STAND-IN (United Artists, 1937), directed by Tay Garnett, is another behind-the-scenes Hollywood story produced during the 1937-38 cycle that consisted of other such novelties as A STAR IS BORN (1937), Hollywood HOTEL (1937), SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT (1937), BOY MEETS GIRL (1938), THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES (1938), just to name a few. Based on the novel by Clarence Budington Kellen, STAND-IN is interesting mainly for its casting of Warner Brothers stock players (Leslie Howard, Joan Blondell, Humphrey Bogart and later Jack Carson) working outside their studio base for Walter Wanger Productions. It also reunites Howard and Bogart following their initial triumph in both stage (1935) and screen (1936) adaptations to their most famous work of Robert Sherwood's THE PETRIFIED FOREST. One would have expected their reunion on screen to be another hard-hitting drama. Instead, it's a comedy/drama placing Howard as a nerdy bespectacled intellectual with Bogey breaking away from his tough guy image playing a dog carrying movie producer.
Opening at the Pennypacker and Sons Bank in the Wall Street district of New York City where the Pennypackers (Tully Marshall, J.C. Nugent and William V. Mong) are stockholders for Collossal Film Company, an independent movie studio. Because the studio is facing financial ruin, the Pennypackers employ its executive vice president, Atterbury Dodd (Leslie Howard), their efficiency expert of four years, to go to Hollywood to discover why the studio is failing and whether or not to sell it out as a bad investment. While at the movie capital of the world, Atterbury, ignorant of motion picture industry, up to the point of not even knowing who Shirley Temple is, encounters meets Miss Lester Plum (Joan Blondell), a former child star employed at Collossal as a stand-in for temperamental movie actress, Thelma Cheri (Marla Shelton), who is loved by her hard-drinking producer, Douglas Quintain (Humphrey Bogart). Thelma, however, shows more interest in her phony accented speaking director, Koslofski (Alan Mowbray). Ivor Nassau (C. Henry Gordon), is a rival movie producer for another studio, would want nothing more than to see Collossal Film Company fail, thus sending Tom Potts (Jack Carson), a loud-mouth publicity agent, to spy on Dodd. Rather than staying at a plush hotel where he's constantly disturbed, Atterbury moves into Mrs. Mack's (Esther Howard) Boarding House, living among other has-been/unemployed actors, including Lester Plum, whom he later hires as his personal secretary. Discovering that a gorilla gathers more attention than Thelma, leading lady of "Sex and Satan," Atterbury takes it upon himself to save both movie and studio, only to get fired for his troubles and to stand in front of a very angry mob of unemployed studio workers blaming Atterbury for their predicament.
As much as Humphrey Bogart gathered the most attention for his excellent portrayal as Duke Mantee in THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936), STAND-IN very much belongs to Howard and Blondell. As in her Warner Brothers films, Joan is sassy as usual, yet caring and sympathetic towards a man unlikely to become the one she wants. She teaches financial genius Atterbury the method of dancing, the art of self-defense through jujitsu, but fails in getting through to him the method of love making. STAND-IN even includes some brief vocalizing at the Café Trocader to an old standard, "That Old Feeling," initially introduced in another Walter Wanger production, VOGUES OF 1938 (1937), as well as an a little girl named Elvira (Florie Capino) doing a Shirley Temple imitation by singing (very badly) her signature song, "On the Good Ship Lollipop." For being credited as Leslie Howard's last American comedy, STAND-IN is as good as it gets. Character types come off best, leaving the funniest piece of business with staff members giving a birthday celebration to the oldest Pennypacker (Tully Marshall) by filling his cake with a huge assortment of forest fire type candles.
Being one of the earliest movies to be distributed onto video cassette dating back to the early 1980s, and currently out-of-print DVD format, STAND-IN did enjoy frequent late night broadcasts on commercial television (1950s to 1980s) before shifting over to cable television channels as American Movie Classics (1994-1999) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 30, 2003). For anyone who enjoys movies about the movies, especially those from Hollywood's heyday, should definitely enjoy viewing this now rare find. (***)
Opening at the Pennypacker and Sons Bank in the Wall Street district of New York City where the Pennypackers (Tully Marshall, J.C. Nugent and William V. Mong) are stockholders for Collossal Film Company, an independent movie studio. Because the studio is facing financial ruin, the Pennypackers employ its executive vice president, Atterbury Dodd (Leslie Howard), their efficiency expert of four years, to go to Hollywood to discover why the studio is failing and whether or not to sell it out as a bad investment. While at the movie capital of the world, Atterbury, ignorant of motion picture industry, up to the point of not even knowing who Shirley Temple is, encounters meets Miss Lester Plum (Joan Blondell), a former child star employed at Collossal as a stand-in for temperamental movie actress, Thelma Cheri (Marla Shelton), who is loved by her hard-drinking producer, Douglas Quintain (Humphrey Bogart). Thelma, however, shows more interest in her phony accented speaking director, Koslofski (Alan Mowbray). Ivor Nassau (C. Henry Gordon), is a rival movie producer for another studio, would want nothing more than to see Collossal Film Company fail, thus sending Tom Potts (Jack Carson), a loud-mouth publicity agent, to spy on Dodd. Rather than staying at a plush hotel where he's constantly disturbed, Atterbury moves into Mrs. Mack's (Esther Howard) Boarding House, living among other has-been/unemployed actors, including Lester Plum, whom he later hires as his personal secretary. Discovering that a gorilla gathers more attention than Thelma, leading lady of "Sex and Satan," Atterbury takes it upon himself to save both movie and studio, only to get fired for his troubles and to stand in front of a very angry mob of unemployed studio workers blaming Atterbury for their predicament.
As much as Humphrey Bogart gathered the most attention for his excellent portrayal as Duke Mantee in THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936), STAND-IN very much belongs to Howard and Blondell. As in her Warner Brothers films, Joan is sassy as usual, yet caring and sympathetic towards a man unlikely to become the one she wants. She teaches financial genius Atterbury the method of dancing, the art of self-defense through jujitsu, but fails in getting through to him the method of love making. STAND-IN even includes some brief vocalizing at the Café Trocader to an old standard, "That Old Feeling," initially introduced in another Walter Wanger production, VOGUES OF 1938 (1937), as well as an a little girl named Elvira (Florie Capino) doing a Shirley Temple imitation by singing (very badly) her signature song, "On the Good Ship Lollipop." For being credited as Leslie Howard's last American comedy, STAND-IN is as good as it gets. Character types come off best, leaving the funniest piece of business with staff members giving a birthday celebration to the oldest Pennypacker (Tully Marshall) by filling his cake with a huge assortment of forest fire type candles.
Being one of the earliest movies to be distributed onto video cassette dating back to the early 1980s, and currently out-of-print DVD format, STAND-IN did enjoy frequent late night broadcasts on commercial television (1950s to 1980s) before shifting over to cable television channels as American Movie Classics (1994-1999) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 30, 2003). For anyone who enjoys movies about the movies, especially those from Hollywood's heyday, should definitely enjoy viewing this now rare find. (***)