Tag Archives: Charlie McCarthy

Watching 1939: You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939)

Posted on by

In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

1939 film: You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939)

Release date:
Feb. 17, 1939

Cast:
W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd, Constance Moore, John Arledge, James Bush, Thurston Hall, Mary Forbes, Edward Brophy, Arthur Hohl, Irving Bacon (uncredited), Grady Sutton (uncredited)

Studio:
Universal Studios

Director:
George Marshall

Plot:
Larsen E. Whipsnade (Fields) runs a financially failing circus. His children Victoria (Moore) and Phineas (Arledge) are trying to figure out how to help him. Phineas thinks Victoria should marry a rich man, Roger Bel-Goodie (Bush), to help out the family. Victoria visits the circus and meets The Great Edgar (Bergen) and his ventriloquist dummy, Charlie. Though she falls in love with Edgar, she thinks she should marry Roger.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: The Goldwyn Follies (1938)

Posted on by

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Goldwyn Follies (1938) – Musical #237

Studio:
The Samuel Goldwyn Company

Director:
George Marshall

Starring:
Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, The Ritz Brothers, Vera Zorina, Kenny Baker, Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, Phil Baker, Helen Jepson, Jerome Cowan, Nydia Westman, Ella Logan, Bobby Clark, Joseph Crehan (uncredited), Alan Ladd (uncredited)
Themselves: Alfred Newman, American Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera
The Goldwyn Girls: Vivian Austin, Lynne Berkeley, Marjorie Deanne, Betty Douglas, Judith Ford, Anne Graham, Jane Hamilton, Evelyn Terry, Gloria Youngblood

Plot:
Hollywood film producer Oliver Merlin (Menjou) recent pictures have bombed at the box office. Merlin overhears Hazel Dawes (Leeds) criticizing his movie as unrealistic. He hires her, dubbing Hazel “Miss Humanity” to help give his films the human point of view.

Continue reading →