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The Perils of Pauline (1947 film)
Encyclopedia
George Marshall (director)
George E. Marshall was an American actor, screenwriter, producer, film and television director, active through the first six decades of movie history....
and released by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. The movie is a fictionalized Hollywood account of silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
star Pearl White
Pearl White
Pearl Fay White was an American film actress, the so-called "Stunt Queen" of silent films, most notably in The Perils of Pauline.-Early life:...
's rise to fame, starring Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
as White.
The film, a broad satire of silent-movie production, is a musical-comedy vehicle for Hutton, filmed in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, with original songs by Frank Loesser
Frank Loesser
Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
(including the standards "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" and "Rumble, Rumble, Rumble").
Paul Panzer
Paul Panzer
Paul Panzer was a German-American silent film actor. He appeared in 333 films between 1905 and 1952. Panzer was best known for playing Koerner/Raymond Owen in The Perils of Pauline....
, who played the villain in the 1914 film, has a very small part in this film, as do silent-comedy veterans Chester Conklin
Chester Conklin
Chester Cooper Conklin was an American comedian and actor. He appeared in over 280 films, about half of them in the silent era.-Early life:...
, Hank Mann
Hank Mann
Hank Mann was a comedian and silent screen star who is best known as the last surviving member of the Keystone Cops. According to fellow actor and original member of the ensemble Edgar Kennedy, Mann was the originator of the idea for the Keysotne Cops...
, Snub Pollard
Snub Pollard
Harry "Snub" Pollard was a silent film comedian, popular in the 1920s.-Career:Often mistaken as the brother of Australian actress Daphne Pollard, in fact the two were not related despite their shared surname. Harry Pollard was born as Harold Fraser and took the name Pollard as his stage name...
, and James Finlayson
Jimmy Finlayson
James Henderson "Jimmy" Finlayson was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Bald, with a fake moustache, Finlayson had many trademark comic mannerisms and is famous for his squinting, outraged, "double take and fade away" head reaction, and characteristic expression...
.
The film is in the public domain today. However, Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
(through NBC Universal Television, successor-in-interest to EMKA, Ltd.
EMKA, Ltd.
EMKA, Ltd. is an in-name-only division of Universal Studios' television unit whose sole function is overseeing Paramount Pictures' pre-1950 sound feature film library. EMKA was formed by MCA in 1957 .In the aftermath of the landmark 1948 United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc...
) owns the original film elements. All public domain video releases are sourced from 16 mm television prints that have faded over the years. Any official release from Universal will be sourced from the original negative.
Plot summary
"Pearl" is as an ambitious hoyden who rises from amateur-night vaudevilleVaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
to silent-screen stardom.
Cast
- Betty HuttonBetty HuttonBetty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
as Pearl White - John LundJohn LundJohn Lund was an American film actor who is probably best remembered for his role in the film A Foreign Affair , directed by Billy Wilder.-Background:...
as Michael Farrington - Billy De WolfeBilly De WolfeBilly De Wolfe was an American character actor. He was active in films from the mid-1940s until his death in 1974. He was a good friend of Doris Day from the time of their meeting during the filming of Tea for Two until his death...
as Mr. Timmy Timmons - William DemarestWilliam DemarestCarl William Demarest was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.-Early life and career:...
as George "Mac" McGuire - Constance CollierConstance CollierConstance Collier was an English film actress and acting coach.-Life and career:Born Laura Constance Hardie, in Windsor, Berkshire, Collier made her stage debut at the age of 3, when she played Fairy Peasblossom in A Midsummer's Night Dream...
as Julia Gibbs - Frank FaylenFrank FaylenFrank Faylen was an American movie and television actor.Born Frank Ruf in St. Louis, Missouri, he began his acting career as an infant appearing with his vaudeville performing parents on stage...
as Mr. Joe Gurt - William FarnumWilliam FarnumWilliam Farnum was a major movie actor. One of three brothers, Farnum grew up in a family of actors. He made his acting debut at the age of ten in Richmond, Virginia in a production of Julius Caesar, with Edwin Booth playing the title character...
as Western Saloon Set Hero - Chester ConklinChester ConklinChester Cooper Conklin was an American comedian and actor. He appeared in over 280 films, about half of them in the silent era.-Early life:...
as Comic Chef - Paul PanzerPaul PanzerPaul Panzer was a German-American silent film actor. He appeared in 333 films between 1905 and 1952. Panzer was best known for playing Koerner/Raymond Owen in The Perils of Pauline....
as Drawing Room Gent - "Snub" Pollard as Western Saloon Set Propman
- James Finlayson as Comic Chef
- Creighton HaleCreighton HaleCreighton Hale was an Irish-born American movie actor who worked in the silent film era.-Career:While starring in Charles Frohman's Broadway production of Indian Summer, Hale was spotted by a representative of the Pathe Film Company...
as Marcelled Leading Man - Hank MannHank MannHank Mann was a comedian and silent screen star who is best known as the last surviving member of the Keystone Cops. According to fellow actor and original member of the ensemble Edgar Kennedy, Mann was the originator of the idea for the Keysotne Cops...
as Comic Chef - Francis McDonaldFrancis McDonaldFrancis McDonald was an American actor whose career spanned 52 years. Although never really a headlining actor, he made 41 film and television appearances between 1913 and 1965, appearing in films such as The Temptress in 1926 with Greta Garbo...
as Western Saloon Set Heavy - Bert RoachBert RoachBert Roach was an American film actor. He appeared in 327 films between 1914 and 1951.He was born in Washington, D.C., and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Fatty's Magic Pants...
as Western Saloon Set Bartender - Heinie ConklinHeinie ConklinHeinie Conklin was an American actor of the silent film era, who appeared in nearly 400 films. Claimed to be one of the original Keystone Kops, Conklin's silent screen makeup consisted heavy eyebrow lining and a thinnish, upside-down, painted-on variation of Kaiser Wilhelm's moustache...
as Studio Cop
Soundtrack
- "Poor Pauline" (Written by Charles McCarronCharles McCarronCharles McCarron was a United States Tin Pan Alley composer and lyricist. McCarron is credited on such numbers as "Fido Is a Hot Dog Now", and "Eve Wasn't Modest 'till She Ate that Apple"...
and Raymond Walker) - Betty Hutton - "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" (Written by Frank LoesserFrank LoesserFrank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
) - Betty Hutton - "The Sewing Machine" (Written by Frank LoesserFrank LoesserFrank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
) - Betty Hutton - "Rumble, Rumble, Rumble" (Written by Frank LoesserFrank LoesserFrank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
) - Betty Hutton - "Poppa, Don't Preach To Me" (Written by Frank LoesserFrank LoesserFrank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...
)