Tag Archives: Ice Skating films

Musical Monday: Thin Ice (1937)

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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.

thin ice 2This week’s musical:
Thin Ice (1937) – Musical #701

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Sidney Lanfield

Starring:
Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Joan Davis, Arthur Treacher, Raymond Walburn, Sig Ruman, Alan Hale, Leah Ray, Melville Cooper, George Givot

Plot:
An international conference is held at the ski resort, Grand Hotel Imperial in St. Christophe in the Alps, where a pact will be signed. Prince Rudolph (Power) pretends to be ill to create tensions before the pact is signed and goes skiing. While on skis, he meets the hotel’s skate instructor Lili (Henie). The two fall in love without Lili knowing who he is.

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Watching 1939: Ice Follies of 1939 (1939)

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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: Ice Follies of 1939

Release date: March 10, 1939

Cast:  Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayres, Lewis Stone, Marie Blake, The International Ice Follies, Bess Ehrhardt, Roy Shipstad, Eddie Shipstad, Oscar Johnson, La Verne Busher

Studio:  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:  Reinhold Schünzel

Cast: Joan Crawford, Lew Ayres, James Stewart, Lewis Stone, Marie Blake, Darla Hood (uncredited), Lionel Stander, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, Bess Ehrhardt, The International Ice Follies

Plot:
Larry Hall (Stewart) and Eddie Burgess (Ayres) are a successful ice skating act until Larry and Mary Mckay (Crawford) fall in love and she’s included in the act as a singer. The trio fails and they lose their job. Larry and Mary gets a job as an actress in Hollywood to help support them. She doesn’t realize until later that her contract says that she isn’t allowed to be married without the studio’s consent. Larry can’t handle both their fame and their secret marriage. He leaves saying he will return when he makes a success with ice capades show.

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