Dixiana (film)
| Dixiana | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Luther Reed Fred Fleck (assistant) |
| Written by | Anne Caldwell (story) Luther Reed (script) |
| Starring | Bebe Daniels Everett Marshall Wheeler & Woolsey Joseph Cawthorn Jobyna Howland Ralf Harolde Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Dorothy Lee |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | J. Roy Hunt |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
|
Release dates
|
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
|
|
Running time
|
100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $747,000[2] |
| Box office | $780,000[2] |
Dixiana (1930) is a lavish American musical film directed by Luther Reed and produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The final third of the picture was photographed in Technicolor. The film stars Bebe Daniels, Everett Marshall, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Joseph Cawthorn, Jobyna Howland, Ralf Harolde, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (in his film debut) and Dorothy Lee. The script was adapted by Luther Reed from a story by Anne Caldwell. The Technicolor sequences were considered lost for years but were re-discovered in 1988 and subsequently included in the restored DVD. At the end of 1958, the film entered the public domain (in the USA) due to RKO's failure to renew their copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.[3]
This is the film in which composer Max Steiner received his first screen credit. Additionally, it was Wheeler & Woolsey's third film; however, as they were not yet an official "team", they were still billed separately.
Contents
Plot
Dixiana Caldwell and her friends, Peewee and Ginger, are circus performers in the antebellum South. When Dixiana falls in love with a young Southern aristocrat, Carl Van Horn, she leaves the circus where she is employed and, with Peewee and Ginger, accompanies Carl to his family's plantation in order to meet Van Horn's family. At first thrilled with the news of their impending nuptials, Carl's father and stepmother, Cornelius and Birdie Van Horn, throw a lavish party for the couple. However, Peewee and Ginger inadvertently disclose Dixiana's background as a circus performer, creating a scandal for the elder Van Horns.
Asked by the stepmother to leave in disgrace, Dixiana and her friends return to New Orleans, seeking to gain re-employment from her former employer at the Cayetano Circus Theatre, but they are regretfully refused by him, due to way she had departed. Desperate, she takes employment at a local gambling hall, run by Royal Montague, who also has personal designs on Dixiana. As part of his plan, he intends to financially ruin Carl and his family and use Dixiana to accomplish that purpose.
Things come to a head when Dixiana is crowned Queen of the Mardi Gras. When Montague absconds with her, Carl challenges him to a duel, but, when a disguised Dixiana shows up in his stead, she tricks Montague into revealing his nefarious plans. Carl and Dixiana are reunited.[4]
Cast
- Bebe Daniels as Dixiana Caldwell
- Everett Marshall as Carl Van Horn
- Bert Wheeler as Peewee
- Robert Woolsey as Ginger Dandy
- Joseph Cawthorn as Cornelius Van Horn
- Jobyna Howland as Birdie Van Horn
- Dorothy Lee as Poppy
- Ralf Harolde as Royal Montague
- Edward Chandler as Blondell
- George Herman as Contortionist
- Raymond Maurel as Cayetano
- Bruce Covington as Company porter
- Bill Robinson as Specialty Dancer
- Eugene Jackson as Cupid
(Cast list as per AFI database)[1]
Reception
Reviewer Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times wrote of the singing, "...one wishes there was more of it and less of the somewhat futile attempt at a story" and noted that Bill Robinson "...gives an excellent exhibition of tap dancing, which won a genuine round of applause" and concluded, "The early glimpses of the circus theatre ... lead one to expect more than one is apt to get out of this production." [5]
The film reunited the director and most of the cast of RKO's most successful film of the year before, Rio Rita, but lackluster performances and direction, as well as a glut of movie musicals led to the film being one of RKO's biggest disappointments of 1930. The film lost an estimated $300,000.[2][6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951', Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p57
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Dixiana at IMDb
- Dixiana is available for free download at the Internet Archive
