''Wonder Bar'' is a 1934 American film adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by

Lloyd Bacon Lloyd Francis Bacon (December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955) was an American screen, stage, and vaudeville actor and film director. As a director, he made films in numerous genres, including westerns, musicals, comedies, gangster films, and c ...

with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley. It stars

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, ; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. Self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," Jolson was one of the United States' most famous and ...

, Kay Francis, Dolores del Río, Ricardo Cortez, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee, Ruth Donnelly, Hugh Herbert, Louise Fazenda, Fifi D'Orsay, Merna Kennedy,

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

Robert Barrat Robert Harriot Barrat (July 10, 1891 – January 7, 1970) was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor. Early years Barratt was born on July 10, 1891 in New York City, and educated in the public schools there. He left ...

Henry Kolker Joseph Henry Kolker (November 13, 1874 – July 15, 1947) was an American stage and film actor and film director, director. Early years Kolker was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1874. (Some sources say 1870.) He came to America at age five and w ...

, and Spencer Charters in the main roles. For its time, ''Wonder Bar'' was considered risqué, barely passing the censors at the Hays Office. The title is a pun on , which is German for "wonderful".

Plot

''Wonder Bar'' is set in a Paris nightclub, with the stars playing the 'regulars' at the club. The movie revolves around two main story points, a romance and a more serious conflict with death, and several minor plots. All of the stories are enlivened from time to time by extravagant musical numbers. The more serious story revolves around Captain Von Ferring (Robert Barrat), a German military officer. Ferring has gambled on the stock market and lost, now broke after dozens of failed investments, he is at the Wonder Bar to try and pull a one-night stand before killing himself the following day. Al Wonder (Al Jolson) knows about Ferring's plan. Meanwhile, an elaborate romance is unfolding. The bar's central attraction is the Latin lounge dancing group led by Inez (Dolores del Río). Al Wonder has a secret attraction to Inez, who has a burning passion for Harry (Ricardo Cortez). However, Harry is two-timing her with Liane (Kay Francis), who is married to the famous French banker Renaud (Henry Kolker). The story comes to a climax when Inez finds out that Harry and Liane plan to run away together and head to the United States. Inez, in a haze of jealousy, kills Harry. Subplots are much lighter in nature. They involve several drunken routines by two businessmen (Hugh Herbert and an uncredited Hobart Cavanaugh) and Al Wonder's various narrations as emcee of the floor show and manager of the club.

Cast

as Al Wonder * Kay Francis as Liane * Dolores del Río as Inez * Ricardo Cortez as Harry * Dick Powell as Tommy * Guy Kibbee as Simpson * Ruth Donnelly as Mrs. Simpson * Hugh Herbert as Pratt * Louise Fazenda as Mrs. Pratt * Hal Le Roy as Hal * Fifi D'Orsay as Mitzi * Merna Kennedy as Claire *

as Richard - the Maitre'd *

as Captain Hugo Von Ferring *

as Mr. R.H. Renaud * Spencer Charters as Pete

Controversial scenes

Two scenes stand above the rest. One was the

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

finale, "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" (featuring Jolson and Hal Le Roy), full of racial stereotypes. The other involved a handsome man, asking a dancing couple if he could cut in. The female partner, expecting his attention, agrees, only to see him dance with her male partner. Jolson then flaps his wrist and says, "Boys will be boys! Woo!" This scene almost caused the

Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as th ...

to reject the film, and was featured in the opening scenes of the

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

'' The Celluloid Closet'' (1995). Film historian and writer Richard Barrios commented on it: "In the intimate annals of early gay film history this scene holds a special place... the ''Wonder Bar'' male-male dance resonates in a way that no one at the time could have realized. It sums up 1930s Hollywood's easy comfort with homosexuality. It evokes the end of the pansy craze... In its brevity and in the fact that we know nothing of these men and their lives besides this one dance, it conveys the fleeting quality of so many gay images on film."

Production

The various scenes of ''Wonder Bar'' are permeated by musical numbers which were designed and directed by Busby Berkeley. The music was first written for the Broadway stage by Geza Herczeg, Karl Farkas and , and was adapted for the big screen by Earl Baldwin. Most of the musical numbers were typically 1930s; big-band led by an entertaining band director (Al), with lavish costumes packed with showgirls (the trailers promised 'over 250 of the world's most beautiful women').

Reception

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

gave it two of four stars: "Love and hate backstage at a Paris night club. Curious musical drama with an interesting cast and fairly stunning numbers."

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

wrote: "Very strange, often tasteless musical drama set in Paris nightclub, with murder, romance, and Busby Berkley's incredible "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" production number. Full of outrageous racial stereortypes." The film was one of Warner's biggest hits of the year. According to Warner Bros records it earned $1,264,000 domestically and $771,000 internationally.

References

External links

* * * {{Busby Berkeley 1934 films 1934 crime drama films 1930s musical drama films American crime drama films American musical drama films American romantic drama films American romantic musical films American black-and-white films Blackface minstrel shows and films 1930s English-language films Films based on musicals Films directed by Lloyd Bacon First National Pictures films 1930s LGBTQ-related films Warner Bros. films 1930s romantic musical films 1930s American films English-language crime drama films English-language musical drama films English-language romantic musical films English-language romantic drama films