''The Match King'' is a 1932 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 ...

drama film made by

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

, directed by

William Keighley William Jackson Keighley (August 4, 1889 – June 24, 1984) was an American stage actor and Hollywood film director. Career After graduating from the Ludlum School of Dramatic Art, Keighley began acting at the age of 23. By the 1910s and 1920 ...

and

Howard Bretherton Howard Bretherton (13 February 1890, in Tacoma, Washington – 12 April 1969, in San Diego, California) was an American film director, film editor, and the father of film editor David Bretherton. Career He began his career as a propman and then ...

. The film starred

Warren William Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code". He was the first actor to play Perry ...

and

Lili Damita Lili Damita (born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Carré; 10 July 1904 – 21 March 1994) was a French-American actress and singer who appeared in 33 films between 1922 and 1937. Early life and education Lili Damita was born Liliane Marie-Madeleine Car ...

, and follows the rise and fall of Swedish

safety match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

tycoon

Ivar Kreuger Ivar Kreuger (; 2 March 1880 – 12 March 1932) was a Swedish civil engineer, financier, entrepreneur and industrialist. In 1908, he co-founded the construction company Kreuger & Toll Byggnads AB, which specialized in new building techniques. B ...

. Based on the novel by Einar Thorvaldson, the film was released on December 31, 1932.

Plot

Though a lowly Chicago street cleaner, Swedish immigrant Paul Kroll is ambitious and unscrupulous. When a fellow employee is fired (due to one of Kroll's schemes), Kroll convinces his foreman to keep him on the payroll (officially at least) so they can split his salary. Soon there are eight "phantom" workers, and Kroll and his partner have amassed enough money for a ticket back to Sweden. However, Kroll has been romancing his partner's wife, Babe, behind his back. Meanwhile, he has also been lying to the people of his hometown in Sweden, telling them what a successful businessman he has become. As a result, when the local match factory is in trouble, his uncle begs him to return and save it. Kroll gets Babe to withdraw the money he has stolen, deceiving her into thinking they are running away together, then leaves her behind as he sails away to Sweden. He cons the local bank into giving him a loan to buy a second match factory so he can merge them. Only his old friend Erik Borg knows the truth about Kroll's "success", so Kroll recruits him as his all-too-trusting second in command in his expanding business. Though corrupt, he is also a brilliant business visionary and eventually Kroll owns all of the match factories in Sweden. However, his ambitions do not stop there. Using information he obtains from beautiful, well-placed women he has charmed, he gains official match monopolies, first in Poland, then in Germany and other countries, by offering loans to cash-strapped governments and bribes to corrupt officials. While dining with Ilse Wagner, one of his conquests, he is dazzled by the beauty of rising actress Marta Molnar. Despite her initial rebuffs, he goes to great lengths to win her heart, even hiring a celebrated "gypsy violinist" to serenade her. Uncharacteristically, he dangerously neglects his business, financed by an ever-growing series of loans. When Marta leaves for Hollywood, he reluctantly returns his attention to his company. One of his agents discovers that an eccentric recluse named Christian Hobe has invented an everlasting match, so Kroll has him locked away as a madman. When the stock market crashes, Kroll no longer can obtain a bank loan. In desperation, he buys $50 million in fake Italian bonds from forger Scarlatti, whom he then dumps in the middle of a lake to drown. With the bonds as collateral, he obtains a $40 million loan from an American bank. Marta has returned to Sweden and Kroll thinks of retiring, but when he asks Marta to marry him, he discovers that, in his frequent absences, she has fallen in love with Trino, the gypsy violinist. Much worse, his forgeries are detected, and his American loan is canceled. Kroll shoots himself on the balcony and his body tumbles into the gutter, where he started.

Cast

Preservation

A print of the film is held at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'' pg. 113 c.1978 by The American Film Institute

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Match King, The 1932 films 1932 drama films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films directed by William Keighley Films directed by Howard Bretherton First National Pictures films Ivar Kreuger American drama films 1932 directorial debut films 1930s American films

Plot

Cast

Preservation

See also

References

External links