Stand-In
Encyclopedia
Stand-In is a movie about Hollywood and the film industry starring Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard may refer to:*Leslie Howard , English stage performer who became star of Hollywood films during 1930s*Leslie Howard , Australian-born British pianist and composer...

, Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...

, and Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....

. It was directed by Tay Garnett
Tay Garnett
Tay Garnett was an American film director and writer.Born in Los Angeles, California, Garnett served as a naval aviator in World War I and entered films as a screenwriter in 1920. He was a gagwriter for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, then joined Pathé and began to direct films in 1928...

, produced by Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...

, and released by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

.

Plot

The plot of Stand-In concerns the takeovers of Hollywood studios that occurred during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. It opens with a shot of Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...

 and then cuts to a bank, where Fowler Pettypacker (Tully Marshall
Tully Marshall
William Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...

) is debating whether or not to accept an offer from Ivor Nassau (C. Henry Gordon
C. Henry Gordon
C. Henry Gordon was an American film actor. He appeared in 79 films between 1930 and 1940. He was a Hollywood villain of the 1930s....

) for "Colossal Pictures", a fictional film studio on Poverty Row
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie studios...

. The studio has not been turning a profit, but Atterbury Dodd (Leslie Howard) advises against selling. He stakes his reputation on his mathematical calculations that show Colossal should turn a profit. Petty sends him to Hollywood as the new head of the studio.

Colossal's star actress, Thelma Cheri (Marla Shelton), and eccentric foreign director Koslofski (Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray MM, , was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood.Born Alfred Ernest Allen in London, England, he served with distinction the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal for bravery...

) are deliberately running up costs on producer Douglas Quintain's (Humphrey Bogart) jungle feature, Sex and Satan. Along with press agent Tom Potts (Jack Carson
Jack Carson
John Elmer "Jack" Carson was a Canadian-born U.S.-based film actor.Jack Carson was one of the most popular character actors during the 'golden age of Hollywood', with a film career spanning the 1930s, '40s and '50s...

), they are conspiring with Nassau, who wants the land on which Colossal sits, to sabotage the studio. Colossal's precarious future rests on the film being a hit.

Dodd meets Lester Plum (Joan Blondell), a cheerful former child star currently working as a stand-in
Stand-in
A stand-in for film and television is a person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting.Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of production. Lighting setup can be a slow and tedious process; during this time the actor will often be somewhere else...

 for Cheri. After initially rebuffing her offer to become his secretary, Dodd reluctantly accepts. Under her tutelage, he comes to see that the workers are more than just numbers. He also finally realizes he is attracted to her and that she loves him too.

When Dodd is unimpressed by a viewing of Sex and Satan, Koslofski puts the blame squarely on Quintain. Quintain had discovered Cheri and made her a star, falling in love with her in the process, but she sides with Koslofski. As a result, Dodd fires Quintain. After an audience preview confirms that the film is awful (they prefer the ape over Cheri's performance), Dodd seeks out the heartbroken producer. Once he sobers up from his drunken binge, Quintain comes up with the idea to salvage the film by cutting down Cheri's part and expanding the ape's. However, before they can do so, Pettypacker telephones Dodd, informing him that he has sold the studio to Nassau, and that Dodd is fired. Dodd convinces the initially hostile workers into rallying behind him to finish the film. Then, he asks Plum to marry him.

Cast

  • Leslie Howard as Atterbury Dodd
  • Joan Blondell as Lester Plum
  • Humphrey Bogart as Doug Quintain
  • Alan Mowbray
    Alan Mowbray
    Alan Mowbray MM, , was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood.Born Alfred Ernest Allen in London, England, he served with distinction the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal for bravery...

     as Koslofski
  • Marla Shelton as Thelma Cheri
  • C. Henry Gordon
    C. Henry Gordon
    C. Henry Gordon was an American film actor. He appeared in 79 films between 1930 and 1940. He was a Hollywood villain of the 1930s....

     as Ivor Nassau
  • Jack Carson
    Jack Carson
    John Elmer "Jack" Carson was a Canadian-born U.S.-based film actor.Jack Carson was one of the most popular character actors during the 'golden age of Hollywood', with a film career spanning the 1930s, '40s and '50s...

     as Tom Potts
  • Tully Marshall
    Tully Marshall
    William Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...

     as Fowler Pettypacker
  • J. C. Nugent as Junior Pettypacker
  • William V. Mong
    William V. Mong
    William V. Mong was an American film actor, screenwriter and director. He appeared in 195 films between 1910 and 1939.He was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and died in Studio City, California.-Selected filmography:...

    as Cyrus Pettypacker
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK