World Premiere *** (1941, John Barrymore, Frances Farmer, Eugene Pallette, Ricardo Cortez, Sig Ruman, Fritz Feld, Luis Alberni, Don Castle, Virginia Dale) – Classic Movie Review 7242

Director Ted Tetzlaff’s US 1941 Paramount Pictures wartime comedy stars John Barrymore as Miracle Films movie mogul Duncan DeGrasse who goes on a tour to publicise a new film and ends up confronting a couple of Nazi spies (played by Sig Ruman and Fritz Feld) sent to stop the movie from opening.

Tetzlaff’s amusing screwy comedy is helped no end by Barrymore’s exuberant performance, plus the reliable Ruman and Feld, as well as the rest of the cast, including, most notably, Frances Farmer as Kitty Carr, Ricardo Cortez as Mark Saunders, Eugene Pallette as Gregory Martin, Luis Alberni, Don Castle and Virginia Dale.

Earl Felton’s screenplay is a bit patchy and the film-biz satire is rather obvious, but it still manages to be funny most of the time, and the actors do the rest.

Original director Otis Garrett became ill and was replaced by ace cinematographer Tetzlaff, giving him his first chance as director. He was cinematographer on The Talk of the Town (1942) and Notorious (1946) and director on Riff-Raff [Riffraff] (1947) and The Window (1949).

World Premiere is directed by Ted Tetzlaff, runs 71 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Earl Felton, based on a story by Earl Felton and Gordon Kahn, is shot in black and white Daniel L Fapp, is produced by Sol C Siegel.

Also in the cast are Jim Farley, John Hamilton, Mantan Moreland, Cliff Nazarro, Andrew Tombes and Will Wright.

Frances Farmer (19 September 1913 – 1 August 1970) made her film debut in Too Many Parents (1936). Only a year after World Premiere, her career was over, and in 1943 she was wrongfully declared mentally incompetent and her parents committed her to asylums and public mental hospitals. She made just 15 films, and is remembered for her tragic story – told in Frances (1982) – rather than her movies.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7242

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