- Published on
Date of Release: 16 Oct 1929
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Music: Harry Akst, Earl Carroll, Sidney Clare, Grant Clarke, Peter DeRose, Charles Tobias
Writers: Robert Lord, Arthur Caesar, De Leon Anthony
Leading Actors: Charlotte Greenwood, Patsy Ruth Miller, Claude Gillingwater, Grant Withers, Harry Gribbon, Hallam Cooley, Marion Byron, Bert Roach, Helen Foster, Lloyd Ingraham, Jack Grey
I had high hopes for this film. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, director of the watchable The Singing Fool, and starring acclaimed Broadway actress Charlotte Greenwood, So Long Letty promised to be a highlight of early movie musical fare. It was awful. After such clunky films as this, it’s a wonder movie musicals ever took off.
Based on the 1916 Broadway musical of the same name, though with an entirely new score save for the title song, So Long Letty is a musical about wife swapping, a premise that was considered dated even at the time of its release. The New York Times review stated “The picture itself goes almost insane at times, for it possesses so many irrational moments thats it logical points seem strangely out of place.”
Of the film’s five songs, four occur in the last twenty minutes of the film. Each song sits oddly within the plot, and does not advance the story or characters in any way. The songs are used to highlight Greenwood’s gutsy alto voice, but instead of coming across as endearing or fun, her character is painful and annoying. The film comes to a merciful end with a speak-song that wraps up the plot in less than thirty seconds.
Women are portrayed in limited roles, obsessed with fame, cooking, or men. The two lead women, crass beauty shop parlour employee, Letty, played by Charlotte Greenwood, and the “nice little domestic girl” housewife, Grace, played by Patsy Ruth Miller, are both unlikeable. They are not helped by bizarre costuming choices, where Greenwood often looks like she’s dressed in a shiny sack, and Miller is too fashionably dressed for her diminutive housewife character.
The women are not helped by their male co-stars. Bert Roach is amusing as Letty’s husband, but his character is ungrateful and rude. The same can be said of Grant Withers as Harry Miller, who has a quick song at the end of the film featuring an appalling attempt at scat singing. Finally, the grouchy rich old white male of film, Uncle Claude, played by Claude Gillingwater, has no reason to be so awful and judgmental, except for the fact he is grouchy, rich, white, and old.
There is one redeeming, although all-too-short, scene in the film, set at Letty's beauty parlor. Charlotte Greenwood displays her comedic ability, and the visually appealing set makes for a great contrast from the living room and kitchen scenes that take up most of the film.
It’s not much surprise that So Long Letty was a commercial flop. The film’s humor is cheap, dated, and sexist, and with its ridiculous songs and complete absence of dancing, it barely passes as a musical. So Long Letty, and good riddance!
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Music: Harry Akst, Earl Carroll, Sidney Clare, Grant Clarke, Peter DeRose, Charles Tobias
Writers: Robert Lord, Arthur Caesar, De Leon Anthony
Leading Actors: Charlotte Greenwood, Patsy Ruth Miller, Claude Gillingwater, Grant Withers, Harry Gribbon, Hallam Cooley, Marion Byron, Bert Roach, Helen Foster, Lloyd Ingraham, Jack Grey
I had high hopes for this film. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, director of the watchable The Singing Fool, and starring acclaimed Broadway actress Charlotte Greenwood, So Long Letty promised to be a highlight of early movie musical fare. It was awful. After such clunky films as this, it’s a wonder movie musicals ever took off.
Based on the 1916 Broadway musical of the same name, though with an entirely new score save for the title song, So Long Letty is a musical about wife swapping, a premise that was considered dated even at the time of its release. The New York Times review stated “The picture itself goes almost insane at times, for it possesses so many irrational moments thats it logical points seem strangely out of place.”
Of the film’s five songs, four occur in the last twenty minutes of the film. Each song sits oddly within the plot, and does not advance the story or characters in any way. The songs are used to highlight Greenwood’s gutsy alto voice, but instead of coming across as endearing or fun, her character is painful and annoying. The film comes to a merciful end with a speak-song that wraps up the plot in less than thirty seconds.
Women are portrayed in limited roles, obsessed with fame, cooking, or men. The two lead women, crass beauty shop parlour employee, Letty, played by Charlotte Greenwood, and the “nice little domestic girl” housewife, Grace, played by Patsy Ruth Miller, are both unlikeable. They are not helped by bizarre costuming choices, where Greenwood often looks like she’s dressed in a shiny sack, and Miller is too fashionably dressed for her diminutive housewife character.
The women are not helped by their male co-stars. Bert Roach is amusing as Letty’s husband, but his character is ungrateful and rude. The same can be said of Grant Withers as Harry Miller, who has a quick song at the end of the film featuring an appalling attempt at scat singing. Finally, the grouchy rich old white male of film, Uncle Claude, played by Claude Gillingwater, has no reason to be so awful and judgmental, except for the fact he is grouchy, rich, white, and old.
There is one redeeming, although all-too-short, scene in the film, set at Letty's beauty parlor. Charlotte Greenwood displays her comedic ability, and the visually appealing set makes for a great contrast from the living room and kitchen scenes that take up most of the film.
It’s not much surprise that So Long Letty was a commercial flop. The film’s humor is cheap, dated, and sexist, and with its ridiculous songs and complete absence of dancing, it barely passes as a musical. So Long Letty, and good riddance!
0 Comments