The Young in Heart
Encyclopedia
The Young in Heart is a film comedy
starring Janet Gaynor
, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
, Paulette Goddard
, Roland Young
, and Billie Burke
.
Made by Selznick International Pictures
and distributed by United Artists
, the movie was directed by Richard Wallace and produced by David O. Selznick
from a screenplay
by Paul Osborn
, adapted by Charles Bennett
from the serial The Gay Banditti by I. A. R. Wylie.
The music score was by Franz Waxman
and Heinz Roemheld. Waxman received two Academy Award nominations, for Best Music, Original Score
and Best Music, Scoring. Leon Shamroy
's cinematography was also nominated
.
. On the train to London
, George-Anne Carlton (Janet Gaynor) encounters her persistent former suitor, Duncan Macrae (Richard Carlson). He still wants to marry her, despite knowing of her family's checkered past, but he is not wealthy, so she tells him to leave her alone.
The penniless family soon latches onto kind-hearted fellow passenger Miss Ellen Fortune (Minnie Dupree
), a rich but lonely old woman. When there is a train crash, George-Anne and her brother Richard (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) take good care of her. As a result, the Carltons are invited to stay with Miss Fortune at her mansion in London. Richard and their parents, "Colonel" Anthony "Sahib" Carlton (Roland Young) and "Marmy" (Billie Burke), consider it a short-term refuge while they search for another opportunity, but George-Anne convinces them to try to ingratiate themselves with the old woman, supposedly with the goal of becoming her heirs; secretly, she hopes that her family will mend their crooked ways. Miss Fortune's lawyer, Felix Anstruther (Henry Stephenson
), is suspicious of their motives and, while in France on business, checks up on them.
In the meantime, Duncan resurfaces. Having seen Sahib's half-hearted newspaper advertisement for a job, Duncan secures one for him as a car salesman for the Flying Wombat (actually Rust Heinz's futuristic car, the Phantom Corsair
). Richard wanders into the office of an engineering firm that is looking to hire a mail boy; admiring hardworking employee Leslie Saunders (Paulette Goddard), he takes the job. Soon, they are going out together, though he does not hide from her the fact that the only reason he is working is to impress Miss Fortune.
Despite themselves, the Carltons start to change. Sahib turns out to be a fine salesman and is soon promoted to sales manager for London, while Richard starts studying engineering.
When Anstruther returns, he informs his client all that he has uncovered about the Carltons, but Miss Fortune, though believing what he tells her, refuses to think ill of her guests. Her faith is justified. When she becomes seriously ill, Anstruther informs the Carltons that Miss Fortune is not wealthy after all. Her finances have worsened and she may even lose her house. Each of the Carltons insists that they are only concerned about her welfare, much to George-Anne's surprised delight. Sahib states that Miss Fortune will never want for a home.
In the end, George-Anne marries Duncan, Richard does the same with Leslie, and Miss Fortune goes to live with the Carltons in their cottage.
and Laurette Taylor
originally screen tested for the part of Miss Fortune, which eventually went to Minnie Dupree. The screen tests of Adams and Taylor, made by David Selznick, survive and are the only audio-visual record of the actresses (although Taylor did star in a couple of silent films). Taylor's screen test can be seen on the DVD of Broadway: The Golden Age.
This was Gaynor's final film role before retiring while at her height (though she did make one more movie, 1957's Bernardine
).
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
, Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
, Roland Young
Roland Young
Roland Young was an English actor.-Early life and career:Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
, and Billie Burke
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live...
.
Made by Selznick International Pictures
Selznick International Pictures
-Origin:It was founded in 1935 by producer David O. Selznick and investor John Hay "Jock" Whitney after Selznick left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and leased a section of the RKO Pictures lot in Culver City, California...
and distributed by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, the movie was directed by Richard Wallace and produced by David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
from a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Paul Osborn
Paul Osborn
Paul Osborn was an American playwright and screenwriter best known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific, The Yearling, The World of Suzie Wong and Sayonara....
, adapted by Charles Bennett
Charles Bennett (screenwriter)
Charles Bennett was an English playwright and screenwriter, probably best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock....
from the serial The Gay Banditti by I. A. R. Wylie.
The music score was by Franz Waxman
Franz Waxman
Franz Waxman was a German-American composer, known for his bravura Carmen Fantasie for violin and orchestra, based on musical themes from the Bizet opera Carmen, and for his musical scores for films....
and Heinz Roemheld. Waxman received two Academy Award nominations, for Best Music, Original Score
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
and Best Music, Scoring. Leon Shamroy
Leon Shamroy
Leon Shamroy, A.S.C. was an American film cinematographer. Together with Charles Lang, he holds the record for most number of Academy Award nominations for Cinematography...
's cinematography was also nominated
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
.
Plot
The French police identify the Carltons as a family of con artists and insist they leave the RivieraFrench Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
. On the train to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, George-Anne Carlton (Janet Gaynor) encounters her persistent former suitor, Duncan Macrae (Richard Carlson). He still wants to marry her, despite knowing of her family's checkered past, but he is not wealthy, so she tells him to leave her alone.
The penniless family soon latches onto kind-hearted fellow passenger Miss Ellen Fortune (Minnie Dupree
Minnie Dupree
Minnie Dupree was a stage and film actress.She made her acting debut in a touring company in 1887. The next year, she made a big impression in a small role in William Gillette's New York play Held by the Enemy...
), a rich but lonely old woman. When there is a train crash, George-Anne and her brother Richard (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) take good care of her. As a result, the Carltons are invited to stay with Miss Fortune at her mansion in London. Richard and their parents, "Colonel" Anthony "Sahib" Carlton (Roland Young) and "Marmy" (Billie Burke), consider it a short-term refuge while they search for another opportunity, but George-Anne convinces them to try to ingratiate themselves with the old woman, supposedly with the goal of becoming her heirs; secretly, she hopes that her family will mend their crooked ways. Miss Fortune's lawyer, Felix Anstruther (Henry Stephenson
Henry Stephenson
Henry Stephenson , sometimes credited as Harry Stephenson, was a British character actor....
), is suspicious of their motives and, while in France on business, checks up on them.
In the meantime, Duncan resurfaces. Having seen Sahib's half-hearted newspaper advertisement for a job, Duncan secures one for him as a car salesman for the Flying Wombat (actually Rust Heinz's futuristic car, the Phantom Corsair
Phantom Corsair
The Phantom Corsair is an automobile prototype from 1938. It is a six-passenger coupe that was designed by Rust Heinz, a member of the H. J. Heinz family, and Maurice Schwartz of the Pasadena, California based Bohman & Schwartz coachbuilding company...
). Richard wanders into the office of an engineering firm that is looking to hire a mail boy; admiring hardworking employee Leslie Saunders (Paulette Goddard), he takes the job. Soon, they are going out together, though he does not hide from her the fact that the only reason he is working is to impress Miss Fortune.
Despite themselves, the Carltons start to change. Sahib turns out to be a fine salesman and is soon promoted to sales manager for London, while Richard starts studying engineering.
When Anstruther returns, he informs his client all that he has uncovered about the Carltons, but Miss Fortune, though believing what he tells her, refuses to think ill of her guests. Her faith is justified. When she becomes seriously ill, Anstruther informs the Carltons that Miss Fortune is not wealthy after all. Her finances have worsened and she may even lose her house. Each of the Carltons insists that they are only concerned about her welfare, much to George-Anne's surprised delight. Sahib states that Miss Fortune will never want for a home.
In the end, George-Anne marries Duncan, Richard does the same with Leslie, and Miss Fortune goes to live with the Carltons in their cottage.
Casting
The Broadway stars Maude AdamsMaude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
and Laurette Taylor
Laurette Taylor
Laurette Taylor was an American stage and silent film actress.-Personal life:Laurette Taylor was born in New York City of Irish extraction as Loretta Helen Cooney.-Personal life:...
originally screen tested for the part of Miss Fortune, which eventually went to Minnie Dupree. The screen tests of Adams and Taylor, made by David Selznick, survive and are the only audio-visual record of the actresses (although Taylor did star in a couple of silent films). Taylor's screen test can be seen on the DVD of Broadway: The Golden Age.
Cast
- Janet GaynorJanet GaynorJanet Gaynor was an American actress and painter.One of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, in 1928 Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven , Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel...
as George-Anne Carleton - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
as Richard Carleton - Paulette GoddardPaulette GoddardPaulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
as Leslie Saunders - Roland YoungRoland YoungRoland Young was an English actor.-Early life and career:Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
as Col. Anthony 'Sahib' Carleton - Billie BurkeBillie BurkeMary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live...
as Marmy Carleton - Minnie DupreeMinnie DupreeMinnie Dupree was a stage and film actress.She made her acting debut in a touring company in 1887. The next year, she made a big impression in a small role in William Gillette's New York play Held by the Enemy...
as Ellen Fortune - Henry StephensonHenry StephensonHenry Stephenson , sometimes credited as Harry Stephenson, was a British character actor....
as Felix Anstruther - Richard Carlson as Duncan Macrae
- Lawrence GrantLawrence GrantPercy Reginald Lawrence-Grant was an English actor known for his supporting roles in films such as The Living Ghost, I'll Tell the World, The Mask of Fu Manchu, and Son of Frankenstein...
as Mr. Hutchins - Walter KingsfordWalter KingsfordWalter Kingsford was a British stage, film and television actor born in Redhill, Surrey, England. He was born Walter Pearce and had several sisters...
as Inspector - Eily MalyonEily MalyonEily Malyon was an English character actress in the 1930s and 1940s.Born as Eily Sophie Lees-Craston in London in 1878 or 1879. Her mother, Agnes Thomas, was also an actress...
as Sarah - Tom RickettsTom RickettsThomas "Tom" Ricketts was an English American silent film actor, director and screenwriter who was involved in almost 350 motion pictures....
as Andrew, Miss Fortune's butler - Irvin S. CobbIrvin S. CobbIrvin Shrewsbury Cobb was an American author, humorist, and columnist who lived in New York and authored more than 60 books and 300 short stories.-Biography:...
as Mr. Jennings - Lucile WatsonLucile Watson-Career:Watson began her career on the stage debuting on Broadway in the play Hearts Aflame in 1902. Her next play was The Girl With Green Eyes, the first of several Clyde Fitch stories. At the end of 1903, Lucile appeared in Fitch's "Glad of It"...
as Mrs. Jennings - Margaret Early as Adele Jennings, Richard's heiress fiancée at the beginning
This was Gaynor's final film role before retiring while at her height (though she did make one more movie, 1957's Bernardine
Bernardine (film)
Bernardine is a 1957 film directed by Henry Levin and starring Pat Boone, Terry Moore, Dean Jagger, Dick Sargent, and Janet Gaynor. The 1952 play upon which the movie is based was written by Mary Coyle Chase, the Denver playwright who also wrote the smash hit Broadway play Harvey...
).