One Sunday Afternoon (1933)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Stephen Roberts

Writers:

James Hagan (play)
Grover Jones (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 September 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Hugo and Biff were friends until they met Virginia. Biff could think of no one but Virginia, but she would never be happy with a big slow bully...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Bully | Employment Dismissal | Toothache | Small Town Life

Cast

Gary Cooper	...	Dr. Lucius Griffith 'Biff' Grimes
Fay Wray	...	Virginia 'Virgie' Brush Barnstead
Frances Fuller	...	Amy Lind Grimes
Roscoe Karns	...	Snappy Downer
Neil Hamilton	...	Hugo Barnstead, Owner Phoenix Carriage Factory
Jane Darwell	...	Mrs. Lind, Amy's Mother
Clara Blandick	...	Mrs. Brush, Virginia's Mother (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

85 min | USA:69 min (Turner Library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1380-R, 31 August 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

After Fredric March read the play, he told Gary Cooper about it, and Cooper urged Paramount to buy the film rights to it.

Movie Connections:

Version of One Sunday Afternoon (1948)

Soundtrack:

Sobre las Olas (Over the Waves)

Dreary version lacks the charm and appeal of the livelier remake with Cagney...

If you're looking for a pleasant story about a bygone age, this is not it. The 1941 remake with James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland and Rita Hayworth was much more enjoyable, with expertly shaded performances from the three stars and a bouncy score for a musical background, dealing as it does with turn-of-the-century's 1900 era.

This is the more somber, muted version with an unappealing central performance by GARY COOPER as Biff Grimes, the lovestruck man who thinks about his past when he let Virginia (FAY WRAY) marry his best friend (NEIL HAMILTON), and ended up with his second choice (FRANCES FULLER) for his wife.

The pace of the story is leaden and dull, with no musical background at all for most of the scenes. None of the players strike the kind of sparks that were evident in the later version, letting good opportunities for character development pass right by--although this is more the fault of the script (from the James Hagan play) and director Stephen Roberts. It's a pretty trite script, completely devoid of the kind of humor and spunkiness on the part of Amy as played by Olivia de Havilland in Raoul Walsh's version. Fuller has to play Amy like a dull simpleton. NEIL HAMILTON's Hugo Barnstead is a far darker version than the amusing heel, as played by Jack Carson in the Cagney film.

Cooper's fans will probably forgive him for a performance that lacks the luster Cagney gave it, but the film is a lackluster version of the story which reached the screen three times in remakes. His Biff is not the charming sort of guy to attract a girl like Amy--in fact, her interest in him is puzzling, to say the least.

A charming tale has been turned into a dreary story with uninspired direction. The characters and their motivations are entirely different from those in the more successful version where both women have well-written roles and the humor is much more emphasized.

Summing up: The vast difference in approach spoils this version for me.