Starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Elizabeth Patterson, and Raymond Walburn
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein
We begin two weeks of All-American Weekdays with this rare and unique historical action tale. Paramount developed this after the overwhelming success of Show Boat at Universal the year before. They brought on a lot of the personnel from that film, including its leading lady Irene Dunne and its songwriters Kern and Hammerstein.
Director Mamoulian was known for imaginative musicals like Love Me Tonight that put emphasis on music and a sweeping camera to tell the story, while Hammerstein and Kern's work often investigated different sides of American history. How do they bring their own touches to the story of a farmer who marries the daughter of a snake oil salesman, only to push her aside when he discovers oil on his land? Let's begin at Titusville in western Pennsylvania, as con-man Doc Watterson (Walburn) and his daughter Sally (Dunne) sell their latest wares to the disbelieving crowd, and find out...
The Story: Sally, Doc, and Doc's assistant Mac (William Frawley) are stranded in Titusville when the crowds accidentally burn their gypsy cart. They stay with sensible farmer Grandma Cortland (Patterson), who opens her arms to them. Sally falls for and eventually marries Grandma's idealistic grandson Peter (Scott), who has been trying to mine the "rock oil" found on his land.
On the day of Sally and Peter's wedding, the oil suddenly erupts! Turns out there's oil all over the farmers' land. Railroad barons from Philadelphia, led by scheming Walt Brennan (Alan Hale Sr.), try to buy the land off of Peter. When he refuses, they raise the price of bringing the oil to the refineries beyond what the farmers can afford to pay. Peter finally decides to go around them and build a pipe to deliver the oil. He's spending so much time with his oil, he's neglecting Sally. She leaves him to return to her father's circus, but returns when the deadline for the pipeline is moved up from a week to a day.
The Song and Dance: For all the resemblance to Show Boat, I do commend Paramount for going with a fairly original story. I don't know of any other operettas (and only one stage musical) that revolves around oil drilling, and it's the only film I know of to be set in western Pennsylvania. It feels so much like a western, with its railroad barons opposing the farmers and trying to get them off their land, that for once, Randolph Scott isn't out of place in a musical. He's on far more accustomed turf here than he was in Roberta or Follow the Fleet.
Paramount spared no expense on this one. There's a lot of complicated outdoor shooting, including near the end when they're building the pipeline. While Mamoulian doesn't use the dialogue flowing into song that was so effective in Love Me Tonight, he does shoot some truly exciting action sequences. In addition to the big finale, with Sally and her people riding to save the day, there's also a brawl at a town dance between Peter and Mr. Stark (Irving Pichel), who also wants Sally's hand. Great supporting cast, too. Patterson and Walburn almost steal the film as sensible Grandma Courtland and Sally's roguish parent. Kern and Hammerstein wrote some lovely songs, too, including two standards, "The Folks Who Live On the Hill" and "Can I Forget You?"
Favorite Number: We open with the title song as Doc and Sally sing, dance, and push Doc's literal oil tonic. Sally sings "Can I Forget You?" twice, first on the hill to Peter before she, Mac, and Doc hit the road, and later as her big number at the circus. The second is especially rapturous, with Dunne looking so gorgeous, you can understand why none other than PT Barnum was impressed with her. Mac leads the townspeople in "Will You Marry Me Tomorrow, Maria?" at Sally and Peter's wedding...at least until the derrick Peter spent the first half of the film fussing over strikes oil!
Sally and Peter do manage to have time to settle down and for her to sing about how they'll be "The Folks Who Live On the Hill." Saloon singer Molly Fuller (Dorothy Lamour) laments "The Things I Want" at the saloon for the oil drillers. Sally joins her at another saloon for the rousing "Allegheny Al" in an attempt to get her a job. She has so much fun, and the barflies enjoy it so much, she ends up with the job instead.
Trivia: Titusville is a real city in Pennsylvania and really is considered to be the birthplace of the American oil industry.
What I Don't Like: What the heck is this again? It can't decide if it wants to be a romance, an action film with western overtones, or Show Boat. Sally's right that she doesn't have much to do in the middle of the movie. Once the emphasis moves to Scott after he strikes oil, she and the music takes a backseat. Lamour has even less to do beyond her two numbers and seems out of place - historical films were never her forte. And frankly, the whole thing with the circus performers, including elephants, coming to the rescue in the end is too goofy even for a musical semi-western.
The Big Finale: While not a rediscovered masterpiece, there is a lot of interest in this charming action musical if you're a fan of Scott, Dunne, and Mamoulian or Kern and Hammerstein's other work.
Home Media: On DVD from Universal Vault and Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber.
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