Early Influence: Charlie Chaplin

Source: Wikipedia

"I remember, too, how I used to imitate Charlie Chaplin. After I had seen him for the first time on the screen, I proceeded to make everyone's life miserable. I would dress up like Charlie and go waddling down the street. I carried a cane and woe unto any lady who happened to stoop to tie her shoe! I would ring door bells and when the people answered, I'd go skidding around the corner on one foot—at the same time tipping my hat."

In honor of Franchot's childhood love of Chaplin, I thought I'd highlight two funny gags in Franchot's films.

Realizing a lion has taken the place of Ann Sothern in Fast and Furious, 1939

Making Deanna Durbin laugh in His Butler's Sister, 1943

I didn't have a chance to create .gifs for them, but two hilarious FT movies that will have you laughing out loud are Love on the Run (1936) and Three Loves Has Nancy (1938). Franchot plays the second lead in both films, but steals every single scene in which he appears!

Source: www.moviestillsdb.com

Source: www.ravepad.com

 Source:

• Tone, Franchot. "I've Always Been a Show-Off". Hollywood Magazine. June 1935. Page 23, 55.

Update to Fast and Furious (1939)

I was able to add around 40 more screen captures to a Fast and Furious post I did back in April. It feels much more complete now! Please click here to revisit that post to see some stills of Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern in action as Joel and Garda Sloane.

Fast and Furious (1939)

Fast and Furious is a 1939 comedy-mystery directed by Busby Berkeley and starring Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern. In the fashion of The Thin Man's Nick and Nora, Franchot and Ann play Joel and Garda Sloane, a married couple of booksellers who moonlight as private detectives. Franchot and Ann have fantastic chemistry and come off charmingly. 

Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern

They are equally quick-witted, intelligent, and comical. Garda has been craving a vacation alone with Joel and thinks she's finally getting one. She soon realizes that Joel is using the trip as a cover-up for a secret investment and the chance to ogle young beauties as a beauty pageant judge. Before long, a murder is committed and Joel and Garda must turn their attention to solving a mystery (but there are still many laughs mixed in for fun!)

 

Franchot in a hilarious swimming scene.

Franchot Tone was gifted at bringing a lightness to his detective/investigative roles and would go on to play several clever private detectives in the 1940s.

The characters of Joel and Garda Sloane shared laughs and solved crimes in three separate movies. Each time, the characters were played by different actors: by Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice in Fast Company (1938); Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell in Fast and Loose (1939); and Tone and Sothern in Fast and Furious (1939). Warner Archive has released the set as a triple feature DVD. It is available for purchase through:

Amazon

WBShop

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