Mississippi (1935 film)

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Mississippi (Paramount)

Mississippi (1935) was produced and distributed by Paramount. It was produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr. and directed by Edward A. Sutherland from adaptation of a Booth Tarkington story by Herbert Fields and Claude Binyon. The screenplay was by Francis Martin and Jack Cunningham. This film has the distinction of being the only W.C. Fields film with a score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and the only in which he costarred with Bing Crosby. Photographed by Charles Lang, the film had art direction by Hans Dreier and Bernard Herzburn and edited by Chandler House. The sound man was Eugene Merritt. The original running time of this black and white film was 80 minutes. The film has been released on VHS but not DVD yet.

1 Story
2 Cast
3 Reviews (excerpts)
4 External link
5 Source

[edit] Story

Commodore Jackson (W.C. Fields) is the captain of a Mississippi showboat in the late nineteenth century. Tom Grayson (Bing Crosby)) is engaged to be married and has gotten to trouble for refusing to fight a duel with Major Patterson (John Miljan). Accused of being a coward, Grayson joins the showboat. The film provides sufficient opportunities for Crosby to sing the Rodgers and Hart songs, while Fields gets to tell some outlandish stories. Crosby and Fields worked well together and there is one memorable scene in which Fields tries to tell Crosby how to act tougher. Another highlight is Fields' remarkable story about his exploits among one notorious Indian tribe.

[edit] Cast

Bing Crosby as Tom Grayson
W.C. Fields as Commodore Jackson
Joan Bennett as Lucy Rumford
Queenie Smith as Alabam'
Gail Patrick as Elvira Rumford
Claude Gillingwater Sr. as General Rumford
John Miljan as Major Patterson
Edward Pawley as Joe Patterson
Fred Kohler Sr. as Captain Blackie
Five Cabin Kids as the Cabin Kids
John Larkin as Rumbo
Libby Taylor as Lavinia
Theresa Maxwell Conover as Miss Markham
Paul Hurst as Hefty

[edit] Reviews (excerpts)

New York Times - "Amid an atmosphere of magnolia, crinoline, and Kentucky whiskey, the boozy genius of Mr. Fields and the subterranean croon of Mr. Crosby strike a happy compromise."
Motion Picture Herald - "The [film] is a melodramatic and sometimes tense romance. Fields' comedy, in both dialogue and action, is good for its full quota of laughs."
Variety - "Paramount obviously couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to do with the film; it's rambling and hokey. For a few minutes it's sheer farce, for a few moments it's romance. And it never jells...Fields works hard throughout the film and saves it, giving it whatever entertainment value it has."