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via IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021152)
Date of Release: March 20, 1930
Studio: MGM
Director: Malcolm St. Clair
Cinematographer: Cedric Gibbons
Editor: Carl Pierson, Leslie F. Wilder
Screenplay: Sylvia Thalberg, Frank Butler, Joseph White Farnham
Music: Clifford Grey, Herbert Stothart, Arthur Freed
Sound: Paul Neal, Douglas Shearer
Production Designer: Cedric Gubbons
Costumes: Adrian
Leading Actors: Joan Crawford (Joan), Johnny Mack Brown (Larry), Dorothy Sebastian (Elizabeth), Ricardo Cortez (Jeff), Benny Rubin (“The Doctor”), Cliff Edwards (Froggy), Karl Dane (Hank), Lloyd Ingraham (Mr. Prescott)
Montana Moon is described by Turner Classic Movies as “the first-ever singing cowboy film.” It was a star vehicle for Joan Crawford, who had in 1929 appeared in two other talkies, MGM’s The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and Untamed.
Crawford plays Joan “Montana” Prescott, daughter of wealthy rancher John Prescott (Lloyd Ingram). On a train headed home, Joan fights off the admiration of Jeff Pelham (Ricardo Cortez) to save the honor of her sister Elizabeth (Dorothy Sebastian), who is madly in love with Jeff. To save all the trouble, Joan hops off the train in the middle of nowhere and stumbles upon cowboy Larry Kerrigan (John Mack Brown). The unlikely pair quickly fall in love, and marry. Joan is torn between life with her cowboy husband and being her former party girl self, while Larry feels uncomfortable in Joan’s socialite crowd. Joan heads back to New York, only for the train to be “hijacked,” and she falls gratefully into the arms of her beloved cowboy. Comic interludes are provided by The Doctor (Benny Rubin) and cowboy Froggy (Cliff Edwards).
Unusually, although there is a plethora of material about Joan Crawford available through biographies and interviews, very little has been written about the making of Montana Moon. According to Samuel Garza Bernstein, Montana Moon was intended to set Crawford and John Mack Brown as a team, however after seeing the chemistry between Crawford and Clark Gable in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), future films with Brown were scrapped.
It seems that Montanta Moon was viewed as trite even in its day, and was not considered a groundbreaking film, despite its status as the first “cowboy musical” and unique (at least for a musical) use of outdoor settings.
Montana Moon was released across the United States on March 20, 1930.
As noted in the Los Angeles Record, Leo the Lion made “in-person” appearances outside the theatre at select times in early April 1930.
Montana Moon received lukewarm reviews. While critics found Sylvia Thalberg and Frank Butler’s plot formulaic, they generally had praise for leading lady Joan Crawford, and funny man Cliff Edwards. Almost no critics even made mention of the music.
Mordaunt Hall, film critic for The New York Times, described the film as “An interminable, amateurish talking picture, with spasmodic snatches of melody…” Hall found the sound recording to be lacking with “little or no idea of sound perspective,” and the dialogue “poor” and “frequently lacking in good taste.” Hall felt Joan Crawford “appears to enjoy her role and sometimes her acting is quite fair.” Hall also gave credit to comedians Benny Rubin and Cliff Edwards, though felt their role was stymied by “none too witty” dialogue. Hall snarkily surmised, “...the most pleasing features of this production are Miss Crawford’s camel hair coat and her jodhpur riding outfit.” Hall also noted that the cinema audience applauded when cowboy Larry punched socialite Jeff.
Writing for Picture Play Magazine, Norbert Lusk stated that while Joan Crawford delivered a “spontaneous, likeable performance,” it was perhaps not enough to save the “trite, artificial whole.” Screenland editor and critic Delight Evans described the plot as using a “familiar formula,” but concluded that Crawford “couldn’t very well be easier on the eyes. Mr. John Brown is nice. [And] Cliff Edwards is very funny.”
Meanwhile, Photoplay listed Montana Moon as one of “The Best Pictures of the Month.” The Photoplay review stated “Even if you rebel in spots, you’ll care for this picture in a big way, in spite of yourself, for it has great gusto and paprika.” The review praised the comic talents of Benny Rubin, Karl Dane, and Cliff Edwards, and concluded “Bubbling Joan is back where she belongs, in a light frolicsome picture…”
Writing for Outlook and Independent, Creighton Peet was also enamored with Joan Crawford’s performance, which he described as “simple, straightforward…so honest and convincing that it almost makes up for the conventional plot…”
Douglas Fox, writing for Exhibitors Herald-World derided the film as a “mixture of sense and nonsense which is not amusing but becomes… a positive bore, too irritating to be a sporific [sic], and not quite irritating enough to make you get up and walk out.” Fox was the only critic that mentioned the music, stating “Musical comedy bits shoved in here and there, while nice enough in themselves, stick out like sore thumbs and remind you of those early days in talking pictures a few months ago when sound was introduced for its own sake, no other excuse being available.”
Whatever the critics thought, Crawford had box office appeal. Exhibitors Herald-World described the film as “The kind of picture that would be good anywhere” and noted “Crawford gets better and people like her.” George E. Fuller, an exhibitor from Alaska, enthusiastically wrote in Exhibitors Herald-World,
Studio: MGM
Director: Malcolm St. Clair
Cinematographer: Cedric Gibbons
Editor: Carl Pierson, Leslie F. Wilder
Screenplay: Sylvia Thalberg, Frank Butler, Joseph White Farnham
Music: Clifford Grey, Herbert Stothart, Arthur Freed
Sound: Paul Neal, Douglas Shearer
Production Designer: Cedric Gubbons
Costumes: Adrian
Leading Actors: Joan Crawford (Joan), Johnny Mack Brown (Larry), Dorothy Sebastian (Elizabeth), Ricardo Cortez (Jeff), Benny Rubin (“The Doctor”), Cliff Edwards (Froggy), Karl Dane (Hank), Lloyd Ingraham (Mr. Prescott)
Montana Moon is described by Turner Classic Movies as “the first-ever singing cowboy film.” It was a star vehicle for Joan Crawford, who had in 1929 appeared in two other talkies, MGM’s The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and Untamed.
Crawford plays Joan “Montana” Prescott, daughter of wealthy rancher John Prescott (Lloyd Ingram). On a train headed home, Joan fights off the admiration of Jeff Pelham (Ricardo Cortez) to save the honor of her sister Elizabeth (Dorothy Sebastian), who is madly in love with Jeff. To save all the trouble, Joan hops off the train in the middle of nowhere and stumbles upon cowboy Larry Kerrigan (John Mack Brown). The unlikely pair quickly fall in love, and marry. Joan is torn between life with her cowboy husband and being her former party girl self, while Larry feels uncomfortable in Joan’s socialite crowd. Joan heads back to New York, only for the train to be “hijacked,” and she falls gratefully into the arms of her beloved cowboy. Comic interludes are provided by The Doctor (Benny Rubin) and cowboy Froggy (Cliff Edwards).
Unusually, although there is a plethora of material about Joan Crawford available through biographies and interviews, very little has been written about the making of Montana Moon. According to Samuel Garza Bernstein, Montana Moon was intended to set Crawford and John Mack Brown as a team, however after seeing the chemistry between Crawford and Clark Gable in Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), future films with Brown were scrapped.
It seems that Montanta Moon was viewed as trite even in its day, and was not considered a groundbreaking film, despite its status as the first “cowboy musical” and unique (at least for a musical) use of outdoor settings.
Montana Moon was released across the United States on March 20, 1930.
As noted in the Los Angeles Record, Leo the Lion made “in-person” appearances outside the theatre at select times in early April 1930.
Montana Moon received lukewarm reviews. While critics found Sylvia Thalberg and Frank Butler’s plot formulaic, they generally had praise for leading lady Joan Crawford, and funny man Cliff Edwards. Almost no critics even made mention of the music.
Mordaunt Hall, film critic for The New York Times, described the film as “An interminable, amateurish talking picture, with spasmodic snatches of melody…” Hall found the sound recording to be lacking with “little or no idea of sound perspective,” and the dialogue “poor” and “frequently lacking in good taste.” Hall felt Joan Crawford “appears to enjoy her role and sometimes her acting is quite fair.” Hall also gave credit to comedians Benny Rubin and Cliff Edwards, though felt their role was stymied by “none too witty” dialogue. Hall snarkily surmised, “...the most pleasing features of this production are Miss Crawford’s camel hair coat and her jodhpur riding outfit.” Hall also noted that the cinema audience applauded when cowboy Larry punched socialite Jeff.
Writing for Picture Play Magazine, Norbert Lusk stated that while Joan Crawford delivered a “spontaneous, likeable performance,” it was perhaps not enough to save the “trite, artificial whole.” Screenland editor and critic Delight Evans described the plot as using a “familiar formula,” but concluded that Crawford “couldn’t very well be easier on the eyes. Mr. John Brown is nice. [And] Cliff Edwards is very funny.”
Meanwhile, Photoplay listed Montana Moon as one of “The Best Pictures of the Month.” The Photoplay review stated “Even if you rebel in spots, you’ll care for this picture in a big way, in spite of yourself, for it has great gusto and paprika.” The review praised the comic talents of Benny Rubin, Karl Dane, and Cliff Edwards, and concluded “Bubbling Joan is back where she belongs, in a light frolicsome picture…”
Writing for Outlook and Independent, Creighton Peet was also enamored with Joan Crawford’s performance, which he described as “simple, straightforward…so honest and convincing that it almost makes up for the conventional plot…”
Douglas Fox, writing for Exhibitors Herald-World derided the film as a “mixture of sense and nonsense which is not amusing but becomes… a positive bore, too irritating to be a sporific [sic], and not quite irritating enough to make you get up and walk out.” Fox was the only critic that mentioned the music, stating “Musical comedy bits shoved in here and there, while nice enough in themselves, stick out like sore thumbs and remind you of those early days in talking pictures a few months ago when sound was introduced for its own sake, no other excuse being available.”
Whatever the critics thought, Crawford had box office appeal. Exhibitors Herald-World described the film as “The kind of picture that would be good anywhere” and noted “Crawford gets better and people like her.” George E. Fuller, an exhibitor from Alaska, enthusiastically wrote in Exhibitors Herald-World,
“Montana Moon is the exhibitor’s birthday cake. It has ingredients that appeal to every class of theatregoer. Society drama, Western action and cowboy comedy and songs, spiced up with sex and sugar-coated with pleasing personalities in Joan Crawford and Johnnie Mack Brown.”
As reported in Motion Picture News, Montana Moon was the highest grossing film in Cleveland in the first week of April 1930, bringing in $25,000.
Crawford herself later described the film as “a bit of fluff that was supposed to help Johnny Mack Brown but I think it hurt him instead.” Crawford summarized, “It was awful.”
Crawford biographers Lawrence J. Quirk and William Schoell describe the film as a “bit of froufrou,” and noted that “Technical problems of the new sound process did not distract reviewers from noticing that Montana Moon was a pretty silly, flimsy concoction.”
Watching Montana Moon almost 100 years later is a fascinating exercise (it’s available on DVD and to stream). The film is not much of a musical – the first “song” doesn’t come in until 22 minutes in – but more of a comedy with a few songs.
What is surprising is that, unlike other films of this era, Montana Moon never attempts to justify why people sing, they just do. Joan sings lazily on a rock while Larry works, the cowboys sing in camp, and as they leave Joan and Larry to start their new life together. When Joan and Larry arrive at Mr Prescott’s house, music plays in the background and we never see the orchestra, and the revelers sing for fun at the party. Following Joan and Larry’s fight, Froggy and the cowboys sing “Sing a Song of Old Montana,” with Froggy strumming on his ukulele. When Larry is feeling down about the separation, and sits perched atop a rocky vista, Froggy sings “The Moon is Low,” again strumming on his “lampchop” or ukulele.
There is only one scene with dancing, when Joan and Jeffrey dance a short tango at the party.
In the finale of the film, Larry hijacks the train “disguised” as a Mexican bandit and rescues Joan from a life of parties and vapid socialites. The whole scene is cringeworthy, but at least Joan makes fun of Larry’s accent – “That accent of yours is so thick I could cut it with a knife.” The cowboys and Joan ride happily, unusually toward the camera and not away from it, singing a reprise of “Happy Cowboy.” It’s amusing to see Benny Rubin and some of the other cowboys intentionally just opening and closing their mouths, pretending to sing, and almost hamming for the camera. I think this is one of the reasons the critics of the day derided the poor sound quality, but it’s funny now.
The few songs in Montana Moon, including “Let Me Give You Love,” “Happy Cowboy,” “The Moon is Low,” “Trailin’ in Old Montana,” and “Montana Call,” are sweet. The male chorus is a treat, even if most of the time they are singing off in the distance. The songs were written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, with “interpolations” by Herbert Stothart and Clifford Grey.
Another surprising aspect of Montana Moon is that a great deal of it is filmed outdoors. The outdoor adventure is highlighted with a few fun shots of cowboys on their horses galloping through the dust.
Montana Moon was directed by Malcolm St. Clair, who directed over 100 films between 1919 and 1948. Historians generally agree he was at his peak during the silent era, though much of his work has been lost.
I enjoyed Crawford’s performance in Untamed (even if the film itself was awful), and she is once again her radiant self in Montana Moon. She’s funny and sassy, and refreshingly forward – an aspect of the film that Picture Play reviewer Norbert Lusk found “baffling,” and wondered how it made it past the censors. The scandal. Biographer Samuel Garza Bernstein notes that this is what made Crawford so appealing and controversial — “her appearance is almost feminine, her actions, not so much.”
In short, Montana Moon is an early Joan Crawford vehicle with a few fun comedic moments and some sweet songs, surrounded by an overall dull and predictable script.
Crawford herself later described the film as “a bit of fluff that was supposed to help Johnny Mack Brown but I think it hurt him instead.” Crawford summarized, “It was awful.”
Crawford biographers Lawrence J. Quirk and William Schoell describe the film as a “bit of froufrou,” and noted that “Technical problems of the new sound process did not distract reviewers from noticing that Montana Moon was a pretty silly, flimsy concoction.”
Watching Montana Moon almost 100 years later is a fascinating exercise (it’s available on DVD and to stream). The film is not much of a musical – the first “song” doesn’t come in until 22 minutes in – but more of a comedy with a few songs.
What is surprising is that, unlike other films of this era, Montana Moon never attempts to justify why people sing, they just do. Joan sings lazily on a rock while Larry works, the cowboys sing in camp, and as they leave Joan and Larry to start their new life together. When Joan and Larry arrive at Mr Prescott’s house, music plays in the background and we never see the orchestra, and the revelers sing for fun at the party. Following Joan and Larry’s fight, Froggy and the cowboys sing “Sing a Song of Old Montana,” with Froggy strumming on his ukulele. When Larry is feeling down about the separation, and sits perched atop a rocky vista, Froggy sings “The Moon is Low,” again strumming on his “lampchop” or ukulele.
There is only one scene with dancing, when Joan and Jeffrey dance a short tango at the party.
In the finale of the film, Larry hijacks the train “disguised” as a Mexican bandit and rescues Joan from a life of parties and vapid socialites. The whole scene is cringeworthy, but at least Joan makes fun of Larry’s accent – “That accent of yours is so thick I could cut it with a knife.” The cowboys and Joan ride happily, unusually toward the camera and not away from it, singing a reprise of “Happy Cowboy.” It’s amusing to see Benny Rubin and some of the other cowboys intentionally just opening and closing their mouths, pretending to sing, and almost hamming for the camera. I think this is one of the reasons the critics of the day derided the poor sound quality, but it’s funny now.
The few songs in Montana Moon, including “Let Me Give You Love,” “Happy Cowboy,” “The Moon is Low,” “Trailin’ in Old Montana,” and “Montana Call,” are sweet. The male chorus is a treat, even if most of the time they are singing off in the distance. The songs were written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, with “interpolations” by Herbert Stothart and Clifford Grey.
Another surprising aspect of Montana Moon is that a great deal of it is filmed outdoors. The outdoor adventure is highlighted with a few fun shots of cowboys on their horses galloping through the dust.
Montana Moon was directed by Malcolm St. Clair, who directed over 100 films between 1919 and 1948. Historians generally agree he was at his peak during the silent era, though much of his work has been lost.
I enjoyed Crawford’s performance in Untamed (even if the film itself was awful), and she is once again her radiant self in Montana Moon. She’s funny and sassy, and refreshingly forward – an aspect of the film that Picture Play reviewer Norbert Lusk found “baffling,” and wondered how it made it past the censors. The scandal. Biographer Samuel Garza Bernstein notes that this is what made Crawford so appealing and controversial — “her appearance is almost feminine, her actions, not so much.”
In short, Montana Moon is an early Joan Crawford vehicle with a few fun comedic moments and some sweet songs, surrounded by an overall dull and predictable script.
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