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Once in a Lifetime (1932 film)

{{short description|1932 American film}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Once in a Lifetime

| image = File:Once in a Lifetime (1932 film).jpg

| caption =

| director = Russell Mack

| producer = Carl Laemmle Jr.

| writer = Seton I. Miller (adaptation)

| based_on = {{based on |play Once in a Lifetime|George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart}}

| starring = Jack Oakie
Sidney Fox
Aline MacMahon

| cinematography = George Robinson

| editing = Robert Carlisle

| distributor = Universal Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1932|10|2}}

| runtime = 91 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

}}

Once in a Lifetime is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film based on Once in a Lifetime by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.{{cite news |title=Jack Oakie, Aline MacMahon and Others in a Film of the Hart-Kaufman Satire on Hollywood. |author=Mordaunt Hall |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 29, 1932 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A06E6D61131E333A2575AC2A9669D946394D6CF}} The film was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, directed by Russell Mack and stars Jack Oakie, Sidney Fox and Aline MacMahon.The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1931-40 by The American Film Institute, c.1993

It is preserved at the Library of Congress.Catalog of Feature Films The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress by The American Film Institute, c.1978

Plot

The immense success of The Jazz Singer, the first all-talking picture, results in the cancellation of a booking for three song-and-dance vaudeville performers: Jerry Hyland, May Daniels and George Lewis. Jerry, convinced that talkies are the future, decides they will head to Hollywood to break into the fledgling movie industry before others get the same notion. May comes up with the idea to open a school of elocution to teach actors how to speak on film. On the train there, May encounters an old friend, Helen Hobart, an influential, nationally syndicated columnist. She offers to put them in touch with Herman Glogauer, the head of a major movie studio. George is smitten with another passenger, aspiring young actress Susan Walker.

They discover the movie world to be an eccentric place. George is unexpectedly appointed by Glogauer as supervisor of production, allowing him to promote Susan's career. Despite his incompetence (or rather because of it), his first picture turns out to be a critical and commercial smash hit, and Susan becomes a star.

Later, a very persuasive salesman gets George to buy 2000 airplanes, which causes Glogauer to fire him. However, air movies become very popular, and George has inadvertently cornered the market. The other studios are desperate to get airplanes from Glogauer at any price, and George is once again considered a genius.

Cast

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Reception

Mordaunt Hall, film critic of The New York Times, gave the film a favorable review, calling it a "merry diversion". He praised all the main performers, as well as ZaSu Pitts as the studio's obtuse receptionist.

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023302/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4 Once in a Lifetime at IMDb.com]
  • [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/once-in-a-lifetime-v127936 allmovie/synopsis; Once in a Lifetime]
  • [http://www.emovieposter.com/gallery/inc/archive_image.php?id=13413455 lobby poster, rare]

{{George Kaufman}}

Category:1932 comedy films

Category:1932 films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:American comedy films

Category:Films about filmmaking

Category:American films based on plays

Category:Films directed by Russell Mack

Category:Films set in Los Angeles

Category:Universal Pictures films

Category:1930s American films

Category:1930s English-language films

Category:English-language comedy films

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