The Runaround (1931 film)

The Runaround (1931) is a comedy-drama film that was photographed entirely in Technicolor. The film is important as the first to be filmed in a new Technicolor process which removed grain and resulted in a much improved color.

The film was first released with some music, early in 1931, as Waiting for the Bride or Waiting at the Church (with a running time of 82 minutes) but was withdrawn from release because of the apathy towards musicals in the United States. It was re-released in the United States late in 1931 (with the length of 64 minutes) with all of the music removed.

Production background

• The musical sequences originally in the film were recycled from an aborted Technicolor revue, which was to have been titled Radio Revels of 1930.
• As a result of the quality of the color work in this film, Radio Pictures decided to produce three more pictures in the new process.^[1] The first of these, Fanny Foley Herself (1931), was the only one to be completed and released in Technicolor. The titles of the two other features were Marcheta and Bird of Paradise. While Marcheta seems to have been abandoned, Bird of Paradise became a black-and-white production starring Dolores del Río and released in 1932.
• Mary Brian was borrowed from Paramount Pictures, to whom she was under contract, to make this picture. Noel Francis and Jack Mulhall were originally cast to be in this film but were replaced. Mary Astor was originally cast in the part of Mary Brian.

Preservation status

Only an incomplete black-and-white copy of the cut version seems to have survived. It was released intact in countries outside the United States (under the title "Waiting for the Bride"), where a backlash against musicals never occurred, but it is unknown whether a copy of this version still exists.

See also

• List of early color feature films

References

External links

• The Runaround (1931) at the Internet Movie Database