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Words and Music (1929 film)

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Words and Music
Directed byJames Tinling
Written byFrederick Hazlitt Brennan (story)
Jack McEdwards (story)
Andrew Bennison
Produced byWilliam Fox
StarringLois Moran
David Percy
Helen Twelvetrees
Frank Albertson
Duke Morrison
CinematographyDon Anderson
Charles G. Clarke
Charles Van Enger
Edited byRalph Dixon
Music byCon Conrad
Archie Gottler
Sidney D. Mitchell
Dave Stamper
Distributed byFox Film Corporation
Release date
  • August 18, 1929 (1929-08-18)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Words and Music is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by James Tinling and starring Lois Moran, Helen Twelvetrees and Frank Albertson. It was written by Andrew Bennison, with the story by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan and Jack Edwards.

Released by Fox Film Corporation, the film is notable as the first in which John Wayne is credited as "Duke Morrison". Wayne was also credited as "Duke Morrison" as a property assistant in the Art Department. Ward Bond, Wayne's lifelong good friend, also had a bit part in the movie. Words and Music, which was also released as a silent film, is now considered lost.[1]

Plot

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Two young college students, Phil and Pete, compete for the love of a pretty girl named Mary, and also to win the $1500 prize in a song-writing contest to write the best show tune for the annual college revue. The two men each ask Mary to sing for them, but eventually, she chooses Phil as her beau, and it is he who also has the winning song.

Cast

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Production

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Although the film was largely devoid of much of a plot line, as was typical of musical revue pictures of the period, there is a great deal of singing and dancing. Many of Lois Moran's numbers were footage that was cut from the film, Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, to make that film shorter. This film was created to make use of the deleted scenes, so it was fashioned around Moran's singing talent. Songs include, "Too Wonderful for Words" (William Kernell, Dave Stamper, Paul Gerard Smith, Edmund Joseph), "Stepping Along" (Kernell), "Shadows" (Con Conrad, Sidney D. Mitchell, Archie Gottler).

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bradley, Edwin M. (1996). The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927-1932. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Press. pp. 151–153. ISBN 978-0899509457.
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