Song of the West (film)

Song of the West
Directed by	Ray Enright
Written by	Harvey F. Thew based on the Broadway Operetta by Oscar Hammerstein II and Laurence Stallings
Starring	John Boles Vivienne Segal Joe E. Brown
Music by	Harry Akst Grant Clarke Oscar Hammerstein II and Vincent Youmans
Cinematography	Devereaux Jennings (Technicolor)
Editing by	George Marks
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 15, 1930 (1930-03-15)
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Song of the West (1930) is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the 1928 musical play Rainbow by Oscar Hammerstein II and Laurence Stallings and was the first all-color all-talking feature to be filmed entirely outdoors. The film starred John Boles, Joe E. Brown and Vivienne Segal.

Plot

The story takes place in 1849. John Boles plays Captain Stanton, a young Army scout who kills an officer in self-defense and escapes. He heads out West to California as part of the Gold Rush, opens a gambling hall in San Francisco, and falls in love with Virginia, the daughter of his former commander, played by Vivienne Segal. Some members of the military eventually find him, leading Boles to make a hard decision. Joe E. Brown, in the part of Hasty, Boles' doomed sidekick, provided the comedy for the film.

Production

This was Boles's follow-up to his successful role in The Desert Song (1929). The film was finished in June 1929. Following a number of dismal previews, however, Warner Bros. shortened the film by two reels, removing some of the musical content in the process. In spite of being delayed for almost a year before release, the film had a worldwide gross of $920,000 and the featured songs were quite popular, leading RCA Victor to hire Boles, who was then at the height of his popularity, to record two songs from the movie.

Songs

• "West Wind" (Sung by John Boles)
• "The One Girl" (Sung by John Boles)
• "I Like You As You Are" (Sung by John Boles)
• "Come Back to Me" (Sung by John Boles and Vivienne Segal)
• "The Bride Was Dressed in White" (Sung by Joe E. Brown)
• "Kingdom Coming" (Sung by Chorus)

Cast (in credits order)

• John Boles as Captain Stanton
• Vivienne Segal as Virginia
• Joe E. Brown as Hasty
• Marie Wells as Lotta
• Sam Hardy as Davolo
• Marion Byron as Penny
• Eddie Gribbon as Sergeant Major
• Edward Martindel as Colonel
• Rudolph Cameron as Lt. Singleton

Preservation

No copies of the film are known to exist. The complete soundtrack survives on Vitaphone disks.

See also

• List of lost films
• List of early color feature films

External links

• Song of the West (1930) at the Internet Movie Database
• New York Times review