Steamboat Round the Bend (1935)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Ben Lucien Burman (novel)
Dudley Nichols (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

6 September 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A Louisiana con man enters his steamboat into a winner-take-all race with a rival while trying to find a witness to free his nephew, about to be hung for murder.

Plot Keywords:

Witness | Steamboat | Patent Medicine | Wax Museum | Drunkenness

Cast

Will Rogers	...	Doctor John Pearly
Anne Shirley	...	Fleety Belle
Irvin S. Cobb	...	Captain Eli
Eugene Pallette	...	Sheriff Rufe Jeffers
John McGuire	...	Duke
Berton Churchill	...	New Moses
Francis Ford	...	Efe
Roger Imhof	...	Breck's Pappy
Raymond Hatton	...	Matt Abel
Hobart Bosworth	...	Chaplain
Stepin Fetchit	...	Jonah
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
C.E. Anderson	...	Jailer (uncredited)
Sam Baker	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
William 'Billy' Benedict	...	Breck (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin	...	Jailbird (uncredited)
D'Arcy Corrigan	...	Hangman (uncredited)
Luke Cosgrave	...	Labor Boss (uncredited)
Grace Goodall	...	Sheriff's Wife (uncredited)
Ben Hall	...	Fleety Belle's Brother (uncredited)
Dell Henderson	...	Salesman (uncredited)
Robert Homans	...	Race Official (uncredited)
Si Jenks	...	Farmer at Demonstrations (uncredited)
John Lester Johnson	...	Uncle Jeff (uncredited)
Ed Jones	...	New Elijah (uncredited)
Fred Kohler Jr.	...	Ben - Fleety Belle's Fiance (uncredited)
James A. Marcus	...	Warden (uncredited)
Louis Mason	...	Boat Race Organizer (uncredited)
Charles Middleton	...	Fleety Belle's Father (uncredited)
Ferdinand Munier	...	Governor (uncredited)
Vester Pegg	...	Mink - Pride of Paducah Pilot (uncredited)
Jack Pennick	...	River Man with Pappy (uncredited)
Otto Richards	...	Prisoner (uncredited)
Ernest Shields	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Wingate Smith	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
John Tyke	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Lois Verner	...	Addie May (uncredited)
John Wallace	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
Ben Lucien Burman		(novel "Steamboat Round the Bend")
Dudley Nichols		(screenplay) and
Lamar Trotti		(screenplay)

Produced by
Sol M. Wurtzel	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Samuel Kaylin		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
George Schneiderman		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Alfred DeGaetano		(as Al DeGaetano)

Casting by
Al Smith		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
William S. Darling		(as William Darling)
Albert Hogsett

Costume Design by
Sam Benson		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Irene Beshon	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Buddy King	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Vern Murdock	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Paul Stanhope	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edward O'Fearna	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Monroe Liebgold	....	props (uncredited)
Dwight Thompson	....	props (uncredited)
Joe Thompson	....	props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Albert Protzman	....	sound
Jack Lescoulie	....	sound recordist (uncredited)
Hal Lombard	....	assistant sound (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
James Gordon	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Paul Lockwood	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Cliff Maupin	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Tom Ouellette	....	set lighting foreman (uncredited)
Sy Rubin	....	assistant to set lighting foreman (uncredited)
Vern Simmoirs	....	grip (uncredited)
Cluitt Urtubes	....	grip (uncredited)

Music Department
Samuel Kaylin	....	musical director

Other crew
R.L. Hough	....	business manager (uncredited)
L.C. Moore	....	location manager (uncredited)
Stanley Scheuer	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Henry Weinberger	....	assistant business manager (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1935) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Panasonic Disc Manufacturing  transfer

Also Known As:

Steamboat Bill

Runtime:

USA:81 min (FMC Library Print) | 82 min (copyright length)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | USA:Approved (PCA #1058) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Sacramento, California, USA

Company:

Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Rogers bought the rights to the story for $10,000 in 1933. It was Fox's biggest grosser in 1935.

Quotes:

Sheriff Rufe Jeffers: [performing wedding ceremony in jail] Friends, we're gathered here in the eyes of God and one another for the purpose of joining together this here man and this here woman in holy matrimony. Can't nobody rightly say nothin' agin marriage, 'cause I reckon God intended everybody to live that-a-way...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Paper Moon (1973)

Soundtrack:

There's No Place Like Home (Home, Sweet Home)

Historic, Nostalgic with Tenderness: genuine America

I first saw this movie with my grandfather fifty years ago. Our small-town theater was having classic movie month and Will Rogers was my grandfather's favorite. For a ten-year old boy this movie made a lasting impression of the freedom and romance once available to us in America but now lost forever. Aside from the instantly believable story line about an uncle and his orphaned nephew going together to buy an aging Mississippi River steamboat the pathos applies superbly to this day. The young man meets a girl, gets in a fight over her and is in trouble with the law. The kind uncle moves heaven and earth to help his deceased sister's son. The characters are all period and realistic according to my grandfather who knew people just like that. America was a religious nation in those days, especially the South, so the use of religious terms in common speech is authentic. The thing to watch for in this film is the steamboat race. In 1935 the steamboat's day was already past, and to find that many operating steamboats to make the film must have been a task. Then...listen closely to the melodious whistles. Different pitches and echoes, made by live steam. Steam power built modern America, and the sound of a live steam whistle, once so common, is all but vanished now. I have to yield to my grandfather's opinion of the movie, not having lived in those times myself, and he said it was quite authentic, down to the use of pitch, kerosene or whatever was handy to get more speed out of the engines. The fact that a regular person felt he could go speak to a state governor in person is also part of our American heritage. There was not the class distinction (at least among whites) that there is today. This movie is a priceless treasure, and youngsters definitely need to see it. Anne Shirley, swamp girl, becomes sweet because she admits she is won over by the tenderness of Uncle John.