Pre Code Hollywood Season: FD Cinematheque
Hook, Line And Sinker (1930)
![HOOK, LINE AND SINKER, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey [Wheeler and Woolsey], 1930](https://filmdialogueone.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/hook-line-and-sinker-1.jpg?w=474)
Director: Edward F Cline
Cast: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Dorothy Lee, Ralph Harolde, Jobyna Howland, Natalie Moorhead, Hugh Herbert, George F Marion
75 min
Hook, Line and Sinker is a 1930 American Pre-Code slapstick comedy directed by Edward F. Cline from a screenplay by Ralph Spence and Tim Whelan. It was the third starring vehicle for the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey (Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey), and also featured Dorothy Lee. It would be one of the largest financial successes for RKO Pictures in 1930.
Plot summary
Two fast-talking insurance salesmen — Wilbur Boswell and J. Addington Ganzy — help penniless socialite Mary Marsh to turn a dilapidated hotel, which was willed to her, into a thriving success. They soon run into trouble, however, in the form of two sets of rival gangsters who want to break into the hotel safe; also, Mary’s mother, Rebecca Marsh, wants her to marry wealthy lawyer John Blackwell, although Mary has fallen in love with Wilbur.
And while she takes an instant dislike to Wilbur, Rebecca falls for Ganzy. Adding to the complications is the fact that Blackwell is actually in league with the gangsters. The finale involves nighttime runarounds and a shoot-out in the hotel. During the pitched battle between the rival gangs and the police, Boswell and Ganzy save the jewels, after which Ganzy marries Rebecca, and then gives away Mary at her marriage to Wilbur.
Cast
- Bert Wheeler – Wilbur Boswell
- Robert Woolsey – Addington Ganzy
- Dorothy Lee – Mary Marsh
- Jobyna Howland – Rebecca Marsh
- Ralf Harolde – John Blackwell (Buffalo Blackie)
- William B. Davidson – Frank Dukette (Duke of Winchester)
- Natalie Moorhead – Duchess Bessie Von Essie
- George F. Marion – Ritz De La Rivera Bellboy
- Hugh Herbert – Hotel House Detective
- Stanley Fields – McKay
(Cast list as per AFI database)[2]
Reception
The film made a profit of $225,000,[4] and would be one of the top two money earners for RKO Radio Pictures in 1930.[4]
Notes
In 1958, the film entered the public domain in the USA due to the copyright claimants failure to renew the copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.[5]
References
- Jump up^ “Hook, Line and Sinker: Technical Details”. theiapolis.com. Retrieved August 6, 2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d “Hook, Line and Sinker: Detail View”. American Film Institute. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
- Jump up^ Richard Jewel, ‘RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951’, Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994, p. 55
- ^ Jump up to:a b c Jewell, Richard B.; Harbin, Vernon (1982). The RKO Story. New York: Arlington House. p. 24. ISBN 0-517-546566.
- Jump up^ Pierce, David (June 2007). “Forgotten Faces: Why Some of Our Cinema Heritage Is Part of the Public Domain”. Film History: An International Journal. 19 (2): 125–43. doi:10.2979/FIL.2007.19.2.125. ISSN 0892-2160. JSTOR 25165419. OCLC 15122313. See note #60, pg. 143.
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