The Good Fairy (1935)

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Jane Hinton (English translation of play)
Ferenc Molnár (play)

Release Date:

18 February 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A naive girl just out of a cloistered orphanage finds that being a 'good fairy' to strangers makes life awfully complicated.

Plot Keywords:

Usherette | Orphan | Foreign Language Adaptation | Coming Of Age | Based On Play

Cast

Margaret Sullavan	...	Luisa 'Lu' Ginglebuscher
Herbert Marshall	...	Dr. Max Sporum
Frank Morgan	...	Konrad
Reginald Owen	...	Detlaff, the Waiter
Eric Blore	...	Dr. Metz
Beulah Bondi	...	Dr. Schultz
Alan Hale	...	Maurice Schlapkohl
Cesar Romero	...	Joe
Luis Alberni	...	The Barber
June Clayworth	...	Mitzi, on-screen actress

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #561)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

On July 31, 1944, Deanna Durbin, Fredric March and June Lockhart acted in a 30-minute radio adaptation of the film, presented on the "Screen Guild Theatre" by CBS. Two-and-one-half years later, Miss Durbin starred in a musical remake of this picture, entitled I'll Be Yours (1947), which opened on February 2.

Quotes:

Konrad: When I'm full of Dutch courage, I behave very Frenchly.

Movie Connections:

Version of Die Fee (1969) (TV)

Definitely a Preston Sturges Movie

I'm a fan of Preston Sturges, and I was brought to this movie by his screenplay credit, not knowing if that would be enough to make this a movie I was going to enjoy. GOOD NEWS! This movie is a real joy from start to finish.

From the outset the humour was quite subtle, and the sophisticated dialogue sounded very modern. Clearly, although this Sturges script isn't served by Sturges direction, this is still a Preston Sturges movie. And the script is backed up by sympathetic direction from William Wyler and the performances of the lead players. In particular Margaret Sullavan is fresh and funny as the fish-out-of-water naive young girl leaving her orphanage to join the outside world, determined to do a good deed every day... to be a Good Fairy to somebody.

Unfortunately the lies she feels she has to tell, and the resulting problems she's willing to face, lead her into digging a deeper and deeper hole for herself, and into dragging other characters into the hole with her. Those other characters are the Sturges eccentrics we know from his acclaimed movies of later years. The scenes with Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen shouting at each other with Sullavan between them are fabulous. Herbert Marshall is also good, but he or his character can not match the same level of lunacy.

Now I've seen this, I just hope it won't be long before I can get to see "Easy Living", the next comedy that Preston Sturges was able to write and exert the same level of influence over.