Sonny Boy (1929 film)
| Sonny Boy | |
|---|---|
 Original lobby card for Sonny Boy | |
| Directed by | Archie Mayo |
| Written by |
Charles Graham Baker James A. Starr Leon Zuardo (Story) |
| Starring |
Davey Lee Betty Bronson Edward Everett Horton Gertrude Olmstead |
| Music by | Louis Silvers |
| Cinematography | Ben F. Reynolds |
| Edited by | Owen Marks |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 70 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Sonny Boy is a 1929 film released by Warner Brothers, directed by Archie Mayo, and starring Davey Lee, Edward Everett Horton, and Betty Bronson. Some of the movie was shot silent, and some was filmed in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.[1]
Plot
Sonny Boy's parents are in the midst of a bitter divorce when the boy's mother talks her sister into kidnapping him because she is terrified that her husband will take the boy out of the country after the divorce. The nervy sister takes the lad to the apartment of her sister's husband's lawyer who believes that she has gone away for a time. A merry mix-up ensues when he returns to the apartment with his parents in tow. To maintain appearances, the sister must pose as the lawyer's wife. Eventually she decides to take the boy and flee, but then she realizes that Sonny Boy has vanished. It seems he saw an interesting theater marquee, climbed down the fire escape, and went to the movies. The adults arrive just in time to hear a rousing rendition of the hit song Sonny Boy.
Cast
- Davey Lee - Sonny Boy
- Betty Bronson - Aunt Winigred Canfield
- Edward Everett Horton - Crandall Thorpe
- Gertrude Olmstead - Mary
- John T. Murray - Hamilton
- Tom Dugan - Mulcahy (*billed Tommy Dugan)
- Lucy Beaumont - Mother Thorpe
- Edmund Breese - Thorpe
- Jed Prouty - Phil
Preservation status
This is a lost film. All of the feature-length movies Edward Everett Horton made from 1928 to 1929 with Warner Brothers are lost, except Lights of New York (1928). In Lights of New York, Horton was an extra in one scene. At the time, however, he was a major comedian on stage and not as much in silent films, since Horton was a verbal comedian and not really a physical comedian.