International House (1933 film)

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International House
Directed by A. Edward Sutherland
Produced by Emanuel Cohen
Written by Neil Brant
Starring W.C. Fields
Bela Lugosi
George Burns
Gracie Allen
Cab Calloway
Rose Marie
Peggy Hopkins Joyce
Music by Ralph Rainger
Howard Jackson
John Leipold
Al Morgan
Cab Calloway
Cinematography Ernest Haller
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) May 27, 1933
Running time 70 minutes
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
IMDb profile

International House was a comedy film released in 1933, directed by A. Edward Sutherland. The tagline of the film was “Grand Hotel of comedy”.

Contents

[edit] The Players

[edit] Synopsis

The film was a mix of numerous acts and bits, like a Vaudeville variety show, interlaced through the ostensible plot line, which had to do with a Chinese inventor trying to sell an early version of television. Unlike real television, this imagined mechanism did not need a camera, but its monitor could zoom in on acts around the world. In addition to the typical Fieldsian comic lunacy, it also provides a snapshot of some popular stage and radio acts of the era, in the style of the Big Broadcast pictures that were also released during the 1930s.

The setting was supposed to be a hotel in Wuhu, China, (from the dialogue, "Wuhu" was clearly chosen as a pun on the greeting "Yoo hoo") and the "international" in the title resonated with the international district of Shanghai, but of course it was filmed on the Hollywood back lot.

[edit] Controversy

The film was produced in the days before the Hays Office fully controlled filmmaking, and was notable for several risqué or questionable references (by 1933 standards). The most interesting of these, to film and music historians, is probably Cab Calloway's song Reefer Man, in which bass player Al Morgan does a slap stringbass bit as if in a trance and Calloway sings about him being "high" on "reefers".

[edit] Earthquake

During the filming of International House, a small tremor struck the set of the film, while cameras were rolling. The moment, captured on camera, was shown in newsreels across the nation, and was possibly the first earthquake to be captured on film in action. However, some believe that this footage was faked, and that the chandelier that sways back and forth, and the lamp that tips over were suspended on wires.

The same earthquake was centered in Long Beach, which was not very far away. 115 people were killed and most of the downtown section was destroyed. See also 1933 Long Beach earthquake.

[edit] Cast

Peggy Hopkins Joyce ... Herself
W.C. Fields ... Prof. Henry R. Quail
Rudy Vallee ... Himself
Stuart Erwin ... Tommy Nash
George Burns ... Doctor Burns
Gracie Allen ... Nurse Allen
Sari Maritza ... Carol Fortescue
F. Chase Taylor ... Colonel Stoopnagle
Budd Hulick ... Budd
Cab Calloway ... Himself
Bela Lugosi ... Gen. Nicholas Petronovich
Rose Marie ... Herself (billed as Baby Rose Marie)
Franklin Pangborn ... Hotel Manager
Edmund Breese ... Doctor Wong
Lumsden Hare ... Sir Mortimer Fortescue
Sterling Holloway ... Coffee Mugg

[edit] External links

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