George Raft — role model of the 30s Most modern viewers, if you ask them who George Raft is, will recall "Only Girls in Jazz" and perhaps the legendary "Scarface" (1932). Only two works, but many stars of old Hollywood can not boast of this. Raft was not a great actor and, to give credit, he was not mistaken on his own account, but the right roles and incredible, just sky-high charisma worked wonders - in the 30s he was one of the most popular artists of Paramount Pictures studio.
Breaking stereotypes is useful, especially if we are talking about one of the iconic figures of world cinema. It is believed that Raft played exclusively gangsters. In fact, the actor coped with such roles so gracefully that flattered bandits tried to copy his style. However, the clever policy of the studio helped outgrow this role - among the heroes of George Raft 30-ies a lot of people are kind, open and decent, achieving success in an honest way. One of these characters is the ambitious conductor Tops Cardona.
The plot of the film “Every Night at Eight” is not too original: three friends, left without work and housing, decide to seriously engage in singing. Winning an amateur radio contest promises them 100 dollars, but during the air one of the girls loses consciousness from hunger. Tops Cardona, whose orchestra eventually takes first place, offers friends to perform with his team, promising to make real stars.
George Raft is especially good in the roles of "God from the Machine," selflessly helping almost strangers. In Pick-up, his character sheltered a homeless woman wet in the rain, in Bowery and Nob Hill, orphaned children. In "Every Night..." in the care of Tops are three girls: self-confident Dixie (Alice Fay), broken Daphne (Patsy Kelly) and timid Susan (Francis Langford). The paths of all four to fame, the search for mutual understanding and the nature of success in general is devoted to the painting by Raoul Walsh.
Hollywood, as only moviegoers know and love it today, emerged at the height of the Great Depression, a severe economic crisis that left 13 million people out of work and production down 44%. There are two ways to solve any problem: you can analyze the situation, draw conclusions and try to fix it — or pretend that nothing terrible happened. Hollywood almost unanimously chose the second option – and lost it: churned in those years, films about the carefree life of the rich have no artistic value; you can watch them today only to appreciate the early works of Fredrik March, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis and other masters.
To be fair, at the “dream factory” still met producers who were not afraid to talk about the disaster that befell the country. And then the screens came out “Dance for ten cents”, “Triangular Moon”, “Gentlemen are born”, piercing “Another spring” with Warner Baxter and Janet Gaynor, “Interns can not take money”, and, of course, the adaptation of the great novel by John Steinbeck “Grapes of Wrath”.
"Every Night at Eight" doesn't paint the horrors of the Great Depression. The crisis has already broken out, and Walsh’s characters learn to move on, seeing the situation not only as a chance to start over, but also as an opportunity to realize their dreams, which is typical of many characters played by George Raft. The actor was born in Hell’s Kitchen, the very area of New York, where O. Henry’s story “Russian Sables” takes place. The son of German emigrants, a native of criminal slums, he set himself a goal to achieve success, and by the age of thirty he had achieved his goal, first on Broadway and then in Hollywood. No matter how much you talk about connections with gangsters - his childhood friend was the famous Ownee Madden, and George himself served as the prototype of the hero Richard Gere in the Cotton Club, the mafiosi did not dance for Raft, whose talent was admired by the great Fred Astaire.
Success does not fall from heaven, it is achieved by hard work and determination. You can stumble, fall and fail, but you can never lose hope. No matter how hard it is, there will always be someone who needs your support. It was these heroes – strong-willed perfectionists, able to see in misfortune the key to future prosperity – who helped the nation overcome the consequences of the Great Depression. In modern language, George Raft can be called a role model of the 30s - both as an actor and as a person.
His hallmark was dancing. Some films, such as Side Street (1929), remained in the history of cinema only thanks to the virtuoso skill of Raft. And if the dancers in his performance became the main characters, as in Bolero and Rumba, a real extravaganza began. There’s an episode in “Every Night...” where Alice Faye sings “I Feel a Song Coming on,” and George Raft dances with a conductor’s wand in his hands—this scene is perhaps one of the most frankly sensual shots in old Hollywood, and there’s no Hayes Codex by Raoul Walsh.
Alice Fay was the most famous of Raft’s film partners, and the studio management relied on her. But if Patsy Kelly perfectly fits into the type of “girl next door”, rude, kind and responsive, and debutante Frances Langford started with a clean slate, then Alice Fay was simply not allowed to reveal her acting personality. Instead, she had to play a collective image in which the features of Jean Harlow and Mae West are guessed. The result was quite vulgar, no offense to all three be told.
The real heroine of “Every Night...” was Francis Langford, who managed to brilliantly show both vocal and dramatic talent. While her friends dream of fame and money, quiet romantic Susan thinks only of Tops – a charming tyrant who mutters his orchestras until four in the morning and even in his sleep mutters something about work.
Walsh's film, smart, bright and cheerful, is full of superb musical numbers. It was in "Every Night at Eight" that the classic "I'm in the Mood for Love" was first performed. The scene where Francis Langford sings for George Raft could replace a series of books about men from Mars and women from Venus. Tops brings Susan a record with a new song: "Have you ever fallen in love?" All you have to do is remember the guy you're in love with. He doesn't know that, and you have to confess, put your heart into the song. The girl sings wonderfully, her eyes glow with happiness - and what does she hear from the chosen one? “You are on the right track, but that is not what you need. Rehearse for a while, and I went to the tailor for a fitting.
This scene, both touching and funny, does not merely illustrate the misunderstanding between a man and a woman. Yes, success requires tremendous effort, but it should not become an end in itself. And happiness, although it seems far away, can be very close - you just need to turn on the heart.
Thank you to Raoul Walsh and George Raft for this simple truth.
9 out of 10