High, Wide And Handsome

''High, Wide and Handsome'' is a 1937 American musical western film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Alan Hale Sr., Charles Bickford and Dorothy Lamour. The film was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and written by Oscar Hammerstein II and George O'Neil, with lyrics by Hammerstein and music by Jerome Kern. It was released by Paramount Pictures.

The musical recounts the history of Pennsylvania farmers in 1859 who discovered crude oil deposits on their land. When railroad barons attempt to charge exorbitant freight fees, the hardy agrarians successfully build their own pipeline to the refinery, fending off attacks by corporation-hired thugs en route. The film oscillates between the romantic setting of the Cortlandt Ranch, where Sally (Irene Dunne) and Peter (Randolph Soctt) discover love in an enchanted idyll and commune with the farm animals.

Plot

In 1859, Doc Watterson brings his traveling medicine show to Titusville, Pennsylvania. After the show wagon is destroyed by an accidental fire, Mrs. Cortlandt and her grandson Peter invite the Wattersons and the show's fake Indian, Mac, to stay with them. Peter and Sally fall in love.

Railroad tycoon Walt Brennan wants to acquire the land of several oil-drilling farmers, led by Peter Cortlandt. The townspeople block the plan, assisted by a herd of circus elephants, and instead construct their own oil pipeline.

Cast

Songs

*"High, Wide and Handsome" (sung by Irene Dunne)
*"Can I Forget You?" (Irene Dunne)
*"The Things I Want' (Dorothy Lamore)
*"Allegheny Al" (Irene Dunne and Dorothy Lamore)
*"Will You Marry Me Tomorrow, Maria? (William Frawley)
*" The Folks Who Live on the Hill" (Irene Dunne)

Production

Paramount Pictures and producer Arthur Hornblow, Jr. conceived ''High, Wide and Handsome'' as a "big-budget" musical that would deliver "prestige entertainment" supported by a talented cast and crew.

''High, Wide and Handsome'' was filmed on location in Chino, California. Principal filming began in early January 1937 and finished in late April that year, exceeding its 10-week shooting schedule.

The production was particularly challenging, both physically and operationally, due to "torrential rains, mudslides ndequipment malfunctions." Tragically, a catastrophic accident during filming injured over a dozen of the cast and crew, some seriously.

With the assistance of Kern and Hammerstein, director Rouben Mamoulian attempted to firmly integrate the songs into the plot of the film to advance the storyline.

''High, Wide and Handsome'', budgeted at about $1.3 million, had a final cost of $1.8 million.
The film was released October 1, 1937.

Reception

Frank S. Nugent of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "A richly produced, spectacular and melodious show, it moves easily into the ranks of the season's best and probably is as good an all-around entertainment as we are likely to find on Broadway this summer."

'' Variety'' reported that the film had "too much Hollywood hokum" and that it "flounders as it progresses, and winds up in a melodramatic shambles of fisticuffs, villainy and skullduggery which smacks of the serial film school."

'' Harrison's Reports'' called it "very good mass entertainment" with "delightful" music but a story that was "very weak."

Russell Maloney of ''The New Yorker'' wrote: "Mamoulian's handling of the story leaves something to be desired (he's pretty preoccupied with apple blossoms and hillsides) but the general effect of the picture is pleasant."

Writing for '' Night and Day'' in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, characterizing it as "two hours of long, dumb and dreary picture." Greene noted that the Hollywood aesthetics attributable to Mamoulian made the film unrealistic and improbable.

Film historian Marc Spergel writes that contemporary reviews "were generally favorable, if not enthusiastic. Commercially, the film did poorly, especially for its high production cost, and has since slid virtually into oblivion."Milne, 1969 p. 106: "...the most persistently underrated of all Mamoulian's films…"

Notes

References

*Callahan, Dan. 2007. "The Strange Case of Rouben Mamoulian". ''Slant Magazine'', September 4, 2007. https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-strange-case-of-rouben-mamoulian/ Retrieved 19 June 2024.
*Danks, Adrian. 2007. ''Rouben Mamoulian''. Senses of Cinema, February, 2007. Great Directors Issue 42 https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/great-directors/mamoulian/Mamoulian, Rouben Retrieved 19 June 2024.
* Green, Stanley (1999) ''Hollywood Musicals Year by Year'' (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation pages 70–71*Jensen, Kurt. 2024. ''Peerless: Rouben Mamoulian, Hollywood, and Broadway.'' University of Wisconsin Press, Wisconsin Film Studies, Patrick McGilligan, series editor.
* Milne, Tom. 1969. ''Rouben Mamoulian.'' The Cinema One Series, Thames and Hudson Limited, London. Catalog no. 500-47012 X
*Spergel, Mark. 1993. ''Reinventing Reality: The Art and Life of Rouben Mamoulian.'' The Scarecrow Press, Filmmakers series No. 57, Anthony Slide, editor.

External links

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1937 films
Paramount Pictures films
American black-and-white films
1930s English-language films
Films directed by Rouben Mamoulian
1937 musical films
American Western (genre) musical films
1937 Western (genre) films
Films set in the 1850s
1930s Western (genre) musical films
1930s American films
Films about petroleum
English-language Western (genre) musical films