Franchot Tone told Joan Crawford: "You are the only real, the only beautiful thing that ever happened in my life." Joan had never met anyone quite like Franchot. He was a patrician both in appearance and manner, yet he also possessed a deep concern for social reform. He had attended Hill School from which he was dismissed "for being a subtle influence for disorder throughout the fall term." His instinct for rebellion began early. Joan and Franchot were drawn to each other immediately. He claimed later he fell in love with her the moment they met on the set of "Today We Live" (1933).
Franchot was fascinated with the power structure of immigrant strong men who ruled the industry, also with the immense influence that movies could exert on the nation's social attitudes. Franchot interested Joan in the newly formed Screen Actors Guild, and she became one of its early members.
Franchot complained to Katherine Albert: "Every night Joan comes down the stairs all dressed up for dinner, and she expects me to compliment her on how she looks. Every night! My God, if Venus de Milo walked down the stairs every night, I couldn't continue raving about her." -"Joan Crawford: A Biography" (1979) by Bob Thomas
"The first time I met Franchot, he had the lead in a Maxwell Anderson play called
'Night Over Taos', produced by the Group Theater. He was tall and handsome, had an oriental valet, and was very rich. I was what was called a 'walk-on', my first Broadway appearance.
Later, during the run of
'Winterset' (1935), we had our first important meeting. He sent word to me that he and his new bride, Joan Crawford, were coming to see the play. The public interest in their union was phenomenal, and on the night they came to see
'Winterset' the streets outside the theater were jammed with thousands of swerving and milling fans. Backstage, we could hear the buzz of the audience through the curtain as Joan and Franchot took their seats.
I got to know Joan over the years and she made a good life for herself. I would say she accomplished 90 percent of her full capabilities, maybe 95 percent. I think the average person is lucky to do half that well. But the night I met her it intrigued me to find her so vulnerable. Aside from being snubbed (by producer Joe Schwartz at Tony's, on 52nd street) she talked about other difficulties in her life. Her main problem was how close-ups were shot in the movies.
"By the time they get to the close-ups," she said, "the actor and the actress have used up their energy on long shots, which don't show the full emotional capability of the artist." Franchot settled down to tell his impressions of
'Winterset' (he liked it very much) and the rest of the evening went on in blazing spirits. Dozens of people joined the table till the late hours. Everyone toasted the newlyweds. It was Franchot's first marriage
—later he went on to quite a few more. He liked getting married.
I don't know how good Franchot's influence was on me or mine on him. Aside from
The Man on the Eiffel Tower, a movie we made together in Paris, most of our coventures were in pursuit of pleasure. We shared many a bottle and many a girl, both in New York and Hollywood, in our bachelor days. All of us talked about wild times
—but in all honesty we talked more than we dissipated. Although Franchot was not afraid of heights, he was a bad businessman.
Tone had a secret side to him. It was his love of the Canadian woods. He was a fine woodsman. Most people knew him only as a playboy —elegantly dressed, handsome, towing an array of lovely women. Franchot and I remained close friends from that first meeting with his bride until I spoke at his funeral. -"So Far, So Good: A Memoir" (1994) by Burgess Meredith
Though early in his career,
The Stranger's Return (1933) finds Franchot Tone in familiar territory, as the likeable, inoffensive All-American guy, only this time, he's the object of the leading lady's affection instead of losing out to someone like Clark Gable in
Dancing Lady. The story begins at the breakfast table of the Storr family farm as Grandpa Storr (Lionel Barrymore) comes down to find corn flakes instead of bacon and eggs. The cornflakes are dumped, bacon and eggs are made, and the old Civil War veteran tells his son-in-law, Allen (Grant Mitchell); his wife Thelma (Aileen Carlyle); and his stepdaughter, Beatrice (Beulah Bondi), that his granddaughter is coming to stay with them. He's referring to Louise (Miriam Hopkins), recently separated from her husband in New York City, and coming back to the country for a time.
Guy and Louise continue to socialize and discover they have much in common. Guy went to college at Cornell (like Tone did in real life) and the two talk about theater in New York while Nettie is left out of the conversation. Guy shows Louise around the massive acreage of his farm and, finally, in a moment of passion, reveals his love for her. The problem is, both Guy and Louise like Nettie and neither wants to hurt her. More importantly for Louise, Guy's reputation will be destroyed. She can leave and go back to the city any time she wants, she explains to him, but he will be stuck there among the ever watchful, ever judging eyes of the small farming community.
Miriam Hopkins, like Tone, was just starting out in the movies, although by this one, she had already become a star. In just her first four movies she had scored major successes with
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and
The Smiling Lieutenant (both 1931) and she quickly became one of the biggest stars of the thirties. She's excellent here, playing well against both Tone and Barrymore.
Speaking of Barrymore, the old actor of the stage was in his stagecraft element here, wearing a beard and playing a character over thirty years older than his age at the time. He does so splendidly and manages to make a character almost defiantly rude and sarcastic at all times wholly loveable as well.
The Stranger's Return is one of those great films from the early thirties that doesn't get nearly enough recognition. The direction, production, writing, and acting are all supremely well done but for whatever reason, even with the newly minted star power of Miriam Hopkins, it didn't set the box office on fire and hasn't built up a reputation over the years like many others. It's time to change that and let
The Stranger's Return return to the spotlight.
Source: www.tcm.com
13 Tuesday 10:00 AM LOVE IS A HEADACHE (1938)
A freak accident gives a fading actress a huge publicity push. Director: Richard Thorpe Cast: Gladys George, Franchot Tone, Mickey Rooney, Virginia Wedley, Ted Healy. B&W-73 mins
Gladys George, a theater actress who had been signed by MGM in 1934, had been playing heavy dramatic roles in tearjerkers such as
Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar® nomination, and the title role in
Madame X (1937). The role of the glamorous Broadway star in
Love Is a Headache gave George a rare chance to cut loose with comedy, and she's terrific, her husky voice swooping from the dulcet tones of the grande dame she's turned herself into, to the guttersnipe gravel of the character's origins. Her screwball love-hate banter with Franchot Tone, as comfortable in comedy as he was in drama, is witty and effective.
Source: www.tcm.com
13 Tuesday 11:30 AM THREE LOVES HAS NANCY (1938)
Janet Gaynor, Robert Montgomery, Franchot Tone and Grady Sutton play the four sides of a romantic quadrangle in this screwball comedy co-scripted by Bella and Samuel Spewack (Broadway's Kiss Me, Kate). Gaynor portrays small-town girl Nancy Briggs, whose nebbish fiancé George (Sutton) doesn't return from his Manhattan job in time to say, "I do."
So Nancy heads to the big city to hunt for her hubby-to-be and, after a series of dizzy complications, lands in the apartment of a debonair author (Montgomery), in the romantic sights of his equally debonair pal (Tone), and in the middle of a three-man boxing match when George suddenly reappears. Will Nancy ever get to the altar? And if so, with whom? Gaynor was fresh off her triumph in
A Star Is Born when she made this fast-paced comedy and met its costume designer, Adrian. She soon became his bride and, at the height of her popularity, bid the movie world goodbye for almost 20 years.
THREE LOVES HAS NANCY (1938): A country girl follows the man who jilted her to the big city, where she finds two new suitors. Director: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Janet Gaynor, Robert Montgomery, Franchot Tone, Reginald Owen, Claire Dodd. B&W-70 mins
22 Thursday 10:45 AM TODAY WE LIVE (1933)
An aristocratic English girl's tangled love life creates havoc during World War I. Director: Howard Hawks Cast: Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Robert Young. B&W-113 mins,
In 1916, while England is deep in war with Germany, wealthy American Richard Bogard buys an estate in Kent and displaces its longtime occupant, Diana "Ann" Boyce-Smith. Although she has just learned that her father has been killed in action, Ann treats Bogard with brave graciousness and moves to the guest cottage without complaint. She then prepares to say goodbye to her brother Ronnie and childhood friend and neighbor, Claude Hope, both newly trained naval officers on their way to France.
Before he leaves, however, Claude, who has loved Ann for years, proposes a postwar marriage, and she happily accepts. Soon after Claude and Ronnie's departure, Bogard accompanies Ann on a bicycle ride and tells her that he has enlisted in the Royal Air Force. Unaware of Ann's engagement to Claude, Bogard then confesses his love, and she finally admits that she, too, is in love. To Bogard's dismay, however, Ann leaves suddenly for a seaport in France, where she meets up with Claude and Ronnie and volunteers for the ambulance corps. Once alone with Ronnie, Ann confesses her love of Bogard, but although Ronnie advises her to tell Claude the truth, she insists on keeping her marriage pledge.
Later, Ronnie shows Ann an official notice in which Bogard is listed as a casualty of a training accident. Ann quietly mourns for her dead lover, then assures a frightened, drunk Claude, who is about to leave on a particularly dangerous assignment, that she will "be there" for him when he returns. While Claude and Ann move in together with Ronnie's blessing, Bogard, who actually recovered from his accident injuries, returns to Kent and learns of Ann's general whereabouts.
Bogard finally finds Ann in a military hospital, but after a brief, tearful reunion, she runs away without explanation. That night, Bogard and his flying companion, "Mac" McGinnis, come across a drunken Claude in the street and carry him to his home. Stunned to see Ann there, Bogard deposits the oblivious Claude and leaves in a disapproving, jealous huff. Bogard and Mac run into Claude again in a cafe and listen in disgust as he drunkenly tells them about the boat trips he takes with Ronnie. Convinced that Claude has an easy, safe assignment, Bogard invites him to fly his next mission, which involves bombing a German munitions works. Still unaware of Ann's connection to Bogard, Claude agrees to accompany Bogard and Mac and surprises them with his expert shooting and cool-under-fire bravery. When Ann learns of Bogard's actions, she tells Ronnie to invite Bogard on one of Claude's missions, hoping to change the American's lowly opinion of her.
In the pouring rain, Claude, Ronnie and Bogard set out in a speedboat and, while zooming close to a German battleship, hand-launch a torpedo in a blaze of gunfire. Although the ship finally is sunk, Claude is blinded during the attack but, with Bogard, pretends that he can still see. After Bogard tells Ann that he at last understands her situation, Ann learns of Claude's blindness and says a final goodbye to Bogard. When Claude, who has deduced Ann's love of the American, hears that Bogard has volunteered for a suicidal bombing mission, he insists that he and Ronnie use their boat to destroy the targeted battleship. While the blind Claude mans the torpedo, Ronnie steers the boat directly into the German battleship, and both officers die in a spectacular explosion. Free to love, Ann and Bogard return to their home in Kent, where Claude and Ronnie are eulogized as heroes.
Source: www.tcm.com
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