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TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:03 pm
by drednm
Watched this tonight. Excellent film. Is it public domain?

What a complex plot: part screwball comedy and part history lesson. All the actors were great.

Re: TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:37 pm
by mndean
drednm wrote:Watched this tonight. Excellent film. Is it public domain?
No such luck, renewed in 1965.

Re: TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:24 am
by drednm
Yes WAC wrote and said they own it but underlying rights issues prevent them from releasing it on DVD.

Re: TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:53 am
by Ray Faiola
A great film with a great score by Max Steiner. This is probably Melville Cooper's finest hour and one of the great performances of continental farce.

My favorite exchange:

Rathbone to Colbert: "Pardon me, what did you put in this water?"

Colbert: "Rat poison."

I have a great print of the feature and the trailer. While Warners can't release it to the home market, they did make a nice 35mm transfer for TCM.

Boyer's role was played by John Halliday on Broadway. The play was later musicalized with Vivien Leigh and Jean-Pierre Aumont in the leads. Capitol released a cast album.

Re: TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:59 am
by drednm
I liked Isabel Jeans as well and May Boley was fun as the cook.

Re: TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:23 am
by Ray Faiola
Here's a photo of Bela Lugosi, Eugenie Leontovich and Osgood Perkins in a late '30's stage production.

Image

Re: TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:40 am
by filmnotdigital
The same source was used for the 1935 French film, Tovaritch.
It,s out there, from French TV, for those who understand enough of the language or want to compare,
but the version has no subtitles

Re: TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:45 am
by Hal Erickson
Plus: This was the first Warner Bros. film to use the famous WB 'fanfare' behind the opening logo.

Re: TOVARICH (1937)

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 11:40 am
by Ray Faiola
Hal - Max actually composed the fanfare for GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT; but TOVARICH wound up being released first.