Top Speed (film)

Top Speed is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical comedy film released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. It was based on a 1929 stage musical of the same name by Harry Ruby, Guy Bolton and Bert Kalmar. The film stars Joe E. Brown, Bernice Claire, Jack Whiting, Laura Lee, and Frank McHugh.[1]

Top Speed
Directed byMervyn LeRoy
Written byHumphrey Pearson
Henry McCarty
Based onTop Speed
by Harry Ruby
Guy Bolton
Bert Kalmar
StarringJoe E. Brown
Bernice Claire
Jack Whiting
Frank McHugh
Laura Lee
Music byJoseph Burke
Al Dubin
Leonid S. Leonardi
Larry Ceballos
CinematographySidney Hickox
Edited byHarold Young
Distributed byFirst National Pictures
A Subsidiary of Warner Bros.
Release date
  • August 24, 1930 (1930-08-24)
Running time
73 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Synopsis

Elmer Peters (Brown) and Gerald Brooks (Whiting), bond clerks on a weekend vacation, are on the run from a local sheriff after Elmer attempts to fish in a "no fishing" area. The two men arrive at an expensive hotel where they rescue Virginia Rollins (Claire) and Babs Green (Lee), who have just been involved in a car accident. Gerald falls in love with Virginia, and Elmer falls for Babs, and the two fugitives decide to remain at the hotel for the rest of the weekend. Elmer begins boasting to hotel guests and personnel; soon, everyone believes that he and Gerald are millionaires, and that Gerald is an expert boat racer.

Virginia's father (Edwin Maxwell) owns a speedboat that he plans to enter in a big race. After he fires his pilot, whom he caught taking a bribe, Virginia convinces her father to let Gerald pilot the boat. A competitor, Spencer Colgate (Edmund Breese), discovers that Gerald is a fraud and threatens to expose him unless he accepts $30,000 to throw the race. Gerald, unable to refuse such a princely sum, agrees. Virginia and her father learn during the race that Gerald took the payoff; but Gerald chooses love and honor over riches, and drives the boat to victory. After he wins, Gerald comes clean, and all is forgiven.

Cast
Lobby card

Production

The film was completed as a full musical. However, due to increasing disfavor towards that genre from the public (beginning in late 1930), Warners chose to make many cuts to the film and much of the original music is missing or severely truncated. The Warner re-cut survives in the Library of Congress collection.[2]

Preservation
  • The film survives only in the cut version which was released in late 1930 by Warner Brothers, with most of the musical numbers removed. Due to the backlash against musicals, Warner Bros. chose to cut most of the musical sequences before releasing the film.
  • The film was released as a full musical outside of the United States, where a backlash against musicals never occurred. It is unknown whether a print of this longer version still exists.
  • The complete soundtrack to the International Sound Version (which includes all of the original songs) survives at the UCLA Film and Television Archive on Vitaphone disks.

Music
  • "If You Were a Traveling Salesman and I Were a Chambermaid" (Performed by Joe E. Brown and Laura Lee)
  • "Knock Knees" (Performed by Joe E. Brown, Laura Lee and chorus)
  • "Looking for the Lovelight in the Dark" (Performed by Bernice Claire, Jack Whiting and chorus)
  • "As Long as I Have You and You Have Me" (Cut from film; originally performed by Bernice Claire and Jack Whiting)
  • "Goodness Gracious" (Cut before release in the United States)
  • "I'll Know and She'll Know" (Cut before release in the United States)
  • "Keep Your Undershirt On" (Cut before release in the United States)
  • "What Would I Care?" (Cut before release in the United States)
  • "Sweeter Than You" (Cut before release in the United States)
  • "Reaching For the Moon" (Cut before release in the United States)

References
  1. The AFI Catalog of Feature Films 1893-1993:Top Speed
  2. Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, (<-book title) p.186 c.1978 by The American Film Institute
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