Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Thursday, March 26, 2020

Universal Winning The War


Follow The Boys (1944) Features Camp-Following Stars

As much a wartime revue for Charles K. Feldman's client list as for Universal stars doing their bit for servicemen. Feldman produced, independently as was case with prior successes for Universal (including The Spoilers), him in ripe position to deliver up names beyond a somewhat impoverished contract list at his releasing studio. Noted then and certainly now was fact that Universal did not put their biggest attractions, Abbott and Costello or Deanna Durbin, before cameras for Follow The Boys. We do glimpse Nigel Bruce among a crowd, but no Basil Rathbone (understandable as he was contracted to MGM, and did his Universal Holmes series as loan-outs). Stars like Gloria Jean, Maria Montez, and Evelyn Ankers are shown in pans across rows of silent onlookers at a pep meeting conducted by leading man George Raft. Lon Chaney, seated behind Sophie Tucker, says not one word and has but a couple shots to represent him for whole of the film. There is Orson Welles with a silent Noah Beery, Jr., Turhan Bey behind and mute as well. Welles is a more vocal participant, and gets in his magician act with Marlene Dietrich for assist. Interesting to see Orson comparatively thin and robust, a dashing figure in top hat and tails, his sleight-of-hand neutralized by clunky special effects revealing studio artifice behind his "magic."




Highlights like this are interspersed with humblest vaudeville. There’s even an extended dog act presided over by Charles Butterworth, this making sense for Follow The Boys being designed as much to salute vanished variety as wartime men at arms. The Andrews Sisters might be anticipated in any Universal show from this period, but again, their act is compromised by uneasy blend of actual performance and soundstage recreation --- same for Jeannette MacDonald, though she has a nice number in a hospital tent which at least suggests the emotional bond shared by these performers and the servicemen they entertained. We see Donald O’Connor and Peggy Ryan running out to greet what looks to be thousands of GI’s at an outdoor camp stage, only to find themselves cut away to a studio mock-up of the location for their number. What a disappointment Universal didn’t capture that act as it played to recruits, but Follow The Boys wasn't about documenting reality of camp shows. We're lucky, in fact, to have what few and sporadic shots there are of these mass gatherings. Near to the end W.C. Fields saunters into a post canteen to do his pool table routine for what would be a last time. It took Bill just two days to film, despite a schedule allowing for ten. Still, his pacing is slowed. Favored stooge Bill Wolfe walks through unmolested, as if The Great Man had simply forgotten he was there, while subdued laughter from the intercut "audience" is kept to a minimum, possibly on the theory that theatre-goers’ mirth would fill the void. One look at Fields' haggard appearance and you know why he couldn’t get insured for another feature. Still, his routine is what keeps Follow The Boys on radar for devoted fans today. There is a DVD available from Region Two, part of a UK Marlene Dietrich mega-box.

5 Comments:

Blogger Reg Hartt said...

I always loved the W. C. Fields segment of this film. There a couple of others he lends his presence to as well. Each comes alive for me the moment he comes on screen.

7:47 AM  
Blogger Kevin K. said...

Fields' photo isn't even in the ad.

10:52 AM  
Blogger DBenson said...

Apropos of nothing, Radio Shack sold an official W.C. Fields battery tester in the 70s. Here's one of many eBay auctions for it:

https://www.ebay.com/i/161796258215?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=161796258215&targetid=882904020427&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9032190&poi=&campaignid=6469981122&mkgroupid=86285324342&rlsatarget=pla-882904020427&abcId=1141176&merchantid=114822757&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpfHzBRCiARIsAHHzyZrsFpiXxSsygZV2hQm0ddhXNrEeaH37QlO-vFxhEm8_KPXtSPhHnCQaAneeEALw_wcB

I got one as a stocking stuffer and still have it, although it no longer works after I tried to test a 9-volt battery on it. Sigh.

Also have an official deck of W.C. Fields cards, with quotes and photos on them. That includes a "cheating guide", which in fact is just a Fields-free article on spotting card cheats printed on a folded strip of paper. Looking back, the early 70s was the twilight for mass market Fieldsian merchandise.

2:37 AM  
Blogger Reg Hartt said...

When I first saw Fields it was on TV alone after midnight.

Did.Not.Find.Him.Funny.At.All.

Then I began to run his films as part of my program at Rochdale College in Toronto.

Seeing him with a paying audience was a huge surprise. Orson Welles has a lot to say about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V421bF698sA.

I not only quickly came to love his films I learned a lot watching him work.

10:47 PM  
Blogger rnigma said...

Fields also appeared in Feldman's "Song of the Open Road," a benefit for American Youth Hostels, and Jane Powell's film debut.

8:39 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024