View source for High, Wide and Handsome

{{short description|1937 film by Rouben Mamoulian}}
{{about|the 1937 film|the 2009 Loudon Wainwright III album|High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = High, Wide and Handsome
| image          = High wide and handsome promo picture.jpg
| caption        = Promotional poster
| director       = [[Rouben Mamoulian]]
| producer       = [[Arthur Hornblow Jr.]]
| writer         = {{ubl|[[Oscar Hammerstein II]]|[[George O'Neil]]}}
| starring       = {{ubl|[[Irene Dunne]]|[[Randolph Scott]]|[[Dorothy Lamour]]}}
| music          = [[Jerome Kern]]
| cinematography = {{ubl|[[Victor Milner]]|[[Theodor Sparkuhl]]}}
| editing        = [[Archie Marshek]]
| studio = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| distributor    = Paramount Pictures
| released       = {{Film date|1937|7|21}}
| runtime        = 110 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $1.9 million
}}
'''''High, Wide and Handsome''''' is a 1937 American [[Musical film|musical]] [[Western (genre)|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]].<ref>Spergel, 1993 p. 280-281: Filmography and Stageography.</ref><ref>Milne, 1969 p. 167-168: Filmography.</ref>
The musical recounts the history of [[Pennsylvania oil rush|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.<ref>Jensen, 2024 p. 142</ref> 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.<ref>Milne, 1969, 108-109: “idyllic romance” and friendly “approving” farm animals.</ref>
==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==
{{cast listing|
* [[Irene Dunne]] as Sally Watterson
* [[Randolph Scott]] as  Peter Cortlandt
* [[Dorothy Lamour]] as Molly Fuller
* [[Elizabeth Patterson (actress)|Elizabeth Patterson]]  as  Grandma Cortlandt
* [[Raymond Walburn]]  as Doc Watterson
* [[Charles Bickford]] as Red Scanlon
* [[Akim Tamiroff]] as Joe Varese
* [[Ben Blue]] as Zeke
* [[William Frawley]] as Mac
* [[Alan Hale Sr.]] as Walt Brennan
* [[Irving Pichel]] as Mr. Stark
* [[Stanley Andrews]] as Lem Moulton
* [[James Burke (actor)|James Burke]] as  Stackpole
* [[Roger Imhof]] as  Pop Bowers
* [[Lucien Littlefield]] as  Mr. Lippincott
}}
==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)<ref>Milne, 1969 p. 167-168:Filmography</ref><ref>Spergel, 1993 p. 280-281: Filmography and Stageography</ref>
==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.<ref>Jensen, 2024 p. 140-141: The film “had pedigree” from the start and “a golden spoon in its mouth.” And p. 146: “prestige entertainment.”</ref>
''High, Wide and Handsome'' was filmed on location in [[Chino, California]]. The principle filming began in early January 1937 and finished in late April that year, exceeding its 10-week shooting schedule.<ref>Jensen, 2024 p. 141</ref>
The production was particularly challenging both physically and operationally due to “torrential rains, mudslides [and] equipment malfunctions.” Tragically, a catastrophic accident during filming injured over a dozen of the cast and crew, some seriously.<ref>Jensen, 2024 p. 141, And pp. 144-146: See here for detailed account of the accident.</ref><ref>Spergel, 1993 p. 164: see here for difficulties on location. And p. 280-281: Filmography, filmed at Paramount studios and Chino, Ca, “January to May, 1937”</ref><ref>Danks, 2007: “Mamoulian’s well-documented experiments in…location filming (High, Wide and Handsome).”</ref>
With the assistance of Kern and Hammerstein, director Rouben Mamoulian attempted to firmly integrate the songs into the plot of the film in order to advance the storyline.<ref>Milne, 1969 p. 106: “Hammerstein, it seems, wrote a gay and fluffy musical comedy; Mamoulian rewrote it with him, putting its feet back on the ground with a good deal of accurate background detail.”</ref>
''High, Wide and Handsome'', budgeted at about $1.3 million, had a final cost of $1.8 million.<ref>Jensen, 2024 p. 141</ref>
The film was released October 1, 1937.
==Reception==
[[Frank Nugent|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."<ref>{{cite book |date=1970 |title=The New York Times Film Reviews, Volume 2: 1932-1938 |publisher=The New York Times & Arno Press |page=1410 }}</ref>
''[[Variety (magazine)|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|serial]] film school."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=July 28, 1937 |title=Film Reviews |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |location=New York |publisher=Variety, Inc. |page=16 }}</ref>
''[[Harrison's Reports]]'' called it "very good mass entertainment" with "delightful" music but a story that was "very weak."<ref>{{cite journal |date=August 7, 1937 |title=High, Wide and Handsome |journal=[[Harrison's Reports]] |location=New York |publisher=Harrison's Reports, Inc. |page=126 }}</ref>
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."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Maloney |first=Russell |date=July 31, 1937 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |location=New York |publisher=F-R Publishing Corp. |page=49 }}</ref>
Writing for ''[[Night and Day (magazine)|Night and Day]]'' in 1937, [[Graham Greene]] gave the film a poor review, characterizing it as "two hours of [a] long, dumb and dreary picture." Greene noted that the Hollywood aesthetics attributable to Mamoulian made the film unrealistic and improbable.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Greene|first= Graham|author-link= Graham Greene|date= August 26, 1937|title= Saratoga/High, Wide and Handsome/His Affair|journal= [[Night and Day (magazine)|Night and Day]]}} (reprinted in: {{cite book |editor-last= Taylor|editor-first= John Russell |editor-link= John Russell Taylor|date= 1980|title= The Pleasure Dome|publisher= Oxford University Press|pages= 163–164|isbn=0192812866}})</ref><ref>Jensen, 2024 p. 146: See here for remarks on Greene’s hostile review and Mamoulian’s response.</ref>
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.”<ref>Spergel, 1993 p. 166:</ref><ref>Callahan, 2007: “the epic High, Wide and Handsome (1937) looks now like Mamoulian’s high-water mark as a film director…If you only see one film in this Mamoulian series, make it High, Wide and Handsome, which is never shown on TV and isn’t on DVD.”</ref><ref>Milne, 1969 p. 106: “...the most persistently underrated of all Mamoulian’s films…”</ref>
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==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 {{ISBN|0-634-00765-3}} pages 70–71*Jensen, Kurt. 2024. ''Peerless: Rouben Mamoulian, Hollywood, and Broadway.'' [[University of Wisconsin Press]], Wisconsin Film Studies, Patrick McGilligan, series editor. {{ISBN  | 978-0-299-34820-5}}
*[[Tom Milne|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. {{ISBN  |  0-8108-2721-2}}
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0029000|title=High, Wide and Handsome}}
* {{AFI film|4711|title=High, Wide and Handsome}}
* {{AllMovie title|95189|title=High, Wide and Handsome}}
* {{TCMDb title|78029|title=High, Wide and Handsome}}
{{Rouben Mamoulian}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1937 films]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Rouben Mamoulian]]
[[Category:1937 musical films]]
[[Category:American Western (genre) musical films]]
[[Category:1937 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1850s]]
[[Category:1930s Western (genre) musical films]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]
[[Category:Films about petroleum]]
[[Category:English-language Western (genre) musical films]]