''Fashions of 1934'' is a 1934 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

film directed by

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Hollywood primarily as a director for much of his ...

with musical numbers created and directed by

Busby Berkeley Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berke ...

. The

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, f ...

by F. Hugh Herbert and Carl Erickson was based on the story ''The Fashion Plate'' by Harry Collins and Warren Duff. The film stars William Powell,

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...

Hugh Herbert Hugh Herbert (August 10, 1885 – March 12, 1952) was an American motion picture comedian. He began his career in vaudeville and wrote more than 150 plays and sketches. Career Born in Binghamton, New York, Herbert attended Cornell Univers ...

and

Frank McHugh Francis Curry McHugh (May 23, 1898 – September 11, 1981) was an American stage, radio, film and television actor. Early years Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, of Irish descent, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents, Edward A ...

, and has songs by

Sammy Fain Sammy Fain (born Samuel E. Feinberg; June 17, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American composer of popular music. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he contributed numerous songs that form part of The Great American Songbook, and to Broadway theatre ...

(music) and

Irving Kahal Irving Kahal (March 5, 1903, Houtzdale, Pennsylvania – February 7, 1942, New York City) was a popular American song lyricist active in the 1920s and 1930s. He is best remembered for his collaborations with composer Sammy Fain which started in 19 ...

(lyrics). Sometime after the initial release, the title ''Fashions of 1934'' was changed to ''Fashions'', replacing the original title with an insert card stating "William Powell in 'Fashions'".

Plot

When the Manhattan investment firm of Sherwood Nash ( William Powell) goes broke, he joins forces with his partner Snap (

) and

fashion design Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and plac ...

er Lynn Mason (

) to provide discount shops with cheap copies of Paris couture dresses. Lynn discovers that top designer Oscar Baroque (

Reginald Owen John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs. Career The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...

) gets his inspiration from old

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

books, and she begins to create designs the same way, signing each one with the name of an established designer. Sherwood realizes Baroque's companion, the alleged

Grand Duchess Grand duke (feminine: grand duchess) is a European hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. In status, a grand duke traditionally ranks in order of precedence below an emperor, as an approxi ...

Alix (

Verree Teasdale Verree Teasdale (March 15, 1903 – February 17, 1987) was an American actress born in Spokane, Washington. Early years A second cousin of Edith Wharton, Teasdale attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and trained as a stage actr ...

), is really Mabel McGuire, his old friend from

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 ...

, and threatens to reveal her identity unless she convinces Baroque to design the costumes of a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

in which she will star. Baroque buys a supply of ostrich feathers from Sherwood's crony Joe Ward (

) and starts a fashion rage. Sherwood then opens Maison Elegance, a new Paris fashion house that's a great success until Baroque discovers Lynn is forging his sketches. He has him arrested, but Sherwood convinces the police to give him time to straighten out the situation. He crashes Baroque and Alix's wedding and promises to humiliate the designer by publicly revealing who his bride really is unless Baroque withdraws the charges. The designer agrees and purchases Maison Elegance from Sherwood, who assures Lynn he'll never get involved in another illegal activity if she returns to America with him.

Cast

* William Powell as Sherwood Nash *

as Lynn Mason *

as Snap *

as Oscar Baroque *

as Grand Duchess Alix *

as Joe Ward *

Henry O'Neill Henry O'Neill (August 10, 1891 – May 18, 1961) was an American film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s. Early years He was born in Orange, New Jersey. Caree ...

as Duryea *

Phillip Reed Phillip Reed (born Milton LeRoy; March 25, 1908 – December 7, 1996) was an American actor. He played Steve Wilson in a series of four films (1947–1948) based on the '' Big Town'' radio series. Early years Reed was a star athlete at Er ...

as Jimmy Blake *

Gordon Westcott Gordon Westcott (born Myrthus Hickman, November 6, 1903 – October 30, 1935) was an American film actor. Biography Born in St. George, Utah, in 1903, Westcott studied architecture at the University of Chicago, where he was also lightweight ...

as Harry Brent * Dorothy Burgess as Glenda *

Etienne Girardot Etienne Girardot (22 February 1856 – 10 November 1939) was a diminutive stage and film actor of Anglo-French parentage born in London, England. Biography The son of French painter Ernest Gustave Girardot, he studied at an art school, but le ...

as Glass *

William Burress William Burress (19 August 1867 – 30 October 1948) was an American actor. He appeared in more than seventy films from 1915 to 1939. Filmography References External links * 1867 births 1948 deaths American male film actors ...

as Feldman *

Nella Walker Nella Walker (March 6, 1886 – March 22, 1971) was an American actress and vaudeville performer of the 1920s through the 1950s. Biography The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Walker, she was born and raised in Chicago. In 1910, she marrie ...

as Mrs. Van Tyle *

Spencer Charters Spencer Charters (March 25, 1875 – January 25, 1943) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 220 films between 1920 and 1943, mostly in small supporting roles. Biography Charters was born in Duncannon, Pennsylvania. Until ...

as Man removing telephone * Harry Beresford as Paris bookseller Cast notes: *

Arthur Treacher Arthur Veary Treacher (, 23 July 1894 – 14 December 1975) was an English film and stage actor active from the 1920s to the 1960s, and known for playing English types, especially butler and manservant roles, such as the P.G. Wodehouse valet c ...

, appearing in his fourth Hollywood film, played his first part as a butler, a role he was to play many times in his long career.

Production

With this film, Warner Bros. chief

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...

tried to change

' screen persona by putting her in a

platinum blond Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color ...

e wig and false eyelashes and dressing her in glamorous costumes. The actress, who had been trying to convince the studio head to loan her to RKO so she could portray slatternly waitress Mildred Rogers in '' Of Human Bondage'', was appalled at the transformation, complaining they were trying to turn her into

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...

. In an interview with ''

Photoplay ''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...

'' editor Kathryn Dougherty, she complained, "I can't get out of these awful ruts. They just won't take me seriously. Look at me in this picture all done up like a third-rate imitation of the MGM glamour queens. That isn't me. I'll never be a clothes horse or romantic symbol." To Gerald Clarke of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' she lamented, "I looked like somebody dressed up in mother's clothes. But it was a great break because I learned from the experience. I never let them do that to me again. Ever!" Working titles for the film, which was filmed at Warner Bros. Burbank studios in 1933, were ''King of Fashion'' and ''Fashion Follies of 1934''. Warners listed writers Gene Markey and Katherine Scola as having adapted the original story that was the basis of the film, but according to the

Screen Writers Guild The Screen Writers Guild was an organization of Hollywood screenplay authors, formed as a union in 1933. In 1954, it became two different organizations: Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East. Founding Screenwrite ...

they had nothing to do with the film.

Songs

The film's musical numbers included "Spin a Little Web of Dreams" and "Broken Melody" by

and

and "Mon Homme (My Man)" by Maurice Yvain,

Albert Willemetz Albert Willemetz (14 February 1887 – 7 October 1964) was a French librettist. Career Albert Willemetz was a prolific lyricist. He invented a new type of musical, with a humorous and "sexy" style. He was the author of more than 3000 songs, inc ...

, and

Jacques Charles Jacques Alexandre César Charles (November 12, 1746 – April 7, 1823) was a French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due to mistaking ...

Harry Warren Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna; December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ...

wrote the untitled theme that accompanies the fashion show.

Reception

Box office

The film was considered a box office disappointment for Warner Bros. According to Warner Bros records the film earned $570,000 domestically and $395,000 foreign.

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described it as "a brisk show" and added, "The story is lively, the gowns are interesting and the Busby Berkeley spectacles with Hollywood dancing girls are impressive . . . William Dieterle, that expert director who has been responsible for several imaginative pictures, does well by this particular production." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "a bit far-fetched and inconsistent . . . but it has color, flash, dash, class, girls and plenty of clothes . . . Just why and how Bette Davis enters the picture never quite rings true."''Variety'' review
/ref>

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fashions Of 1934 1934 films 1934 musical comedy films 1930s American films 1930s English-language films 1930s romantic musical films American black-and-white films American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic musical films Films about fashion in France Films directed by William Dieterle Films set in Paris Films with screenplays by F. Hugh Herbert Warner Bros. films