Idiot's Delight (1939)

Director:

Clarence Brown

Writers:

Robert E. Sherwood (play)
Robert E. Sherwood (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 January 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

The Biggest Thrill They Ever Gave You! Norma and Clark together in the romance of a "ham" song-and-dance man and a "red-headed liar from Omaha."

Plot Keywords:

Fascism | Mistress | Anti War | Aviation | Acrobat

Cast

Norma Shearer	...	Irene Fellara
Clark Gable	...	Harry Van
Edward Arnold	...	Achille Weber
Charles Coburn	...	Dr. Hugo Waldersee
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Capt. Kirvline
Burgess Meredith	...	Quillary
Laura Hope Crews	...	Madame Zuleika
Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher	...	'Don' Navadel (as Skeets Gallagher)
Peter Willes	...	Mr. Jimmy Cherry
Pat Paterson	...	Mrs. Cherry
William Edmunds	...	Dumptsy
Fritz Feld	...	Pittatek
Virginia Grey	...	Shirley Laughlin
Virginia Dale	...	Francine Merle
Paula Stone	...	Beulah Tremayne
Bernadene Hayes	...	Edna Creesh
Joan Marsh	...	Elaine Messiger
Lorraine Krueger	...	Bebe Gould
Harry Van's Les Blondes	...	Themselves
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Barbara Bedford	...	Nurse #1 (uncredited)
Gertrude Bennett	...	Woman with powders (uncredited)
Margaret Bert	...	Nurse #2 (uncredited)
Clem Bevans	...	Jimmy Barzek (uncredited)
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Frueheim (uncredited)
Jimmy Conlin	...	Stagehand (uncredited)
Anna Demetrio	...	Fat Italian woman on train (uncredited)
Helen Dickson	...	Mrs. McCreevy (uncredited)
Frank Faylen	...	Ed (uncredited)
Bud Geary	...	Ambulance passenger (uncredited)
Jack Grey	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Eddie Gribbon	...	Cop (uncredited)
William Irving	...	Sandro (uncredited)
Charles Judels	...	Daka (uncredited)
Suzanne Kaaren	...	Nurse #3 (uncredited)
Evalyn Knapp	...	Nurse #4 (uncredited)
Edward LeSaint	...	The Honorable Thomas McCreevy (uncredited)
Mitchell Lewis	...	Chief Wahoo (uncredited)
Francis McDonald	...	Flight captain (uncredited)
Claire McDowell	...	Crying mother (uncredited)
Buddy Messinger	...	Usher (uncredited)
Robert Middlemass	...	Hospital commandant (uncredited)
Adolph Milar	...	Fellara (uncredited)
Rudolf Myzet	...	Czech announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Frank Orth	...	Benny Zinsser (uncredited)
Garry Owen	...	Newsstand vendor (uncredited)
Paul Panzer	...	Greek chef (uncredited)
Emory Parnell	...	Fifth Avenue mounted cop (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Train announcer (uncredited)
Edward Raquello	...	Chiari (uncredited)
George Sorel	...	Major (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Sergeant at ambulance (uncredited)
Bernard Suss	...	Auguste (uncredited)
Frank M. Thomas	...	Bert (uncredited)
E. Alyn Warren	...	Clerk at Royal Grand Hotel (uncredited)
Bonita Weber	...	Woman with catsup (uncredited)
Joe Yule	...	Vaudeville comic (uncredited)

Directed by
Clarence Brown

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Robert E. Sherwood		play
Robert E. Sherwood		screenplay

Produced by
Clarence Brown	....	producer
Hunt Stromberg	....	producer

Original Music by
Herbert Stothart

Cinematography by
William H. Daniels		(as William Daniels)

Film Editing by
Robert Kern		(as Robert J. Kern)

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Adrian		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist: Miss Shearer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert A. Golden	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Wade B. Rubottom	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Editorial Department
John Hoffman	....	montage
Slavko Vorkapich	....	montage

Music Department
Murray Cutter	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
George King	....	choreographer
Sol Haines	....	rehearsal dance double for Clark Gable (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1939) (USA) (theatrical) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Harry Van's Les Blondes!  group cast members

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Clarence Brown Ranch - Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

This was the only film in which Clark Gable performed a dance number. He spent 6 weeks rehearsing the steps with the dance director, George King, and practicing at home with his wife, Carole Lombard. Because of his fear of messing it up during a take, the set was closed during the filming of this sequence.

Quotes:

Irene Fellara: Harry, do you know any hymns?

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Soundtrack:

I Cried for You

Last Teaming with Gable and Shearer

"Idiot's Delight" is a good version of the play. Clark Gable and Norma Shearer do their roles with justice. This is their best and last movie together. Today, the movie may seem dated, but it wasn't in 1939.

Hollywood made several movies about fascism. Behind the story of a song and dance man (Clark Gable) with his troupe of blond beauties traveling throughout Europe, lies a story of countries fighting over fascism.

Like to make a CORRECTION: On my critique of "Escape", I said there were two endings to the movie, I was wrong. I was thinking of this movie. On "Idiot's Delight", they made two endings: one for America and one for the international market (they were already fighting in the pre-WWII war). The international ending makes more sense. You can see the movie with both endings on Turner Classic Movies.