Sit Tight
| Sit Tight | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Lloyd Bacon |
| Written by | Rex Taylor |
| Starring |
Winnie Lightner Joe E. Brown Claudia Dell Paul Gregory |
| Cinematography | William Rees |
| Editing by | James Gibbon |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release dates | February 28, 1931 |
| Running time | 78 Minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Sit Tight (1931) is an all-talking pre-code musical comedy film, directed by Lloyd Bacon, written by Rex Taylor and produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. It was originally completed as a full musical. Due to the backlash against musicals, however, all the songs were cut from the film except for one (sung by Winnie Lightner) in all release prints in the United States.
Plot
Winnie Lightner is the head of a health clinic and has Joe E. Brown as one of her employees. Brown is a wrestler named JoJo and he is forced to enter the ring and face down a musclebound masked opponent (Frank S. Hagney). Making matters worse, the masked marauder is convinced that his wife has been fooling around with JoJo. JoJo is knocked out early in the proceedings, whereupon he dreams he's a sultan surrounded by harem girls. A romantic subplot involves Paul Gregory and Claudia Dell. Gregory works for Dell's father and Dell asks her father to give Gregory a promotion so that she can spend more time with him. When Gregory refuses to be promoted without earning the position, she threatens to have him fired and Gregory quits his job. Gregory attempts to start a new career as a championship wrestler and is trained by Lightner and Brown. When Dell finds out about this, she attempts to stop him and asks for his forgiveness. She pleads with him to not fight but he has already promised...
Cast
- Winnie Lightner as Winnie
- Joe E. Brown as Jojo
- Paul Gregory as Tom
- Claudia Dell as Sally
- Lotti Loder as French Girl
- Hobart Bosworth as Dunlap
- Frank Hagney as Olaf
- Snitz Edwards as Charley
Trivia
One of the sets used in Kismet (1930), along with some lavish costumes, were used in the dream sequence in this film. This film was a lavish spectacle that took place in the Middle East but is no longer extant.
Paul Gregory and Claudia Dell were musical stars who were given contracts by Warner Bros. for their musical talent. They originally sang a number of songs in this film but these numbers were cut in the prints released in the United States.
Pre-Code Sequences
In one sequence, Joe E. Brown refuses to strip (for wrestling) when asked to by another man and makes comments about "not knowing him well enough", implying that the man is asking that because he is gay and wants to sleep with him.
Songs
Only a print with the majority of the musical numbers cut seems to have survived. The trailer, which also survives, contains an instrumental of another song which was written for the film and originally sung by Winnie Lightner. The only surviving song on extant prints of the film is:
"Face It With A Smile" Sung by Winnie Lightner.
Preservation
Only the cut print released in the United States seems to have survived. The complete film was released intact in countries outside the United States where a backlash against musicals never occurred. Newspapers outside the United States noted that Winnie Lightner sang several lively songs throughout the picture.[1] It is unknown whether a copy of this full version still exists.
References
- ↑ Montreal Guardian - Apr 24, 1931 - http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BJlNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v0IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1700,791415&dq=sit-tight+lightner&hl=en