A Girl of the Limberlost (1934)

Director:

Christy Cabanne

Writers:

Adele Comandini (writer)
Gene Stratton-Porter (novel)

Release Date:

15 October 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Elnora Comstock (Marian Marsh) is the badly abused daughter of Katherine Comstock (Louise Dresser),...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Louise Dresser	...	Katherine Comstock
Ralph Morgan	...	Wesley Sinton
Marian Marsh	...	Elnora Comstock
Henry B. Walthall	...	Dr. Amon
Edward J. Nugent	...	Phillip Ammon
Gigi Parrish	...	Edith Carr
Helen Jerome Eddy	...	Margaret Sinton
Betty Blythe	...	Mrs. Parker
Barbara Bedford	...	Elvira Carney
Robert Ellis	...	Frank Comstock
Tommy Bupp	...	Billy

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

W.T. Lackey Productions

Movie Connections:

Version of A Girl of the Limberlost (1924)

Monogram hits big-time!

This tiny rustic 70 min film was a smash success for emerging poverty row studio Monogram Pictures in 1934 and rated as one of the most heavily booked films of the year. It is on record as having 14,000 bookings in at time when there was 20,000 cinemas in the USA. It is on par with the other major hits of the day "Dinner at Eight" and the Busby Berkeley films. Listed in the industry Quigley Publications diary for 1935/6 as a blue ribbon winner of 1934 it must have come as a bombshell to anyone including the Monogram management that the film was so profitable, costing only $70k to produce and pulling $1m. in rentals. In the same year Monogram had several other 'major' releases one being KING KELLY OF THE USA which even had a minor but cute animation sequence. Most Monogram films of this period ran about 70 minutes and played the second feature on a double bill. However, GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST played as an A level feature as it commanded main feature box office sales. No wonder Herbert J Yates at Consolidated labs wanted the Monogram outfit rolled into his newly formed Republic Pictures! he accomplished that by closing their account for lab processing and forcing them to merge along with several other studio s like the serial kings Mascot Pictures. GIRL is from one of America's most widely read novels and already had a huge inbuilt audience ready to devour the film. It is a charming tale of an unappreciated child raised in the hills and facing all sorts of bumpkin emotional dilemmas. It had a solid run internationally too, so easily grossed another wad of cash before vanishing like so many other 30s pix.