkin may refer to:*John Larkin , Belfast-born legal scholar*John Paul Larkin , American jazz musician known as Scatman John...
as Rumbo - Libby Taylor as Lavinia
- Theresa Maxwell Conover as Miss Markham
- Paul HurstPaul Hurst (actor)Paul Causey Hurst was an American film actor and director.-Career:Born in Traver, California, and raised on a ranch, he appeared in hundreds of films during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. However, he got his start painting scenery as part of the backstage crew during the silent movie era...
as Hefty - And Harry MyersHarry MyersHarry C. Myers , sometimes credited as Henry Myers, was an American film actor and director. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and died in Hollywood, California from pneumonia...
, Charles King, Jean RouverolJean RouverolJean Rouverol is an American author, actress and screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios in the 1950s.-Biography:...
, Ann SheridanAnn Sheridan-Life and career:Born Clara Lou Sheridan in Denton, Texas on February 21, 1915, she was a student at the University of North Texas when her sister sent a photograph of her to Paramount Pictures. She subsequently entered and won a beauty contest, with part of her prize being a bit part in a...
, George LloydGeorge Lloyd (actor)George Lloyd was an American character actor. Born in Edinburg, Illinois, Lloyd appeared in over 270 films between 1932 and 1956.-Career:...
, J. P. McGowanJ. P. McGowanJohn Paterson McGowan was a pioneering Hollywood actor and film director, occasionally too screenwriter and stunt actor. J.P...
, Francis McDonaldFrancis McDonaldFrancis McDonald was an American actor whose career spanned 52 years. Although never really a headlining actor, he made 41 film and television appearances between 1913 and 1965, appearing in films such as The Temptress in 1926 with Greta Garbo...
, Stanley AndrewsStanley AndrewsStanley Andrews was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program Little Orphan Annie and later as "The Old Ranger", the host of Death Valley Days.-Early life:...
, Clarence GeldartClarence GeldartClarence Geldart , was an American film actor. He appeared in 127 films between 1915 and 1936.He was born in New Brunswick, Canada and died in Calabasas, California.-Selected filmography:* The Squaw Man...
, Forrest Taylor, Mabel Van BurenMabel Van BurenMabel Van Buren was an American stage and screen actress from Chicago, Illinois. She had dark hair, brown eyes, and was five feet three inches tall. She enjoyed riding horses and swimming....
, Jack MulhallJack MulhallJack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a film actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....
, Arthur MillettArthur MillettArthur Millett was an early American motion picture actor whose career was at its height in the silent film era....
, Fred ToonesFred ToonesFred "Snowflake" Toones was an African-American film actor comedian of the early sound era...
, James BurkeJames Burke (actor)James Burke was an American actor born in New York City. He made his stage debut in New York around 1912 and went to Hollywood in 1933. He made over 200 film appearances during his career, which ranged from 1932 to 1964...
, King BaggotKing BaggotWilliam King Baggot was an American actor, director and screenwriter. He was an internationally famous movie star of the silent era...
, Mahlon HamiltonMahlon HamiltonMahlon Preston Hamilton Jr. was an American stage and screen actor. He was the son of a bartender born in Baltimore, Maryland the eldest of three daughters and a son raised by his parents...
, William GouldWilliam Gould (actor)William Gould was an American film actor. He appeared in over 240 films between 1922 and 1953. He died in Long Beach, California.-Selected filmography:* Beasts of Paradise * The Riddle Rider...
, Matthew Betz, Warner RichmondWarner RichmondWarner Richmond was an American actor. He appeared in 141 films between 1912 and 1946.He was born in Racine, Wisconsin and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Brown of Harvard...
Reviews (excerpts)
- New York Times - "Amid an atmosphere of magnolia, crinoline, and Kentucky whiskey, the boozy genius of Mr. Fields and the subterranean croon of Mr. Crosby strike a happy compromise."
- Motion Picture HeraldMotion Picture HeraldThe Motion Picture Herald was an American film industry trade paper published from 1931 to December 1972. It was replaced by the QP Herald, which only lasted until May 1973.In 1915, Martin Quigley founded the Exhibitors Herald...
- "The [film] is a melodramatic and sometimes tense romance. Fields' comedy, in both dialogue and action, is good for its full quota of laughs." - VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
- "Paramount obviously couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to do with the film; it's rambling and hokey. For a few minutes it's sheer farce, for a few moments it's romance. And it never jells...Fields works hard throughout the film and saves it, giving it whatever entertainment value it has."