Fri 23 Jan 2009
Archived Movie Review: MAD HOLIDAY (1936).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[8] Comments
MAD HOLIDAY. MGM, 1936. Edmund Lowe, Elissa Landi, Zasu Pitts, Ted Healy, Edmund Gwenn, Edgar Kennedy, Raymond Hatton. Suggested by the story “Murder in a Chinese Theatre” by Joseph Santley. Director: George B. Seitz.
I’ve looked, and I can’t find a record of the story just mentioned, nor even a mention anywhere of the author, Joseph Santley. If anybody knows anything more, let me know. [See the UPDATE below.]
Another curiosity is that the name of the “detective” in this film is Philip Trent, but the character has nothing to do with the detective of the same name in the works of E. C. Bentley. This Philip Trent is a movie actor who plays a detective by the name of Selby James in a series of films based on the books written by Peter Dean. (Still with me?)
Tired immensely of the role, claiming that the situations he’s been put into over the years to have been unrealistic and utterly unbelievable, Trent declares himself finished with the role and takes off on a sea-going vacation.
And what does he run into? Murder and a stolen diamond. (How did you know?)
He also discovers that “Peter Dean” (played by Elissa Landi) is someone he wouldn’t mind being handcuffed to, once he meets her and is accused along with her of doing away with the owner of the diamond.
As you can guess, any film with Zasu Pitts in it, or any movie featuring Ted Healy (mentor and leading instigator of The Three Stooges) is not bound to be taken very seriously. Nonetheless, there is some body to the plot (besides the body, I mean). And while it’s not exactly a high-class production, this strictly B-version of a detective mystery story still provides a full 70 or 75 minutes of entertainment.
[UPDATE] 01-23-09. This review was written well before the Internet was in full swing, and in particular before the online IMDB was readily available. Joseph Santley was the director of 89 films, starting in 1928; in the 1940s he seems to have worked primarily for Republic, putting out small trifles like Rosie the Riveter (1944, with Jane Frazee) and Hitchhike to Happiness (1945, with Dale Evans).
Santley was either the screenwriter or wrote the story for 15 other films in the 1930s, but where the story that Mad Love was based on was published, if ever, has still never been determined.
Elissa Landi was only 32 when she made Mad Holiday, but she appeared in only three movies afterward, including After the Thin Man, also in 1936. (The photo you see of her to the left was taken from that film.)
As for Mad Holiday itself, I have absolutely no recollection of ever seeing it. My only hope is that someday I’ll come across the video tape that I saved it on.
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:50 am
George B. Seitz was another of those directors, who made big budget films during the silent era, but who had more modest budgets during the talkies. He’s best remembered today as the director of the Andy Hardy series.
Two of Seitz’s mysteries show up on cable TV:
Shadow of Doubt, with Constance Collier as a dowager who solves a Society mystery. And Gallant Sons, about Jackie Cooper and his teenage friends, who solve a murder affecting their father.
Both of these are fun.
I also enjoyed his silent The Vanishing American, an impressive look at discrimination against Native Americans.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Mike
I just looked up George B. Seitz on IMDB, which I failed to do before. Besides what you say about him, I see that he started directing at the age of 26, believe it or not, with The Exploits of Elaine (1914, with Pearl White).
He died relatively young, only 56 years old, after doing Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble in 1944, his 15th Hardy picture, if I counted right.
— Steve
January 25th, 2009 at 2:16 am
Seitz is an interesting and under-appreciated movie pioneer. It’s true that’s he remembered — if at all — as the director of M-G-M’s Andy Hardy films, but he’s also celebrated for his contributions to the motion-picture serial, a form in whose development he played an important part.
Seitz worked in theater before breaking into the movie business before the first World War. He landed a position as scenario writer and editor for the American arm of Pathe Freres, a French company that eventually became known as Pathe Exchanges and then simply Pathe. (It merged into RKO at the dawn of the talkie era.) Seitz had a natural flair for melodrama and was largely responsible for the nurturing of serial queen Pearl White’s screen persona. He wrote and/or directed most of her serials before being chosen to head up his own production unit in 1919, making other chapter plays for Pathe release. As was the custom in those days, he not only directed but also starred in serials, including BOUND AND GAGGED (1919), PIRATE GOLD (1920), and THE SKY RANGER (1921). His most frequent collaborator was Frank Leon Smith, who penned short stories for the Munsey pulps before taking a job with Pathe as scenario editor and eventually writing many of the company’s most successful chapter plays.
The Seitz unit also employed — first as a stuntman, later as an assistant director — Spencer Bennet, who eventually helmed more serials than any other director. Bennet, Smith, and the other members of Seitz’s production unit made the classic 1925 version of Edgar Wallace’s THE GREEN ARCHER, only a few tantalizing reels of which survive today.
Seitz left Pathe early in ’25, taking a westbound train for Hollywood immediately upon shooting the final scenes for his last serial, SUNKEN SILVER, in Florida. He initially worked for Paramount, directing several Zane Grey adaptations for producer Lucien Hubbard: WILD HORSE MESA, THE VANISHING AMERICAN (both 1925) and DESERT GOLD (1926). Shortly thereafter he began freelancing, which he did with considerable success until 1934, when he signed a long-term contract with M-G-M. That studio was accelerating B-movie production to keep pace with Depression-era demands for double features, and Seitz’s background in low-budget serials made him very attractive to Metro. He was not a stylish or innovative director by any means, but he shot films quickly and efficiently, with a minimum of retakes and no behind-the-scenes foolishness. Although the Andy Hardy series had pretty much run its course by 1944, when Seitz died, there’s little doubt that M-G-M would have kept him on the Culver City lot.
Forgive me for being so long-winded, Steve, but Seitz is a favorite hobby-horse of mine, so to speak. I think he’s an unjustly forgotten filmmaker.
January 25th, 2009 at 10:44 am
As Steve points out, before the internet alot of information about the movies simply was not available. I know the Internet Movie Data Base( IMDB ), is often in error and sometimes full of mistakes, but if you are careful you can get a good overall view of a forgotten filmmaker’s career. Seitz is a good example. Before IMDB, everyone except for Ed Hulse, would be wondering about the details of Seitz’s career. Now at a glance we can see he directed over 100 films and had a good career in Hollywood.
January 25th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Walker —
And it’s film historians like Ed Hulse who keep IMDB honest, filling in the gaps that even the best of filmographies leave open, especially when it comes to supplying some personal insight. Thanks, Ed!
And speaking of mistakes in IMDB, I think I’ve found a doozie. Looking at their page of cast members for THE BIG CLOCK, they have Margaret Sullavan playing George Stroud’s wife. Shouldn’t it be Maureen O’Sullivan? See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040160/
— Steve
January 25th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Yes, definitely it should be Maureen O’Sullivan. IMDB is full of such errors and that’s why I see it useful mainly as a general overall view of film history. Specific facts are often wrong. Their TV series facts are woefully incomplete and full of errors. Still I recommend it as a useful source of information taken with a big grain of salt!
For instance in the old days, before the internet, if I wanted to look up a character actor with hundreds of film credits, I was out of luck because most reference books dealt with only the big stars. Now I can get an overall view of Percy Helton or Beverly Michaels with a fast visit to IMDB.
September 8th, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Re Seitz. He directed Randolph Scott and Binnie Barnes in Last of the Mohicans in 1936. It was that script used by Michael Mann in his version with Daniel Day Lewis. Mann’s film may be smarter and better produced, but Randy Scott is Hawkeye.
May 9th, 2013 at 1:08 pm
Hah! I taped this too, back in the 1980s, along with another ‘lighthearted’ Lowe mystery, Somewhere in the Night. Both are great if it’s late in the AM and you can’t sleep.
I lost my copy too, but dig, brother Steve, it’s on next week on TCM – Next Friday at 7:15 AM right before another film I’ve been hunting, the 1937 Thirteenth Chair!
Yer welcome! Erich Kuersten