Showing posts with label Roland Young. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roland Young. Show all posts

Monday, January 15, 2018

The Young in Heart (1938)

The Young in Heart (1938)

"And here came the Carletons, a merry little streamlined family exuding charm and a touch of larceny with every fortune-hunting smile..."

Producer David O. Selznick was in a bind. Gone With the Wind was costing his production company Selznick International Pictures a lot of money and they hadn't even started filming. Selznick knew that without any incoming cash flow there was no way he was going to be able to continue. He set out to make a few pictures in the interim that would generate some much needed box office returns. One of those movies was The Young in Heart (1938).

The Carletons are a family of con artists. There is Sahib (Roland Young) the monocle wearing, poker playing patriarch, his loving yet ditzy wife Marmy (Billie Burke) and their two kids the suave Richard (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) and the head strong George-Anne (Janet Gaynor). They travel around targeting wealthy socialites in hopes of conning them out of their money. The Carletons are working their prey at a resort in the Riviera. Richard has his eye on a plain jane socialite with a bankable dowry. George-Anne has a handsome yet not-so-rich Scotsman, Duncan (Richard Carlson) at her beck and call.




"You're so young. When you're old night comes too soon."

When the resort proprietors catch on, the Carletons are presented with a one-way train ticket back to London. On their journey, they meet a sweet older woman with a peculiar name, Miss Fortune (Minnie Dupree). She recently inherited a mansion and much wealth from an old beau. George-Anne sees an opportunity to get into the lady's good graces. She convinces her family to be kind to the lady in hopes they might be written into her will. But they all get a lot more then they bargained for. When George-Anne suggests they start acting like normal, hard-working folks instead of socializing gadabouts, they're reluctant at first. But then they find that they kind of like this new lifestyle. Sahib becomes a successful salesman at a car dealership. Richard gets a job at an engineering plant and falls for the secretary Leslie Saunders (Paulette Goddard). And they begin to care for Miss Fortune in a way that hadn't expected. George-Anne doesn't think any of them are capable of change and keeps beau Duncan at bay because she doesn't think she's good enough. Will the Carletons be able to con their way into Miss Fortune's will? Or will their true nature be revealed?

Richard (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) and Leslie (Paulette Goddard) buy Miss Fortune a puppy.

Based on the novel The Gay Banditti by I.A.R. Wylie serialized in The Saturday Evening Post, The Young in Heart was the perfect picture for Selznick to produce pre-Gone With the Wind. According to to author Steve Wilson in his book The Making of Gone With the Wind, some of the cast members of The Young in Heart were considered for GWTW including Billie Burke, Paulette Goddard who had tried for the part of Scarlett O'Hara and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who turned down Ashley because he wanted to be Rhett.

The film was directed by Richard Wallace with some directorial work also completed by Lewis Milestone, Gilbert Pratt and Richard Thorpe. If the end of the film seems to have a different tone from the rest of the picture, it's because it was a new ending tacked on after the production had wrapped up. Test audiences reacted very negatively to the original ending. As a result, the plot was changed and the actors were called back to reshoot the final scenes.

The Flying Wombat, The Young in Heart (1938)
The Flying Wombat

William Cameron Menzies did the production design and went on to work with Selznick on Gone With the Wind. Vintage car enthusiasts will be mesmerized by the scenes at the Flying Wombat car dealership and by the car itself. These scenes are a final hurrah for the Art Deco era with its minimalist style and clean lines. The Flying Wombat was a Phantom Corsair that cost $12,000 to make. According to the AFI, it "was an experimental vehicle built by Rust Heinz of Pasadena, CA, with a body design by Maurice Schwatz." It was going to be produced in a limited run for the general public but that plan was canceled when Heinz suddenly died,


The cast of The Young in Heart is one of the best. Roland Young and Billie Burke are simply charming. I was blown away by Minnie Dupree who plays the kind hearted Miss Fortune. When I did some research on her, I was sad to see that she had only made two movies. Dupree was a celebrated stage actress and was brought on to this production when another actress dropped out at the last minute. Dupree gives the film much heart and I suspect she's the main reason why the ending was changed.

This film was not only Dupree's screen debut but also Richard Carlson's. Selznick offered the young actor, who proved to be quite the self-starter, a contract and Janet Gaynor encouraged Carlson to appear in the film. Besides delivering the worst Scottish accent ever, Carlson does a decent job in his debut. Paulette Goddard was also getting her start in film and this performance comes after Modern Times (1936). Gaynor at 32 and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. at 29 were a bit too old for their parts. But they pull it off giving the film the youthfulness that was needed for the story. For Gaynor, this movie would be the last in a celebrated career before she retired (she made one more film appearance a couple decades later). Just the year before she had a stand out performance in the much celebrated A Star is Born (1937) and won an Academy Award. Gaynor married costume designer Gilbert Adrian and retired from the industry.

Selznick's film did well at the box office and went on to be nominated for three Academy Awards: Leon Shamroy for Best Cinematography and Best Music (Scoring and Original Score) for Franz Waxman.

I was utterly enchanted by The Young in Heart. It's just the sort of feel good movie that isn't sickly sweet with it's message. Rather it gently tugs at your heart strings. While the ending does feel rather abrupt and disjointed, I don't think my emotional state could have handled the alternative scenario. I loved watching the evolution of the Carleton family. They're an endearing foursome and I enjoyed watching them transform from no-good con artists to upstanding citizens.  If the film has one message it's that it doesn't matter what stage in life you are in, change is always possible.

The Young in Heart (1938) is a hidden gem, an obscure little film from a glorious era of filmmaking. It deserves more recognition than it currently receives. I dare you to watch it and not be charmed by it. Impossible.




Kino Lorber has released The Young in Heart (1938) on DVD and Blu-Ray. It doesn't have any extras yet it looks absolutely glorious on Blu-Ray.

Thank you to Kino Lorber for sending me a Blu-Ray copy of The Young in Heart (1938) to review.


Monday, October 28, 2013

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)



Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) is a charming movie, adapted from the 1915 novel by Harry Leon Wilson which also became a popular Broadway show. Directed by Leo McCarey, a fine director who explored many social issues in his films, this Paramount movie has a superb cast including Charles Laughton, ZaSu Pitts, Mary Boland, Charles Ruggles, Roland Young and Leila Hyams.



This is just the feel-good film that is perfect for lifting ones spirit on a gloomy day. And that's just what this film did for me. These past few weeks have consisted of tightly packed schedules with few breaks and many opportunities for anxiety attacks. When I finally got a break, I needed a film to make me feel good about life and that's just what Ruggles of Red Gap did for me.

Charles Laughton stars as Marmaduke "Bill" Ruggles, a British butler whose superior, the Earl of Burnstead (Roland Young), lost him in a poker game. The winners of that game were the American Couple Egbert (Charles Ruggles) and Effie Floud (Mary Boland). These nouveau rich country folk from Red Gap, Washington are in Paris to soak up some culture courtesy of their oil fortune. Effie is particularly interested in climbing the social ladder and thinks Ruggles will be a wonderful trophy to show off to her friends back home. Ruggles is uncomfortable working for Americans, breaking the traditions he's worked so hard for years to uphold, and it shows in the sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle facial expressions Laughton gives to the Ruggles character.

"Well, well you old tarantula!"

Something happens to Ruggles when he moves to Red Gap with this new couple. His new superior Mr. Egbert Floud's personality starts to rub off on him. Egbert doesn't have the same appetite for sophistication hat his wife does. He wants only to be his fun-loving cowpoke self.

"Hey, we just met. Squat-ez vous."
When the townsfolk confuse Ruggles for a Colonel of the British Army instead of just a butler, Ruggles finds an opportunity to reinvent himself and live the American dream of freedom, prosperity and success.

"...miraculously there comes a man. A person of importance, however small. A man whose decisions and whose future are  in his own hands." - Ruggles
Ruggles falls for the local spinster Prunella (ZaSu Pitts) and starts to make his own plans for life other than being a butler. All the performances are splendid. I loved Laughton, Pitts, Boland and Ruggles especially. Roland Young and Leila Hyams have interesting supporting roles and I love the character of Belknap-Jackson played by Lucien Littlefield.

"I tell you that Belknap-Jackson is a Boston Cream Puff!"
At one point the film takes a rather strange patriotic turn. There is one scene in which a bunch of guys in a Red Gap tavern are struggling to remember what Lincoln said during his Gettysburg Address but Ruggles knows every word. According to what I found online, this scene was very emotional for Charles Laughton and he remembered it fondly. During filming the British Laughton was considering applying for American citizenship.



This film is a wonderful comedy which is elevated by it's exploration of social issues of class and personal freedom. There are sober moments, times when you laugh out loud at the exploits of the Floud couple and when your heart is touched by tender scenes between Ruggles and Prunella Judson (Pitts). At the end of the film, I found myself crying in the best possible way there is to cry. McCarey's Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) made me cry hysterically but Ruggles of Red Gap made me cry tears of joy.



Please watch this film if you can. If stories can still move you emotionally and you haven't grown completely numb to them, let this film in. You'll be a better person for it.



Ruggles of Red Gap is one of the many movies Universal acquired from Paramount. It's part of the Universal Vault Series on DVD-R. I rented it from ClassicFlix (they don't have it for sale). There is also a Blu-Ray version. Both DVD and Blu-Rays look to be out of print or their availability is limited. I'm hoping to purchase this one but can't find where I can get a new copy!

ETA: Laura of Laura's Miscellaneous Musings tells me that Universal Vault Series are sold exclusively on Amazon but there is talk of making them available at other retailers in the future.

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