Fashions of 1934 *** (1934, William Powell, Bette Davis, Verree Teasdale, Frank McHugh, Reginald Owen, Hugh Herbert, Philip Reed) – Classic Movie Review 6,908

Warner Bros’ 1934 comedy film Fashions of 1934 stars William Powell as designer Sherwood Nash, a swindler who bootlegs top fashions. He goes to Paris with Lynn and Snap (Bette Davis and Frank McHugh) to picture the new frock designs with a hidden camera. 

William Dieterle directs the 1934 Warner Bros fashion comedy yarn with music Fashions of 1934, starring William Powell as designer Sherwood Nash, a swindler who bootlegs top fashions. Nash sets off for Paris with a couple of underlings, Lynn and Snap (Bette Davis and Frank McHugh) in order to pinch Paris’s latest frock designs by photographing them with a hidden camera.

Fashions of 1934 is a confident, highly entertaining piece of Thirties fluff, done with a lot of style and polish. The pluses are F Hugh Herbert and Carl Erickson’s really amusing script, the sophisticated William Powell, the glamorously gowned Davis, and Busby Berkeley’s extraordinary choreography (with 50 chorus girls as human harps and an ostrich-feathered ship in the finale). Davis, in particular, has a good time as Nash’s assistant Lynn posing as a rich American wanting to buy a dress.

The soundtrack includes ‘Spin a Little Web of Dreams’ (sung by Verree Teasdale and chorus in the Paris revue) and ‘Broken Melody’ (both with music and lyrics by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal).

Also in the cast are Verree Teasdale, Reginald Owen, Hugh Herbert, Philip Reed, Gordon Westcott, Dorothy Burgess, Etienne Girardot, William Burgess, George Humbert, Hobart Cavanaugh, Nella Walker, Spencer Charters, Frank Darlen, Harry Beresford and Helen Freeman.

Fashions of 1934 (also known as Fashions) is directed by William Dieterle, runs 80 minutes, is made by First National, is released by Warner Bros, is written by F Hugh Herbert and Carl Erickson (screenplay), based on a story by Harry Collins and Warren Duff, with adaptation by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola, is shot in black and white by William Rees, is produced by Henry Blanke, is scored by Heinz Roemheld, with music and lyrics by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal, and is designed by Jack Okey and Willy Pogany, with choreography by Busby Berkeley and gowns created and designed by Orry-Kelly.

Police found the body of 28-year old screenwriter Carl Erickson in the Hollywood Hills along Mulholland Drive on August 29, 1935. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after getting a letter from his estranged wife asking for a divorce.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6,908

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