Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers – 1936: THREE MEN ON A HORSE & THE PETRIFIED FOREST

Jun 18, 2021

For Warner Bros., 1936, we take a look at two stage-to-film adaptations: Three Men on a Horse, a Warners-style farce about gangsters, discontented suburbanites, and the power of greeting card poetry, and The Petrified Forest, a drama by Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert E. Sherwood about gangsters, disillusioned novelists, and the allure of French poetry. We discuss the studio's handling of suburban satire and Leslie Howard's handling of the role of thematic spokesman. It's an all-star episode, with the other players including Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart (in his first important film role), stage star Sam Levene, Warners comedy stalwarts Frank McHugh, Joan Blondell, and Guy Kibbee, Eddie Anderson in a pre-fame appearance, and Lorenz brother Teddy Hart in a well-deserved Screen Actors Guild award-winning performance. And it doesn't end there. As Bette Davis would say in The Petrified Forest, "It's a little bit crazy!"  

Time Codes:

0h 01m 00s:                  Three Men on Horse [dir. Mervyn Leroy]

0h 29m 13s:                  The Petrified Forest [dir. Archie Mayo]

           

Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive Hirschhorn

                                   

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

*Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Find Elise’s latest film piece on Billy Wilder and 1930s Romantic Comedy

*And Read lots of Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.*

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