''His First Command'' is a 1929 American
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
Gregory La Cava
Gregory La Cava (March 10, 1892 – March 1, 1952) was an American film director of Italian descent best known for his films of the 1930s, including ''My Man Godfrey'' and ''Stage Door'', which earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best ...
and starring
William Boyd,
Dorothy Sebastian
Dorothy Sebastian (born Stella Dorothy Sabiston; April 26, 1903The book ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'' gives Sebastian's date of birth as April 26, 1907. – April 8, 1957) was an American film and stage actress.
Ear ...
and
Gavin Gordon.
[Munden p.352] Location shooting
Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior.
The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for exam ...
took place at
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Gear ...
in
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
.
Synopsis
A playboy falls in love with the daughter of the commandant of an American post. He enlists in order to be close to her, but soon finds that his manners irritate the other soldiers.
Cast
*
William Boyd as Terry Culver
*
Dorothy Sebastian
Dorothy Sebastian (born Stella Dorothy Sabiston; April 26, 1903The book ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'' gives Sebastian's date of birth as April 26, 1907. – April 8, 1957) was an American film and stage actress.
Ear ...
as Judy Gaylord
*
Gavin Gordon as Lt. Freddie Allen
*
Helen Parrish
Helen Virginia Parrish (March 12, 1923 – February 22, 1959) was an American stage and film actress.
Career
Parrish was born in Columbus, Georgia. She started in movies at the age of 4, getting her first part playing Babe Ruth's daughter in t ...
as Jane Sargent
*
Alphonse Ethier as Col. Gaylord
*
Howard Hickman
Howard Charles Hickman (February 9, 1880 – December 31, 1949) was an American actor, director and writer. He was an accomplished stage leading man, who entered films through the auspices of producer Thomas H. Ince.
Career
In 1900, Hickman d ...
as Maj. Hall
*
Paul Hurst
Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Grimsby Town.
As a player, he was a defender from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, b ...
as Sgt. Westbrook
*
Jules Cowles
Jules Cowles (October 18, 1877 – May 22, 1943) was an American film actor.Munden p.193 He was also billed as J. D. Cowles and Julius D. Cowles.
Born in Farmington, Connecticut, Cowles attended Yale and was a writer in addition to being an actor ...
as Cpl. Jones
*
Rose Tapley
Rose Elizabeth Tapley (June 30, 1881 – February 23, 1956) was an American actress of the stage and an early heroine of silent films.
Early life
Tapley was born in Salem, Massachusetts. She was the cousin of Captain Robert Bartlett, comm ...
as Mrs. Pike
*
Mabel Van Buren
Mabel Van Buren (born Mabel Brown Southard; July 17, 1878 – November 4, 1947) was an American stage and screen actress.
Biography
As a theatrical performer she played the leading lady in both ''The Virginian'' and ''The Squaw Man'' (190 ...
as Mrs. Sargent
*
Charles R. Moore as Homer
References
Bibliography
* Munden, Kenneth White. ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1''. University of California Press, 1997.
External links
*
1929 films
1929 comedy films
1920s English-language films
American comedy films
Films directed by Gregory La Cava
Pathé Exchange films
Films shot in Kansas
1920s American films
{{1920s-US-film-stub